My doberman gets He-cups?

Alfasudcrazy

I hear my Doberman he-cupping after eating - at least that's what it seems to me is happening. Does not happen the other doberman. Did anyone ever experience this and is there any solution. I hate the thought he may be in some pain or discomfort.

He is male and is now 12 weeks old.

Ruu_Old

Probably eating too fast, does it happen everytime the dog eats or just every once in a while?

Alfasudcrazy

Ruu wrote:

Probably eating too fast, does it happen everytime the dog eats or just every once in a while?

That's what I was thinking too. He is very competitive over food and wants to eat everthing up before the other doberman who eats slowly has it gone. Obviously a legacy of being from a very large litter.

I give them separate dishes but both seem to want to eat from the same dish. If one moves to the other dish then the other doberman does too??

The he-cups seems to happen most of the time - even when I just give him little treats. The male doberman (who is the one with the he-cups) even grabs food from the other dobermans mouth.:rolleyes:

Ruu_Old

Can you tell if he is swallowing the food whole or actually chewing, if not then that will cause him to hiccup, so just break the food it into smaller pieces? The only way I can think of to keep them away from each other while eating is to feed them in separate rooms.

Danes

As Ruu says, feed them in seperate rooms. If you put a rubber ball (big enough so it cant be swallowed!) into the middle of his feed bowl, this will slow him down as he'll need to eat around it.

Alfasudcrazy

Thanks for the advice - he doesn't chew much but I have been chopping the cooked meat up in small pieces and soaking his dry food in water to soften it up a bit - he still eats it like a hoover though.

I might try to feed them separately but then I can see tantrums because of who gets fed first atc. The female is very sensitive to being left out and seems to get depressed if not given the same amount of attention as the male dobe. :rolleyes:

FranknFurter

I would try that rubber ball (or large heavy object) in the bowl trick, he will have to eat smaller amounts then.
But I doubt that will curb his food excitment much, might even just frustrate him.

If you have been to a vet and ruled out any medical problem it might be, then it
sounds to me like hes too excited around food and wolfing it down without chewing.

This method worked for me many years ago with a rescued pomeranian and a rescued JRT who did the same,....

I think maybe it might be a matter of conditioning him to be less excited (which is probably often be the thing that spurs him on into being possesive) around food.

1- Break his meal up into smaller meals throughout the day instead of one big "event" meal.

2- Dont make a fuss when you feed him, if its not a big deal to you it will eventually be less of a big deal to him I suspect.

3- Put each meal down when hes out of the room so he just "finds" it there himself.
And its vital that you totally ignore it and him when he does, DON'T make it a game (event).

4- Treats are a big no-no while you do this, you want food to be a "non-event", no big deal, (try plain old praise if you are still training him instead of food treats).

He may (hopefully) start thinking "ah its always gonna be there, no big rush to eat it".
Eventually food will excite him less and less.

5- Be prepared for maybe up to a week of him continuing to wolf it all down, but persevere and it will pay off.

6- Eventually when food dosent excite him so much, slowly cut it down to three meals, then two, one in the morning, the other in the evening. (1 hour before his daily walk).

A bit unconventional I know, and not somthing you want to do for more than 3 months (max) but that method worked for me years back when I had two small terriers doing the same thing, one was food-excited the other not.

Food obsessed dogs can be a danger to themselves, they can easilly choke, not digest properly, or in extreme cases get aggressive and possessive about any kind of food, even yours eventually!


EGAR on this board has a lot of larger doberman type dog experience, she might have dealt with this before and know a way that would suit larger breeds. I have a (very) vague recollection about reading an article somwhere about food-excitment being a known issue with some dobermans, rotties and similiar larger dogs.

B

DublinWriter

Alfasudcrazy wrote:

He is male and is now 12 weeks old.

Good thing too, or else it would be suffering from she-cups.

Sorry...I'm not normally a spelling nazi...honest.