The Secret To Creating A Happy Meal Experience For Your Dog

By Dr. Carol Smeja.

Did you ever wonder if your dog enjoys their mealtime? Most dogs gulp and inhale their food from bowls in about a minute or less. When finished they will simply retreat to a comfortable laying position until more food becomes available. Dogs show little involvement or gratification at mealtime. This is an odd reaction for an animal whose most important part of their day is mealtime!

Our dog’s ancestors, the grey wolf, spent over 95% of their day foraging, tracking, hunting and eating their prey in the wild. Their entire world revolved around the resourcing of food to be able to survive in the wild. So, how has our dog’s mealtime been reduced to a momentary routine and disengaged event?

Bowl feeding has held our dog’s food hostage during mealtime. The food is piled high in a small, contained area with sides which inhibit any meaningful interaction. The dog’s nose cannot be used to evaluate what’s in the bowl which leads to the chronic gulping of the food. But why is the dog’s nose important when eating?

Dogs see the world through their nose. They have over 100 million scent sites which allow them to locate and evaluate scents in the environment around them. It is their single most powerful sense which has helped them, and their ancestors survive. Additionally, their sense of smell is especially important at mealtime because they have far fewer taste buds than we do (about 1,700 vs. 9,000). So, our dogs actually taste foods through their sense of smell. This means that when you feed your dog from a bowl, you are inhibiting your dog from enjoying their meal.

Another way to think about this from our point of view is eating from a fast-food container. When we eat from a fast-food container we tend to eat faster with little involvement as well as feel less gratified upon finishing—often looking for more food afterwards. This serving vehicle is less satisfying than when we eat from a plate where the food is visible, different scents emerge and we can engage with individual foods.

Simply put, how you serve your dog’s food matters a great deal for their mealtime enjoyment! Pet parents have traditionally used bowls as a convenience, but it is time to look at feeding from a dog’s perspective. It is important that we recognize the critical role their sense of smell plays in the eating process. ‘Honor thy dog’s nose’ by allowing them to use their sense of smell in evaluating their meal so they can taste what they are about to eat. This means giving your dog their own personal feeding territory to engage with food the way nature intended.

This is the purpose of why we developed the Original mine Pet Platter. We studied the instinctive feeding habits and behaviors of our dog’s ancestors and replicated them in this personal feeding territory. The surface of the platter is specifically designed to engage the dog’s sense of smell for meal involvement and gratification.

You can now bring back the joy of mealtime to your pet!

By Dr. Carol Smeja. You can go to https://minepetplatter.com for more information on a feeding territory for your own dog.