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Hello
Currently feeding our Catahoula/lab Taste of the wild dog food in the brownish bag, Bison I think is main ingredient.
No issues with it other than the kibble size is so small she does not chew it, but rather just swallows it.
She has in the past, at her food, then guzzled down water, then up comes the dog food, all same size as before, none chewed up.
So while in the stores here I am feeling up different dog food bags trying to find a larger size kibble, so she has to chew it.
They all seem to be the same small size ?
What to do, to make hew chew ?
I have seen those dog food bowls with the ridges that makes them work to get it in their mouth, but how the heck does that make them chew it?
Anyone have any ideas ?
Thanks

When I was bird hunting a lot and field trialing I used to teach my dog's to eat right now and pretty much worked, they didn't dwaddle eating. But one dog, ole Lefty, would clean out the bowl in record time then puke it up and eat at his lesure! Had a friend out hunting in Condon one time and we got to town that evening and zI told him, watch this. Right in the middle of towm I fed Lefty on the sidewalk and he just inhaled it then puked it up next to the bowl and took his time eating it. What yo might do is either mix in a can of food, not meal, or mix with water and let it sit a bit before giving it to him. Turn it to mush and the little chunks go away. Most dry dog food I've ever seen is in smaller chunks. If you put in a can of say pedigree choice cut's, there will be chunks in it and just might slow him down a bit!

There are bowls that look like they have a maze running through them, they make the dogs eat slow by picking through the windy pattern. My son's dogs have to use this method because they just inhale their food.

Our dogs at eat at a modest pace, twice a day. If they are eating too slow, it has always been for a reason...cracked tooth or something.

Blue Buffalo has a large breed dog formula with bigger kibble.

Most of the premium brands went to a smaller kibble size due to the fact that there are more smaller sized dogs in this country than larger sized. So to cover all the market share, they went to a one size fits all size of food.
It's been suggested to use a maze bowl to slow down the eating. It will work in that regard but the dog will just swallow it whole slower.
I think your best bet will be to soak the food beforehand to where it's a mush.

Actually, dogs don't really chew their food. Ninety percent of it is swallowed whole.

I've had labs in the kennel that would inhale their food as fast as they could. It was sometimes fun to dribble the food in the bowl and watch them go at it.

So don't be too concerned about kibble size. Your dog won't chew up the bigger size either.

My 45 lb half-lab went the other way. When I first got her as an 18 month old rescue out of the villages, her meals (am/pm) were inhaled in, literally, 7 or 8 seconds or less.

After a year or so, she went to thoroughly chewing her food, taking a minute or more. Possibly because of food-confidence, possibly because we started putting fish-oil pills in them, and for a time, she would sort them out and leave them in the bowl. The first thing the wiener dog does is checks the bigger dog's bowl for the pill - he loves them. She was not eating her fish pills - why I don't know. Maybe those others had gotten rancid, maybe she figured it's better than having them force-fed, which we did. She is danged smart!

We feed the same food as you, which is on the FDA list of foods suspected of contributing to heart disease, being "grain free". Read up on it. We don't worry, as the dogs get sufficient real fish (not just fish pills...) and other stuff that provide what the grain-free stuff lacks. We have fed grained-foods, but the ones we tried gave them runs or makes them puke. Nor do they like most of the other TOTW flavors.

Blue Buffalo is also on the suspect list- as are most "grain free" kibbles.