5.17.2008

Experimenting on Dakota!

I got an email a couple of weeks ago from a guy named Ryan. Ryan is trying to sell dog food bowls to help dogs eat more slowly. He wanted to send me a bowl to try out.

I thought about it, and decided it was the perfect opportunity for me to experiment on Dakota! She's a total hog, you know. And I always wanted to be a scientist.

Here is what Ryan said about his bowl:

"My name is Ryan and I am working with a new little company called Long Tail Pet Products. We're launching a wonderful new health product for dogs called DogPause. DogPause is a dog bowl that is clinically proven to slow down dogs' eating habits and help reduce common problems such as gas, belching, vomiting, gagging, anxiety and bloating."

Being the loyal Legacy Boxer Rescue volunteer that I am, I agreed to the experiment on the condition that Ryan send me two bowls - one for my experiment, one for LBR. Ryan fell victim to my terms, and he sent two bowls - thanks!


I started my experiment by filling the DogPause bowl and her regular bowl with precisely one cup of dog food.

Note the very cute dog face on the DogPause bowl. The bowl comes in red and blue. I chose a soothing blue for my experiment.

We put a leash on Dakota to keep her away from the food until we were ready. It seemed to distract her a little. She didn't want mom to take me out while she wasn't looking. Despite the distraction, she ate the food from her regular bowl in 37 seconds. Impressive! She's an eating machine!



The second cup of food was in the DogPause bowl. She took 77 seconds to eat the food from the DogPause bowl.


The DogPause bowl more than doubled her eating time! Impressive results! During the debriefing session after the experiment, Dakota said that she was a little embarrassed by her performance, and assured me she could do better.

Don't worry, I didn't fall for that. She was just trying to get more food. That girl is obsessed!

14 comments:

One of the pack said...

Dakota you big scarfer! Cool looking bowl. We've seen some that look like bumper pool. One of our friends puts the food in ice trays or egg crates. We think its just humans being jealous of our speed.

Rosemary

Peanut said...

mom says she needs one of those for flash for when she feeds kibble.

Chef said...

Great bowl. I don't think I could even fit my big mouth in there... which is probably the idea: smaller mouthfuls. Ingenious!

Glad you like the International Goody Exchange idea. Nothing sweeter than seeing other doggies dive into their goody packages. It makes them so happy. Maybe you can post something about the event to help get the word out. Thanks, Cubby. Big kisses to Dakota. She is adorable.

xox Chef

Mr. T-Bone Beasley said...

That's an awesome bowl! I need one of those...do they make them for raised dishes...it helps with digestion when the bowl is higher!

Come check out mine or Chef's blog!!!! It's up! It's time! The Goody Exchange is on! I'm so excited! Help spread the word! This is gonna be the best event ever!

Hehehe, Woohoo! Go team dogs with Blogs!

Slurp!
Mr. T-Bone Beasley

12:52 AM

Molly the Airedale said...

I have a red brakefast bowl that's kinda like yours, Dakota! It slows me down too and makes mom very happy!

Yer friend,
Mitch

wally said...

That's a sweet bowl! ANd a good idea. My sissy needs one of those. She swallowed her steak breakfast whole this morning. It came back up for seconds.

wally.

ps. Do you guys know any Boxer rescues/rescuers in the Mid-Atlantic area? The SPCA has an older boxer that was seized from the owner. She has a wonderful temperment but has a load of health problems--skin issues and severely underweight. I know you guys are far away but we thought you might know someone. This girl makes my ma so sad.

wally said...

P.S. My e-mail is wallythecorgador at comcast dot net if you happen to know anyone!

Moco said...

We are so getting those bowls. Foley inhales his food and then wants more. Hopefully this helps all of us slow down and savor the food.

Joe Stains said...

Mom should order one of these for Tanner, he is a scarfer too!!! you are quite the scientist!

Comet said...

Hey Dakota,
We think you need to convince your moms that they need to redo the experiment. This time start with the new bowl and end with your normal bowl. You might have slowed down because you already ate some food and weren't as hungry.

And you have to do lots of repetitions too.... and all on the same day.

Yeah, that's it.
Comet

Ferndoggle said...

Lola could totally use one of those bowls. She's a little piggy!

Sherman

Crikit, Sparky, Ginger! said...

Hey ya'll as long as me Crikit can carry it then it's cool cos when I am hungry I have to remind my pawrents by taking my bowl to them. We all grew out of scarfing but Dakota maybe you food is way more yummilisous and tha's why you go to town! So you wanna be a scientist Cubby how interesting.

Love Licks & waggin TX tails barking loud

DogMom said...

Dogmom is rolling on the floor laughing. She said that if those bowls could make Opie and I SLOW DOWN to take 37 seconds to eat our dinner, she needs to try them! Opie said at least Dakota seems to chew her food... I (Gomer) inhale mine most of the time without bothering to chew it.

Except when she feeds us that t/d stuff that's supposed to clean our teeth. That's hard to swallow whole.

Gomer & Opie

Anonymous said...

do the experiment again, reversing the order which would increase the confidence of your results. Right now, the slowness observed could be due to the fact that the dog had already eaten 1 cup of food. (I doubt it but a second experiment would help determine it...)