Some dogs chew, some gulp, some inhale and some do something that seems quicker than inhaling and we don’t have a word for it..I have one of those – she’s a weimaraner and if you blink you miss her eating her food.

Just like people, some dogs are just plain piggy eaters!

It was slightly disturbing at first – I mean seriously, it should have taken at least 10 seconds for her to eat that chicken back right?  Wrong.  She bites once and swallows – and if you aren’t paying close attention you don’t even see THAT bite.  Then you have those dogs who chew….and chew….and chew….and chew…and chew….well you get the picture.  Most dogs fall in the middle of these two extremes, lucky for most people, but if you have multiple dogs in your house (and if one of them is a weimamonster) you probably run the gamut too.  Essentially, our goal, should be to feed our dogs raw meaty bones that are size appropriate as well as individually appropriate for the dog.  This means you don’t generally feed chicken necks to a weimaraner and nor do you feed leg quarters to a papillon.  Hard and fast rule?  Not really – is anything ever THAT easy?  Essentially you need to know your dog.  Some large dogs can’t handle small RMB’s.  Some have trouble with LARGE RMB’s.  Sometimes you need to teach your dog to chew – this can be accomplished by serving something like a turkey neck semi-frozen and holding onto it as your dog gnaws.  After a few times they’ll hopefully understand that chewing is good, chewing will still get them what they want, and you aren’t going to take their bounty from them.  Those dogs that chew and chew and chew?  They can usually eat just about anything and you may find that some large RMB’s that would be appropriate for a dog their size are not appreciated by these dainty chewers – sometimes its acceptable and better to cut that chicken back in half or go ahead and feed necks.  For small dogs, many can handle large RMB’s just fine – but truth is that they are simply too much food for such a little body.  Again, cutting the larger pieces up or simply feeding smaller RMB’s is the best option.

A chicken neck is more than a mouthful for this tiny basenji pup

Your dog will let you know – I promise.  Yes, sometimes your dog will bolt its food no matter the size of the meaty bone, get the urka gurkas, throw it up and eat it again.  Happens and is no cause for alarm.  Sometimes your dog will refuse large meaty bones letting you know that smaller is better for their style of eating – there’s no harm in that either.  So long as your dog is eating the size RMB that best fits its eating style, all will be well and no worry involved!