Q From Nancy
My newly adopted hound dumps his food bowl out and eats off the floor. Perhaps he was a kennel dog? He likes squeaky toys, but seems indifferent to most toys.
A From Emmy Sue
Hounds are rarely picky eaters, so I doubt that he would bother to flip his bowl just because he was used to eating off the ground. Most hounds will eat anything anywhere until taught not to, including goose poop from the ground and human food from your kitchen counters. Of course, it’s easier to take all the food away when it’s contained in a bowl, so perhaps he was used to competition for it.
As for toys and flipping food bowls, these may be related. Hunting hounds are working dogs, so are rarely given toys to play with. They are often tied or kenneled out of reach of their fellow hounds, so they learn to amuse themselves with what they have at hand. That can be a bone or a stick, but typically, their food bowl may be the only thing they have to toss around, so they toss it when feeling playful or excited or just exuberant and wanting attention. Feeding time is often pretty exciting.
If you are feeding yours indoors, which you probably should so you don't attract vermin, use one of those hard-to-flip dog bowls, and pick it up when the hound is done eating. He may flip it around anyway, before or after eating. I use a silicone placemat under my hounds' bowls to facilitate cleanup, although newspaper or cardboard should work just as well. Dry kibble is easier to clean up than wet food or table scraps, but mine usually get some table scraps and have been known to smear greasy stuff around. For water, a bigger bucket is harder to flip, so use a 2 1/2 gallon bucket if he’s inclined to flip his water bowl. Or just leave the toilet seat up and let him drink from that. Most dogs are perfectly happy with toilet water and it doesn’t seem to make them sick. Of course you can’t use those in-the-tank bowl cleaners then; they’re caustic..
Most hounds take to manufactured toys pretty quickly once they are offered, but don't always know what to do with them, and may get bored just as quickly. The example of another dog that likes toys may speed up the learning process. Hounds do shred soft toys, and may eat the stuffing of stuffed animals or chunks of sponge toys, which can cause intestinal blockages, so I recommend sturdy toys like Kongs or Nylabones. One hound I know of took to swallowing washcloths. The vet pulled out 16! when the dopey dog finally needed surgery for an intestinal blockage. Most hounds enjoy squeaky toys, but frequently extract the squeaker, so keep an eye out to make sure he doesn't eat the mechanism. In a dog park, hounds tend to play keep-away with a ball or Frisbee, which can annoy the heck out of retrievers. And hounds can turn just about anything stinky into a toy. Mine will steal socks or underwear from the dirty laundry, usually when humorless company is around. I had another who helped himself to the smaller pieces of firewood from the woodpile. He liked to shred them on the couch. Be firm about what he is allowed to play with and what he isn't. Many hounds will gleefully shred anything they can (cardboard, plastic, feather pillows, dirty Kleenex, etc.) into mulch.
My newly adopted hound dumps his food bowl out and eats off the floor. Perhaps he was a kennel dog? He likes squeaky toys, but seems indifferent to most toys.
A From Emmy Sue
Hounds are rarely picky eaters, so I doubt that he would bother to flip his bowl just because he was used to eating off the ground. Most hounds will eat anything anywhere until taught not to, including goose poop from the ground and human food from your kitchen counters. Of course, it’s easier to take all the food away when it’s contained in a bowl, so perhaps he was used to competition for it.
As for toys and flipping food bowls, these may be related. Hunting hounds are working dogs, so are rarely given toys to play with. They are often tied or kenneled out of reach of their fellow hounds, so they learn to amuse themselves with what they have at hand. That can be a bone or a stick, but typically, their food bowl may be the only thing they have to toss around, so they toss it when feeling playful or excited or just exuberant and wanting attention. Feeding time is often pretty exciting.
If you are feeding yours indoors, which you probably should so you don't attract vermin, use one of those hard-to-flip dog bowls, and pick it up when the hound is done eating. He may flip it around anyway, before or after eating. I use a silicone placemat under my hounds' bowls to facilitate cleanup, although newspaper or cardboard should work just as well. Dry kibble is easier to clean up than wet food or table scraps, but mine usually get some table scraps and have been known to smear greasy stuff around. For water, a bigger bucket is harder to flip, so use a 2 1/2 gallon bucket if he’s inclined to flip his water bowl. Or just leave the toilet seat up and let him drink from that. Most dogs are perfectly happy with toilet water and it doesn’t seem to make them sick. Of course you can’t use those in-the-tank bowl cleaners then; they’re caustic..
Most hounds take to manufactured toys pretty quickly once they are offered, but don't always know what to do with them, and may get bored just as quickly. The example of another dog that likes toys may speed up the learning process. Hounds do shred soft toys, and may eat the stuffing of stuffed animals or chunks of sponge toys, which can cause intestinal blockages, so I recommend sturdy toys like Kongs or Nylabones. One hound I know of took to swallowing washcloths. The vet pulled out 16! when the dopey dog finally needed surgery for an intestinal blockage. Most hounds enjoy squeaky toys, but frequently extract the squeaker, so keep an eye out to make sure he doesn't eat the mechanism. In a dog park, hounds tend to play keep-away with a ball or Frisbee, which can annoy the heck out of retrievers. And hounds can turn just about anything stinky into a toy. Mine will steal socks or underwear from the dirty laundry, usually when humorless company is around. I had another who helped himself to the smaller pieces of firewood from the woodpile. He liked to shred them on the couch. Be firm about what he is allowed to play with and what he isn't. Many hounds will gleefully shred anything they can (cardboard, plastic, feather pillows, dirty Kleenex, etc.) into mulch.
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