I can't say that I'm experienced in shepherds or picky eaters, but I have successfully broken one of dogs from gulping our food. We free feed and our dogs are all rescues. When we took our Lab/Mastiff (who coincidentally was also found roaming the streets) the first time I fed her I knew something had to give. She's also too deep chested a dog to just allow to gulp her food in a crate, larger dogs are particularly prone to bowel torsion.
First, you need to assure yourself the dog has no food aggression. If you can put down food and take it away without any type of reaction at all, this can work. Otherwise, you need to work on dominance training to quell the aggression before you do anything.
For a while, you need to set aside time to be available when you are feeding the dogs. put the food in two separate corners or area of a room (we feed in the hallway, so the food is about 8 feet away from each other. Every time the piggy eater tries to take food from a bowl not her own, correct her. Usually a "nah ah ah!" works.
Use a raised bowl at an appropriate height for her size, so she's not bending too deep. Get a few clean smooth rocks or large marrow bones. Fill the bowl with about half of her food for that feeding, and place the bones/rocks in it. She will have to eat around the objects and eventually pick them up and take them out to continue eating. This will force her to slow down. Sit with her while she eats and get her attention away from her bowl every few bites. After she finishes the first serving, spend a few minutes with her and fill the bowl with the remainder of the meal portion. Sometimes, if the dog was in really bad shape, you might need to go to two feedings a day. It can take a while for the dog to realize that she won't have to fight for her food, or that it is limited.
After a while you can phase out to a whole portion in feeding, than phase out the bones/rocks and just do supervised feedings, and than you can phase back to free feeding.
It's really important to not move the food location while you do this, ever allow the dog to eat from another dogs bowl, and to be really consistent in making sure the dog is fed around the same time daily. If you take one of the steps away and she doesn't easily transition to the next (e.g. you take out the bones and the immediately begin gulping down the food) go back to the previous step.
All the dogs now only eat from their own bowls, and I just keep them filled. It's nice to know that they regulate their own intake during hot/cold weather.
First, you need to assure yourself the dog has no food aggression. If you can put down food and take it away without any type of reaction at all, this can work. Otherwise, you need to work on dominance training to quell the aggression before you do anything.
For a while, you need to set aside time to be available when you are feeding the dogs. put the food in two separate corners or area of a room (we feed in the hallway, so the food is about 8 feet away from each other. Every time the piggy eater tries to take food from a bowl not her own, correct her. Usually a "nah ah ah!" works.
Use a raised bowl at an appropriate height for her size, so she's not bending too deep. Get a few clean smooth rocks or large marrow bones. Fill the bowl with about half of her food for that feeding, and place the bones/rocks in it. She will have to eat around the objects and eventually pick them up and take them out to continue eating. This will force her to slow down. Sit with her while she eats and get her attention away from her bowl every few bites. After she finishes the first serving, spend a few minutes with her and fill the bowl with the remainder of the meal portion. Sometimes, if the dog was in really bad shape, you might need to go to two feedings a day. It can take a while for the dog to realize that she won't have to fight for her food, or that it is limited.
After a while you can phase out to a whole portion in feeding, than phase out the bones/rocks and just do supervised feedings, and than you can phase back to free feeding.
It's really important to not move the food location while you do this, ever allow the dog to eat from another dogs bowl, and to be really consistent in making sure the dog is fed around the same time daily. If you take one of the steps away and she doesn't easily transition to the next (e.g. you take out the bones and the immediately begin gulping down the food) go back to the previous step.
All the dogs now only eat from their own bowls, and I just keep them filled. It's nice to know that they regulate their own intake during hot/cold weather.
