Ditch the Bowl: Enrichment Feeding Ideas for a Happier, Healthier Dog

If you’ve been putting your dog’s meals into a bowl, I’d like to invite you to try something different. What if feeding time could be more than just a daily routine — what if it could be a built-in opportunity to improve your dog’s behavior, confidence, and wellbeing?

As a professional dog trainer who specializes in force-free training, I’ve seen firsthand how powerful food-based enrichment can be. It’s one of the easiest ways to help dogs be their best selves — especially for puppies, adolescent dogs, and dogs with behavior challenges.

Puppy using a snuffle mat to search for dinner

Why Ditch the Bowl?

Dogs are natural foragers. Among free-roaming dogs in urban and rural areas around the world — they spend hours each day using their nose and brain to search for food. Research shows that these dogs rarely eat from a single, reliable source; instead, they engage in scavenging and problem-solving all day long, fulfilling both physical and cognitive needs.*

When we serve them the same meal in the same bowl, in the same spot every day, we’re skipping over an entire category of enrichment that can provide a lot of bang for the buck.

Using your dog’s meals for food puzzles, snuffle mats, or DIY foraging games can:

• Help calm over aroused or anxious dogs

• Build confidence in shy or fearful dogs

• Satisfy species-typical behaviors like sniffing, shredding, and problem solving

• Reduce boredom and prevent unwanted behaviors

• Strengthen your bond with your dog in a positive, low-stress way

And it doesn’t have to be fancy or time-consuming.

Easy Ways to Feed Without a Bowl

There are tons of ways to feed your dog that tap into their natural instincts:

• Scatter feeding: Toss kibble across the lawn or living room rug and let them sniff it out.

• Snuffle mats: These soft, fabric mats are perfect for hiding food and encouraging foraging.

• Treat-dispensing toys: Puzzle toys like the Kong Wobbler or Toppl can provide mental stimulation and slow down fast eaters.

• DIY enrichment: Recycle cardboard boxes, paper towel rolls, or muffin tins to hide food and let your dog dig, paw, and shred to find it.

• Scent work games: Hide small piles of food in different spots around the house and encourage your dog to “find it!”

Puppy using a food puzzle

Who Can Benefit?

Whether you have a high-energy adolescent dog, a newly adopted pup, or a dog working through reactivity or fear issues, food-based enrichment can help. I often recommend these feeding strategies to my clients as part of behavior modification plans because:

• Scent work calms the nervous system

• Problem-solving builds confidence

• Chewing and foraging are naturally soothing

Give It a Try

You don’t need any special tools to get started — just today’s meal and a willingness to think outside the bowl. Try it for a week and see what changes in your dog. Are they calmer after meals? More settled in the evening? Happier to work for food?

I’d love to hear what you notice. Leave a comment and let me know how your dog responds.

Interested in learning more about how enrichment can support your dog’s behavior? I offer one-on-one dog training in Kingston, Saugerties, Woodstock, Catskill, Red Hook, and Rhinebeck. Let’s help your dog feel calmer, more confident, and more fulfilled — every day.

Dog running through the grass with a Kong Toy

References

*Coppinger, R., & Coppinger, L. (2001). Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior & Evolution. Scribner. Also supported by: Boitani, L., Francisci, F., & Ciucci, P. (1995). Population biology and ecology of feral dogs in central Italy. In Serpell, J.A. (Ed.), The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behavior and Interactions with People.