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Some people are looking for a beautiful custom made ceramic dog bowl that matches the interior of their house like any other piece of art. Others however look for a functional dog bowl, one that gets a specific job done. A dog bowl for most people provides your dog’s meal and a place to drink water.
Do you think I’m looking for a dog bowl as a piece of art or for it’s functional purposes? That’s right when I look for a dog bowl I try to find one with a purpose. Take a look at the bowls we’ve collected and reviewed below:
That’s Linus, Derby, and Stetson trying to figure out which bowl will hold their next meal. Not all the dog bowls reviewed are in this picture.
Be sure to check our website every Tuesday for the latest in-depth dog bowl review. We will continue reviewing dog food and water bowls every Tuesday for the next few months.
Dog Bowls With A Purpose
As a Guide Dog Puppy Raiser and a Labrador Retriever owner we run into two problems quite often. First of all, as a puppy raiser I take my dog everywhere and often times need a nice traveling dog bowl for both feeding and giving my puppies water.
Second, I have Labrador Retrievers and if you know Labs you’ll know they don’t eat food they gulp down food. Early on I noticed this was a problem with Stetson. As a puppy he would eat so fast he’d either start choking on his food or he would vomit shortly after eating. This happened probably about every other meal.
We tried several different dog bowl options and received many suggestions from our friends and family which led to our very first dog bowl review. We picked up the Brake-Fast Dog Food Bowl from Linus’s trainer and it helped slow down the eating frenzy.
However, shortly after using the Brake-Fast Dog Food Bowl Stetson began breaking out all over his chin. He had canine acne and our veterinarian told us the most likely cause was using a plastic bowl. According to our vet the plastic bowls harbor more bacteria and end up causing canine acne in some dogs. He suggested we switch back to a stainless steel dog bowl.
That’s where our dog bowl journey begins. We didn’t totally rule out plastic bowls, but we did keep in mind that a plastic dog bowl might cause acne in our dogs.
DrinkBetter Medium Blue Bowl – This dog bowl was not made for slowing dog eating, but instead for fast dog drinkers.
Those are the contenders for dog bowls that will help slow down a fast eating dog. I’m sure not everyone runs into the problems associated with a speed eater like my Labrador Retrievers. We will continue our series on Dog Bowl Reviews over the next couple days. Tomorrow we’ll cover Traveling Dog Bowls and Products and Friday we’ll check out the ever so popular category of Not Quite A Dog Bowl (most of these products are good for traveling with your dog).
This list may grow over time as I’ve already seen some other products I’m interested in reviewing so check back often to see if your favorite dog bowl is under review.
Are there any dog bowls you think I should add to this list? What dog bowls have you used to slow down a fast eating dog?
Beginning next Tuesday (every Tuesday we will reveal a new dog bowl review) we will start releasing in-depth reviews of each dog bowl. Some reviews will include exclusive video footage and all reviews will have great images and detailed reviews from our staff and our dogs.
Top Picks For Our Puppies
BEST DOG CHEW We Like:Beef Collagen Sticks - All of our pups love to bite, nip, and chew. We love using Collagen Sticks to help divert these unwanted behaviors.
Colby Morita has been raising and training guide and service dog puppies for over 13 years. He has puppy graduates from Guide Dogs of America, Tender Loving Canine Assistance Dogs, Cascade Service Dogs, and Canine Support Teams. Colby has been writing to the PuppyInTraining.com blog and sharing his puppy training tips from his experiences since 2007. Follow his puppy adventures at Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
This post may contain affiliate links. We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Over the last few weeks we’ve…
13 Comments
@emi good point on the irritation. I assume dogs have lips. The EatBetter bowl was okay. The only problem was the obstacles in the bowl did not separate the food enough. Derby tested this the EatBetter dog bowl and he still chomped down on his food pretty fast. Here’s the video review I posted a little while back: https://puppyintraining.com/contech-eatbetter-dog-bowl-review/
I like the Contech blue bowl with the rounded edges. I’ve seen Stetson eat and the rounded edges would cause less irritation on his nose and lips…do dogs have lips?????
The same goes for that awesome waterbowl by DrinkBetter.
emi
@Em, thanks for the suggestions for Stetson and his eating. I have a friend who does pottery so that might be an option. I’m not sure about the wood dog food bowl, but we can always try new things.
I’ll check out the dog bowls you listed. If I can I’ll buy and post more reviews.
Thanks for visiting!
Thank you for posting such awesome reviews! I have two dogs (a coonhound mix and a beagle) that also inhale their food. I have been researching different bowls and ideas. Your site has given me some new ideas and it was great to see some of the products in action! 🙂
One suggestion I could think of is that since Stetson can’t have plastic bowls and the metal was hard on his teeth – could you have a local potter make a heavy duty stoneware bowl in the shape like the brake-fast bowl? or a wood worker make a wooden one? Not sure if those would be just as porous as plastic though and if they would hold up to wear and tear. Cover the plastic bowl tightly in a thick heavy duty aluminum foil? I don’t know, just throwing out random ideas, lol. If only there was a pyrex glass version of it… 😛
I found some other products that I didn’t see on your list, just passing them on in case you want to review them eventually.
JW Pet Company Skid Stop Slow Feed Bowl Durapet Slow Feed bowl Omega Paw Portion Pacer Ball Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball (fill with his kibble and not treats) Buster Cube (fill with his kibble and not treats)
Keep up the great work, I have book marked your site!
I still use the bowl and as far as I cant tell it cuts back a bit on the dog drool, but the actual flotation device splashes around if you have a violent water drinker. I did add a bit of water to the flotation which helps, but it’s still not the solution I was looking for.
I need a dog DRINKING bowl for a sloppy lab, he’s a wonderful Seeing Eye dog who keeps the floor soaked.. Any suggestions?
What a clever post. I was thinking I liked the first one the best until I saw the DogPause Dog Food Bowl… red is my favorite color. Lucy has a red bowl. I bet she would love the DogPause Dog Food Bowl.
@Tom, thanks for the comment. When Stetson was a puppy almost every time he ate he choked on his food. After doing some online research and from recommendations we came across the dog bowls you see in this review.
As a Guide Dog puppy raiser we are always out and about with our dogs so I’m always on the look out for new travel products and traveling dog water and food bowls.
Man I have never put that much thought into dog bowls before. This an absolutely GREAT article! I study plenty dog training and everything but I have never even saw some of those bowls you reviewed. Thanks for this
I saw your your tube video on the metal bowl. I think it’s a better bowl for Stetson because his nose fits into the spaces better. I thought he was squishing his nose the last time I saw him use the blue plastic bowl. I also don’t think he will be allergic to this metal bowl like the plastic one.
@Johann, thanks for visiting us. We have a few traveling dog bowls that we really liked and will have reviews up on the site in the next couple weeks. We also heard a muffin tin works well for slowing down fast eaters. I’ll try using one with Stetson in the coming weeks and let everyone know how it goes.
Wow, pawsome article about dog bowls!!! Can’twait for the info on travelling db’s. For a while Mum used a muffin tin to feed Gracie, my sis, slowed her right down BOL!!! Thanks for the Gotcha Day wishes my friend! Woofs, Johann
@emi good point on the irritation. I assume dogs have lips. The EatBetter bowl was okay. The only problem was the obstacles in the bowl did not separate the food enough. Derby tested this the EatBetter dog bowl and he still chomped down on his food pretty fast. Here’s the video review I posted a little while back: https://puppyintraining.com/contech-eatbetter-dog-bowl-review/
I like the Contech blue bowl with the rounded edges. I’ve seen Stetson eat and the rounded edges would cause less irritation on his nose and lips…do dogs have lips?????
The same goes for that awesome waterbowl by DrinkBetter.
emi
@Em, thanks for the suggestions for Stetson and his eating. I have a friend who does pottery so that might be an option. I’m not sure about the wood dog food bowl, but we can always try new things.
I’ll check out the dog bowls you listed. If I can I’ll buy and post more reviews.
Thanks for visiting!
Thank you for posting such awesome reviews! I have two dogs (a coonhound mix and a beagle) that also inhale their food. I have been researching different bowls and ideas. Your site has given me some new ideas and it was great to see some of the products in action! 🙂
One suggestion I could think of is that since Stetson can’t have plastic bowls and the metal was hard on his teeth – could you have a local potter make a heavy duty stoneware bowl in the shape like the brake-fast bowl? or a wood worker make a wooden one? Not sure if those would be just as porous as plastic though and if they would hold up to wear and tear. Cover the plastic bowl tightly in a thick heavy duty aluminum foil? I don’t know, just throwing out random ideas, lol. If only there was a pyrex glass version of it… 😛
I found some other products that I didn’t see on your list, just passing them on in case you want to review them eventually.
JW Pet Company Skid Stop Slow Feed Bowl
Durapet Slow Feed bowl
Omega Paw Portion Pacer Ball
Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball (fill with his kibble and not treats)
Buster Cube (fill with his kibble and not treats)
Keep up the great work, I have book marked your site!
@Catherine, the only drinking bowl we reviewed was the Drinkbetter medium blue bowl. I posted a video and written review with two of my dogs drinking from the bowl here: https://puppyintraining.com/contech-drinkbetter-dog-water-bowl-review
I still use the bowl and as far as I cant tell it cuts back a bit on the dog drool, but the actual flotation device splashes around if you have a violent water drinker. I did add a bit of water to the flotation which helps, but it’s still not the solution I was looking for.
I need a dog DRINKING bowl for a sloppy lab, he’s a wonderful Seeing Eye dog who keeps the floor soaked.. Any suggestions?
What a clever post. I was thinking I liked the first one the best until I saw the DogPause Dog Food Bowl… red is my favorite color. Lucy has a red bowl. I bet she would love the DogPause Dog Food Bowl.
@Tom, thanks for the comment. When Stetson was a puppy almost every time he ate he choked on his food. After doing some online research and from recommendations we came across the dog bowls you see in this review.
As a Guide Dog puppy raiser we are always out and about with our dogs so I’m always on the look out for new travel products and traveling dog water and food bowls.
Man I have never put that much thought into dog bowls before. This an absolutely GREAT article! I study plenty dog training and everything but I have never even saw some of those bowls you reviewed. Thanks for this
I saw your your tube video on the metal bowl. I think it’s a better bowl for Stetson because his nose fits into the spaces better. I thought he was squishing his nose the last time I saw him use the blue plastic bowl. I also don’t think he will be allergic to this metal bowl like the plastic one.
@Johann, thanks for visiting us. We have a few traveling dog bowls that we really liked and will have reviews up on the site in the next couple weeks. We also heard a muffin tin works well for slowing down fast eaters. I’ll try using one with Stetson in the coming weeks and let everyone know how it goes.
Wow, pawsome article about dog bowls!!! Can’twait for the info on travelling db’s. For a while Mum used a muffin tin to feed Gracie, my sis, slowed her right down BOL!!! Thanks for the Gotcha Day wishes my friend! Woofs, Johann
Great article Colby, keep em coming.