puppy not chewing dog food

One of my dogs chew, the other doesn't, and in general, dogs gulp their food.

I have seen both also. Chew or gulp. You might try going back to the smaller pieces until he gets a little bigger.

I always bought smaller bites for my smaller dogs and bigger bites for the larger ones.

Our lab dog did the same thing from puppy on, gulped it down, never chewed and never missed a meal

Gulping is perfectly normal. We had a German Shepherd who took a whole chicken leg out of my mom's hand and swallowed it whole with no ill aftereffects. The look on her face was priceless as she came walking by with the chicken leg in her hand one second and then it was gone the next. He just lapped his chops and looked pleased. She was more than a little surprised and confused.

Dogs teeth are made more for tearing and rending than chewing, so they're not even really equipped to do a lot of chewing. Dogs tend to be carnivores and not omnivores so their teeth are designed to tear off pieces of meat that they can then swallow. Humans are omnivores so we have combination teeth that can both tear and grind. Herbivores tend to only have grinding teeth. If you're expecting a dog to chew food, you're likely to be disappointed. Even things like chew sticks they'll typically just chew enough to be able to swallow what's left.

By the way, golf balls in a dog's food dish would be a very bad idea for larger breeds of dogs. They might just gulp them down and assume they're food too. For tiny breeds it would work, but for any dog big enough to swallow a golf ball, I'd keep them far from the food dish or else you may have trouble.

Hello, bosmamaa.

I've never heard of a puppy or a full grown dog gulping their food down without chewing. But if you're concerned about your pup choking, you could try something called a Slow Feed Bowl. It's a dog bowl that has maze like patterns in it so your dog is forced to eat (or gulp) their food a little slower. I learned that from watching a YouTube channel called Gone to the Snow Dogs. Or you could take your dog to the vet and they might be able to explain what's going on.

Congratulations on your new puppy.

Most dogs usually don't chew their food. Where do you think the old saying, "Don't wolf your food" comes from? If you want to slow them down, put a good-sized rock in the middle of the bowl so they have to work around it when they eat, or you can purchase a bowl that already has protrusions in the bottom to slow them down. Dogs generally don't chew anything unless they are tearing meat off raw bones, which is actually the best way to feed dogs in the first place!

Dogs are carnivores, not herbivores, or omnivores, and their teeth are made for tearing flesh off raw bones and then chewing the bones as well. Nothing better, more healthy or safer than feeding a species appropriate food to your animals! In this case, raw, meaty bones! There's a ton of good information about raw feeding out there and it doesn't include any dry garbage out of a bag purchased at a store.