Ditching the Bowl: 5 Reasons I’m Switching Back to Hand Feeding

This page contains product affiliate links. I may receive a commission if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links

As life gets busier, it’s tempting to rely on bowl feeding for simplicity. But after observing a decline in my dog’s engagement, motivation, and overall well-being, I decided it was time to go back to hand feeding at least one meal a day. In this post, I’ll share 5 reasons why ditching the bowl and reverting to hand feeding can improve your dog’s behaviour and focus, along with the strategies I’ll be using instead.

Bowl Feeding Vs Hand Feeding

Firstly, let me clarify that I have nothing against feeding from a bowl. As long as it isn’t free feeding and leaving it out all day, then I have no issues.

On the other hand (no pun intended), meal times offer a valuable training opportunity, especially for dogs with behaviour issues, which many owners often overlook.

You can still provide excellent training opportunities from a bowl—waiting and rewarding calmness and self-control, or even asking for some basic obedience before rewarding with food.

Hand feeding elevates this experience to another level entirely, laying the groundwork for a foundation built on respect, cooperation, and effective communication. This is why I always recommend ditching the bowl to help develop that foundation.

What I love most about hand feeding is the opportunity it creates to engage with your dog, develop that relationship, and bring value to both of you.

The best time to start hand feeding for dogs is when they’re puppies, shaping behaviours and fostering a positive relationship with food. However, it’s never too late, especially if your dog has behavioural issues.

5 Reasons Why We’re Going Back to Hand Feeding

#1 – Time Saver

The amount of time I save by hand feeding is remarkable. Feeding from a bowl often involves waiting for Jasper to calm down while I prepare his meal, a process that can take up to 30-45 minutes and that was a major reason for me wanting to go back to ditching the bowl again.

With hand feeding, I can incorporate his meals into our daily routine—feeding him during our morning walks or training sessions, making every moment count in building engagement and reinforcing behaviours.

#2 – Still Behaviours to Proof

Reflecting on the past few months, Jasper wasn’t ready to transition to bowl feeding. Despite my busy schedule, opting for a bowl led to increased anxiety and frustration at meal times, along with a decline in training and behaviour.

Consistency became a challenge, and there were times when I couldn’t wait for Jasper to calm down before feeding, resulting in undesirable behavioor.

To rebuild consistency, engagement, and calmness around food, we’re returning to hand feeding.

#3 – Eats Way Too Fast From a Bowl

Many dogs seem to have one wish—to eat even faster. If your dog wolfs down food from a bowl, hand feeding offers a solution to slower feeding and creating manners around food too including issues such as resource guarding.

Whether feeding for obedience or mental stimulation, ditching the bowl and hand feeding increases the pleasure your dog derives from meals, promoting satisfaction and mental stimulation.

#4 – Easier To Manage Weight

Feeding from a bowl requires careful calorie control, especially when using treats for training. To simplify this process and ensure balanced nutrition, I prefer using a portion of Jasper’s daily meal for training throughout the day.

#5 – Creates Variety in Training

Hand feeding offers endless possibilities for training and enrichment, from shaping behaviours to promoting engagement, mental stimulation, and body awareness.

I plan to focus on proofing behaviours, incorporating scatter feeding for mental stimulation, and introducing body awareness and conditioning drills to keep Jasper mentally and physically healthy.

How Hand Feeding Benefits Reactive and Anxious Dogs

For dogs that struggle with reactivity or anxiety, hand feeding can be more than just a training tool—it can be a powerful way to reduce stress and build confidence. By hand feeding, you create a positive interaction with your dog while increasing focus and attention. This method also helps reactive dogs become more engaged with you during challenging situations, making it easier to redirect their attention to you, from triggers.

Hand feeding can also create a calming routine, giving anxious dogs a sense of security and predictability. Over time, this daily practice can help reduce stress and improve overall behaviour.

What I’ll Be Doing Instead

Now there are so many things you can hand feed for when it comes to dogs. Whether it be teaching new behaviours, strengthening others, conditioning, scatter feeding, socialising and so much more!

Now this comes at the perfect time because I’m also putting Jasper through a stress detox. By ditching the bowl I’ll be able to work with him on a more personal level to ensure he’s calm.

I’ll be splitting up the majority of Jasper’s food and hand feeding about ¾ throughout the day leaving the rest for a bowl feed so we can still focus on self control and calmness around his food.

For hand feeding there’s 3 things that I’ll be focusing on…

#1 – Proofing Behaviours

As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of behaviours that we still need to proof such as our loose leash walking, engagement on walks and generally reinforcing the right choices.

To avoid repeatedly rewarding with a mixture of high value rewards and having to reduce food intake I’ll be using Jasper’s food.

Jasper is also raw fed which in itself is quite high value anyway.

A quick trick for those of you hand feeding raw food, put it in ice cube trays and then freeze and reward. Make sure you use silicone treat pouches and gloves too.

My favourite dog training treat pouch for raw food is the Voilà silicone pouch. It’s easy to clean and carry, I highly recommend it! (Click the link below for a discount on it!!)

#2 – Scatter Feeding

Next is scatter feeding. This is more for mental stimulation, allowing Jasper to search for his food.

I’ll be using the majority for scatter feeding as I’ve seen it to have the most benefit along with sniffari dog walks to help Jasper’s reactivity, stress levels and generally just keeping Jasper balanced.

I also love using scatter feeding in different environments to help increase confidence and help create that neutrality in these environments (socialisation).

#3 – Body Awareness and Conditioning

As Jasper ages I think it is now time to start looking at things to help keep his mind and body healthy.

Along with helping in training and daily life, body awareness drills and conditioning will help with mobility and would also be a great new adventure for me and Jasper to go through.

I also feel Jasper is a bit of a goof and struggles to control his body and having some body awareness would be beneficial to him.

Final Thoughts

While I have nothing against feeding from a bowl, I believe that by ditching the bowl hand feeding can greatly benefit certain dogs, fostering a deeper connection and providing valuable training opportunities.

I’m not rushing to transition away from hand feeding, but as I see improvements, I’ll gradually integrate more bowl feeding into Jasper’s routine.

My long-term goal is to use play or toys as rewards, but for now, hand feeding remains the best option for Jasper’s needs.

Related Reading