Shiba eating habits

When first given his food Conker will lick it to death.  This is probably due to the salmon oil and glucosamine/chondriotin/MSM stuff I squirt on top if it, but even after it's gone he'll lick lick lick the meat then start to grab it with his teeth.

Depending on the size of the meat he'll either "toss" it into his mouth, where a dog grabs something then jerks their head back or whatever.  I personally HATE this behavior, it drives me insane.  Anyways, if the meat is big enough or somewhat frozen he'll chew it a few times but for the most part he just swallows it.  I can't tell you how many times I've had to fight with him while trying to get a piece that was too big to simply swallow out of his throat.  Mom always wonders why I do this but I'd rather have a living and not choking Shiba.

Cutting Conker's meat into smaller pieces only promotes him to eat faster.  I tried, he inhales it, and I hate doing it.  I don't like it when he downs an entire meal in five seconds so I give him a few smaller pieces and a few bigger pieces. Bones are always big enough that he has to chew them and if they are chicken bones I take most of the meat off so he won't just crunch and swallow hole.  Since for some reason he'll actually take his time to do that with non-meat covered bones.


So the other day I was downing some soup when something hit me.  I eat very similarly like my dog.  I take several spoon/fork fulls of whatever I'm eating at the time, chew a little then swallow.  I've almost chocked on pizza before, even rice.  Hmm, I really hope I didn't teach Conker to eat that way...  The only difference between us is that unlike him, I actually do chew EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth instead of just swallowing whole pieces.  And I don't thrash my head from side to side and throw chunks of food everywhere like he does.  I hate that behavior as well.

I've been meaning to go for a walk but lately the rain has been... constantly present.  I'm gonna try later on today though. Probably won't be very successful.  I hate this Northwest weather.  It sucks big time.