We have an English Springer x Cocker Spaniel called Charlie. Charlie is 13 weeks old and thriving on a barf diet. A large percentage of his food consists of RMBs - no problem - but when he has other food such as vegetable meals or any other more 'mushy' foods one of us has to sit next to him on the floor holding his ears back so they don't sit in the food! I've tried different food bowls but no joy I think because he's still young , and the small, lighter bowls that would be suitable tend to get pushed around the kitchen unless held down. Does anyone have any ideas? Am thinking of making a sort of 'ear band'! At the moment it's quite cool here in Queensland but come summer, Charlie's ears might start attracting flies etc even though we wipe any food off them after meals.
Hope someone can help.

Have you thought about using a snood the same as we use on our Afghan hounds to keep their ears and top nots out of their food .

hehehe, u do need some help there, i feed raw, and my lurcher pup can get the mush everywhere, he is not even an owner of silly ears!!!

U can get special spaniel bowls, they have high steep sides on the outside, so the face goes in, but the ears do not.
Also, just try using either a snood as mentioned above, or a hair scrunchy, a thick soft one is best.

Yes, keep those ears clean or it will be REALLY yucky in summer!

Em

Thank you for your suggestions - I like the idea of the snood (is it like a bonnet?) but have never seen one - guess I could make one if I could see a picture. Re the spaniel bowl - yes, that's what I need to get but he's still too small and was hoping to improvise until then.
Cheers
Canchi

Missed the bit about the scrunchy - brilliant! Will give that a go today, failing that, will try a shower cap!
Canchi

With him only being a baby you could try using pop socks with the toe end cut off and that would in effect act like a snood, pop socks as in like panty hose ,but socks.And you fit it by sliding over the head , so that it sits just in front of the ears and completely envelopes the ears,down towards the collar area, hope this helps

Thank you Ace - I know exactly what you mean and will try this out later today when I feed Charlie. Will let you know how it went!

You can buy special bowls for long eared dogs so their ears fall either side of the bowl . They are very deep and not very wide . This would be the easiest solution I think. Most bigger pet stores have them - I would buy a metal one though, plastic is not recommended for food/water bowls.

I use a sock on my cockers ears when she is eating, it is cheaper than going out and buying something, when it does the same job as a sock :D

And some still manage to get their ears in with proper Spaniel bowls:rolleyes:
:D

Pam n the guess who boys

Poor Charlie - what an indignity! Gave him lunch today wearing a snood (well, a cut down pair of black tights) and he looked like a particularly unsavoury bank robber! His ears were all scrunched up - reminded me of old boxers' (not the dogs) cauliflower ears! Still, it worked a treat and I didn't have to sit on the floor with him holding his ears whilst he ate. After the first few seconds he didn't even seem to notice it and just tucked into his meal. So thank you everyone.