Hi Donna when I had to soften Patches food, I added warm water NOT hot water, to the kibble in bowl, when kibble was soft all the way thru, then I would drain out the excess water in bowl, I’d make sure my hands were clean & squeezed out all the excess water from the kibbles, you just cuff your hand with 1/2 the amount of the kibble & cuff your hand against the tilted bowl & the water drains out of the kibble, just make sure you drain the water out, dog isn’t licking & lapping up water quickly & swollen kibble same time it can cause stomach problems, even may cause bloat, so make sure you drain any water out, also the dog will wee more or not drink much of his water cause the kibbles have absorbed the water….
When the kibble is a really good & easy to digest, the kibbles will soften within 20-50mins, Taste Of The Wild & Canidae kibbles only take about 20mins & the kibbles are nice & soft all the way thru, stick 1/4 of the wet swollen kibbles in another bowl give them to him then when he’s finished, add some more of the swollen kibbles in his bowl, this way your slowing him down & teaching him to eat slowly or the other thing I did was I sat down next to Patch & only added about 10 dry kibbles in his bowl & I would say slowly, slow down, eat slowly then after he’d finished the 10 kibbles in the bowl, I’d add some more kibbles in his bowl, it would take about 5 mins to slowly feed him…it all depends if you have the time in the morning & at dinner time…
also you can buy those balls with a hole that release food when they roll them or kong’s & stuff a few big kong’s with a mix of kibble, cooked mashed veggies, yogurt stuff in the kongs & then freeze, excellent in the hot Summer months & if you work just before go to work hide a few kongs & that will keep her busy, there’d be a few Kong recipes on line, feed 1/2 the amount of his kibble & give him the rest of his kibble made up in a few kongs, I bought the maize toys that teaches them to lift the lid with their nose to get some kibble or they put their paw on the button & 1 kibble rolls down, I have a toy you put kibble in the rubber ball & he has to get the ball out of the T-shaped maize, it has 4 exits for ball to roll out or you can block them off & only have 1 or 2 exits, but he’s very smart & he’s learnt if I get my paw & shake the T-shape maize the ball rolls around & the kibbles fall out onto the carpet & then he gets his nose & pushes the T-shape maize & eats the kibbles on the carpet it’s slows down his eating, he’s busy playing & having fun, my cat even learnt how to get his kibbles out of the maize or when the kibble flew out, she’d eat them.. it’s good your dog loves his food, he’ll be very easy to train…
or buy a 12 whole muffin tray & add a few kibbles in each 12 cup muffin hole & he has to lick out the kibbles but I found the muffin tray moved around too much or throw the kibble out on the grass area & he walks around sniffing & eating his kibble, I like where I sit next to him, watch TV & just add a few kibbles in his elevated bowl at a time & he sits, eats slowly, he has learnt to be a very patient…
