Although, I know there are people who just keep their dogs' feeding dish full (dry food) to allow them to eat whenever the pet chooses. I think this creates a bad eating habit and can lead to weight problems. My dogs are fed twice a day, 1 cup each once in the morning and 1/2 cup each once after dinner and their walk. I usually mix some table scraps with their second feeding.
08-10-2012, 10:33 PM, (This post was last modified: 08-10-2012, 10:35 PM by haopee.)
I feed them twice- morning and early evening. However, feeding is kind of different in my sister's place. They are being fed one heavy meal, once a day. Although she does not allow this, the dogs do not eat during mornings reason why they started giving them only once.
But now, since I am here, I try to practice feeding twice a day because it lessens their proneness to bloat. It's also easier to predict when they go potty by doing so.
I feed twice a day, morning and evening. I would free-feed if one of my dogs wasn't rabidly food orientated. Before the arrival of our second dog, we would free feed the one we had. Free feeding actually does the opposite of weight gain, if done with a dog that doesn't go completely insane when it gets a whiff of food. Dogs that do that, will eat and eat until they puke, and then eat some more. That's when you see the overweight issue happen.
Free feeding a dog who will only eat when they're hungry, means they will only take what they NEED, and eat considerably less. They realise they have a reliable food source, and therefore don't stuff themselves silly.
I feed my dog three times a day. Two full meals at breakfast and dinner, then a half meal at lunch. She was underweight for the first two years and this is how I maintain her weight. Jack Russell's are high energy. I guess she burns off a lot of calories in the day. I feel I'm better able to control what she eats when I have set meal times. Also, it's much easier to tell if there is a health issue. It can be hard to know if your dog isn't eating if they don't normally empty their bowl at meal times.
It seems to me that many dogs who pick at their food all day are getting fed people food on the side. At least, that is what I've seen from family and friends. They complain that their dog doesn't really care for its' dog food, but then they feed it scraps all day long. Who would feel like eating after all that extra food?
My Lab always helped the visiting dogs eat their meals. It was comical when my brother's dog would stay with me. At home, he ate his food all day. I couldn't do that at my house because my Lab would have gotten two dinners.
She would sit behind her cousin and wait. She'd stare at him until he would eat his food. She was good enough that she would not attempt to eat out of the bowl while he was standing there. I'd have to snatch the bowl up if he decided he didn't want it though. Usually, by the second day, he adapted to our routine. It was a lot of pressure having a 75 lb. Lab staring at you until you finished eating.
My dog is fed all through out the day. We live in a small Bed and Breakfast and this means that she gets a lot of scrap food. But we only do this in small portions and she is never allowed to beg! There is nothing as off putting trying to eat your meal when those cute little eyes are looking back at you and making you feel guilty.
I just keep my dog dishes full most of the time. Between three dogs, they eat it quite quickly. One of my dogs is overweight, but the other two play so much that despite eating a lot they have a good physique. It would be difficult for me to feed the dogs any other way, because they'd just eat eachother's food.. gluttons.
I only feed my dogs once a day and then give them a large dog biscuits when they wake up and when they go to bed. I've tried feeding them more than once but it resulted in them waking too early because they were hungry or getting me up in the night because they needed to go out. They are quite happy in their routine and let me know when they want feeding!
Twice daily. When I had larger dogs, I did this to prevent gastric torsion. Now, with smaller dogs, I still prefer it so that when they become active and run around like crazy, they don't have an overfull tummy and get sick.
All of my dogs are free fed. I keep their bowls filled with food all day and make sure they have plenty of water. They don't go insane and eat all of their food at once so overweight issues are nonexistent (Actually, at the risk of sounding snobby, I can confidently say that all of my dogs are in perfect health).
I completely agree with you on the first part of your question.
When I had a dog, I'd feed her in the morning, a snack in the afternoon (if I was home) and then food in the evening before her walk. Anything more would be in excess or as a treat for a special day of hers (I.E. birthday).[/php]
I make his food at home and there's no way it can sit in a bowl throughout the day without going bad and potentially making him sick. Even if he decides he's not hungry in the morning, I give it 45 minutes or so and put it in the fridge for later. He'll ask for it when he's ready. And then he'll still want his dinnertime feeding as well.
Usually for me, it's 3 times a day. Sometimes he may get a snack or something if he's been good, but we keep it at 3 times a day at the standard. He is supplied with water as well. Now when my dog decides to eat is a different story, but most of the time my dog will alert me if my dog needs to be fed or anything like that and i'll check to see if or not it is okay to go ahead and start the feeding or not.
I have one dog that would eat and eat and eat until she threw up if I left food down all the time and one dog that's finicky and likes to eat on her own timeframe. It's kind of a pain.
We feed them twice, though. They both weigh about 30 pounds and get 1/2 cup dry food in the AM and in the evening. Our older dog, a 14 year old Pug, has to get arthritis meds twice a day and she will only take them if we hide them in her food.
