what's your feeding schedule?

[mopinko]

much as i love the alpha points i get for dishing out the food, with a pup here, i am thinking i will just do free feeding for a while.
i have mostly fed once a day. i feel like i am constantly managing the pack here.
well, this too shall pass, but i thought i would see what folks think.

[Coyote_Bandit]

1. Feeding is a really big issue here

I have a young dog (not quite 2 years) and an old renal failure dog. The old dog is officially considered anorexic and is underweight. I try really hard to get him to eat. The young dog is fed whenever the old dog is fed.

The morning rountine involves dispensing most of his daily meds which include a prescription anti-nausea med and a prescription antacid. According to the vet it should take about 30 minutes for those to become effective at which time the dog should be willing to eat. In reality, I've discovered that if I wait an hour or hour and a half the dog realizes he is hungry and eats far better than if I try to feed him a half hour after giving meds.

There's no predicting what he will actually eat. He generally gets to choose between some canned prescription dog food, some Mother Hubbard organic treats, some shredded chicken breast, some dehydrated sweet potatoes that have been rehydrated with chicken broth, and some cooked broccoli or spinach. He might eat a mix of these foods. Or he might eat broccoli one meal, chicken the next and dog food the next. There is no predicting. Whatever he eats is followed by a dollop of gruel (recovery food mixed with nutrical and some other stuff). He gets a Nutrical treat everyday.

If the old dog looks remotely interested in food it is offered - regardless of the time of day.

When I am gone during the day the young dog is crated and the old dog has treats and dry food left down for him. Just in case he gets hungry and decides to eat a bite or two. Sometimes it happens.

I feed again in the evening - after dispensing another couple of meds. Same routine as before.

My old renal dog is living on borrowed time but is stable and dong pretty well for the shape he's in at the moment. Yes, I know that could change tomorrow.



I have left food down for free feeding in the past. I found that worked ok with a single dog that was not predisposed to overeat. I've not had much success leaving food down with multiple dogs. It seemed to foster problems with food protection/aggression among the dogs. I had one dominant little terrier that needed daily reminders of just who was the boss. The most effective way I ever found to do that was to make him aware that I controlled all his resources. Based on my own expereince I am not a fan of free feeding. Nor am I particularly fond of feeding only once a day. I prefer to feed twice a day about 12 hours apart. It has worked well when I've been able to do it consistently.

[TheCruces]

2. My dog is free-fed

She's outside while I'm at work and she has outside food and water. And she has a bowl in the kitchen, as well.

I'd keep her inside, but she's really terrible about not holding it if nobody's home. If somebody's home, she's GREAT about going to the door. And I tried crating, but she apparently howls for hours, if crated. So she's a yard dog while I'm at work, and she seems to not mind it at all. Honestly, I'd prefer to have a whole big back yard than a little crate, too.

[TorchTheWitch]

3. free feeding is a good way to get a fat dog

Puppies in particular will eat and eat and eat till they explode. Without a feeding schedule how do you time when he needs to go outside to do his business as well? With puppies the one thing I've noticed is that they ALWAYS act like they haven't eaten in a week.

Personally, I prefer feeding twice a day rather than once a day at any age. I find there's less digestive problems that way, but that's just my experience. Some dogs are fine with feeding once a day.... I figure if it works for the dog and the human once a day or two or even three times a day is fine. I also only give treats as a reward for something even if it's just to follow a simple sit command. I've found that earning food whether it's a regular meal or a treat gains big points in alpha status for the human. Like I said, doesn't have to be anything special - just following a simple sit command will do - but in the mind of a dog it seems to mean a lot.

Of course, I only ever have one dog at a time, so feeding time is no big thing for me. I rather like how Ceasar Milan does pack feeding time... everyone knows when it's chow time, they have to give him space to dole out the chow, and the first one to be given their chow is the one that's the most calm and waiting patiently, and the same for each consecutive dog. It's cool how the dogs watch each other to see what it is that they're doing in order to be given priority of eating first, and they DO copy the behavior. There's several videos on the National Geographic website that show how he does this, but you would probably have to watch a lot of them to see which ones have him doing that.

[mopinko]

4. i have seen cesar dole out the food.

lately we have been doing single bowl, and as long as there is no growling, they can sort it out themselves. i am always right there to send anybody growling or bogarting away.

this puppy does not seem to have that "in one end out the other minutes later" thing AT ALL. he is driving me a little nuts. maybe he is turning every crumb into bully, but he just doesn't get all urgent for me. pain.

just so much to juggle around here these days.

[TorchTheWitch]

5. I think the "terrible two's" stage is the worst

Except with dogs it tends to come around 8 or 9 months of age and can last for several years. That's the age they always seem to start testing what they can get away with and getting clever about secretly getting into mischief making... and they seem to be in perpetual hyper mode and never sleep anymore. ZOOOOOM.... ZOOOOOM!!!.... everywhere all the time making me nutso. Damn, if I could tap into that energy, bottle and sell it!

One great big beastie is PLENTY for me. I'd lose my marbles trying to deal with more than one at a time! Lord have mercy, I'd be crazy from trying to keep up with the sneaky mischief making in two places or more all at the same time!

Oh geez... I just peeked on what the beastie is up to out in the yard and he's digging a new crater again... right NEXT TO the one I just filled in a few minutes ago! BAH! And of course, he had to fling the dirt all over the walkway, so now again I need both the shovel and the broom. What IS it with the beast and dirt???

[get the red out]

8. Depends on the dog

Our dog isn't voracious about dog food, so I give her a bowl in the morning and sometimes she eats some then and the rest at night, or some later on and then at night, or just waits until evening and eats. She's quite lean and healthy.

The problem with Layla is that she wants to bum food from my husband and he has trouble resisting. Sigh, she has him too well trained. I do keep after him to limit the treats though. She's still a lean-mean little speed demon.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. I think you will have to test this

free-feeding to make sure it will work. Sometimes it will, but sometimes it doesn't. If one of the dogs eats all the food as soon as it is put out, it just won't work. You also cannot monitor the amount of food the dogs are getting. I think it is better to feed them from separate bowls, and only give the amount to each that is recommended. I always worry about overweight, as well as a time when one of them will need a special food. Or worse, one gains too much and the other doesn't. I also think that twice a day feeding is better on them than just once a day----I know that it isn't good for our tummies for only eat one meal a day.

Good luck.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. We've always free fed them.

We never had to deal with food competition and they have no problems with sharing - food and anything else.

We also have always deferred to the doggie alpha (as opposed to the human alphas) with the first treat when we give them out. They all know they will get their treat and it seems to make the alphas better at enforcing pack "civility".

But we have a 17 lb dog who should be 10 . . . 12 at most. That borders on being morbidly obese. Because of her, all the dogs now get fed on a schedule and in separate places. The big dogs get their food set up high off the ground to make it harder for the Roly Poly to reach it.

Free feeding was much easier and, honestly, the dogs seemed happier - although I admit I could be just imagining that.

[mopinko]

10. have you looked at foraging toys?

i have a kong wobbler, and several other foraging toys. the wobbler in particular drops food out at a very slow rate. slow her down, maybe.

[Texasgal]

9. We do morning and evening

We also stop water around nine PM or so that we can get a restful nights sleep without them needing to go out at 2:00 AM! Our babies have full run of the house during the day time while we are at work. By doing the AM/PM feeding they do their business outside at the right times!

My old 15 year old diva cat gets food 'round the clock though. If I ever tried to get her on a schedule she'd probably kill me in my sleep!

[newfie11]

11. twice a day

raw for breakfast and grain free kibble for supper.

[Meiko]

12. I have had two Yorke's

I have free fed them both, never had any weight problems or scheduling issues with dogs going to the bathroom. They both did really well.