How do you feed your dogs?

[ckay87]

Do you have a set feeding time or do you just keep the bowls filled all the time? Here's my dilemma - we have had our old lady, Pepper for 10 years now. We always just kept food in her bowl and she ate throughout the day. It has worked well. She doesn't overeat - maybe 1 or 2 bowls a day - and doesn't gain weight (I could learn a lesson here!) The only issue is that she has a slight aversion to eating in front of us. We adopted her from the pound when she was 2, so she had some quirky habits and fears like that.

Enter Murphy, our young, hearty dachshund. We've had him for a year and as he grows chunkier and chunkier, Pepper grows thinner and thinner. So I'm thinking, of course, that he's eating her food and I know I should set a specific feeding time. But I'm afraid that if I don't keep the bowls filled, Pepper won't eat at all. She's so used to "grazing" all day long that we would have to guard the bowl for hours (against Murph) til she decided to eat it. And she won't eat in front of us, so....

Just wondering what you all do. Wondering how hard it would be to force a mealtime on them. How hard is it to teach an old dog new tricks? Guess I'm just thinking out loud here..

 

[louey]

Well right now we have (4) dogs crazy I know. We feed them twice a day breakfast and dinner roughly at the same times everyday. We add a little wet food to the kibble and they gobble it right up. Feed them at the same time but keep an eye on them to be sure they are eating their own food you may have to separate them. Routine is good, if they walk away from the bowls then pick them up and they will realize that if they don't finish it the food will be gone. They will catch on

 

[The Mystery Machine]

2 dogs, feed at night around 6pm.

 

[mrsv98]

We have Labs, I put their bowls down and run for my life! We feed them twice a day and leftovers are never an issue. Actually it is good because if they leave any food I know something is wrong.

For your "grande dame" it may be that you have to give her a separate place to eat to keep the doxy out. The only other thing I can think of is to feed the doxy and train him that he eats only from that bowl and not the others but that could be tough. Good luck!

 

[MushyMushy]

We have the opposite problem. Our old girl is getting fatter and fatter and our youngest is skinny and has to fight for her food. I don't know what to tell you about the grazing because I've never had a dog that didn't make a pig of itself with food available all the time.

Where do you keep the food bowls? You might have to try a set feeding time for a week and see how it works out for the older dog. Maybe feed them twice a day. I bet she'll get hungry enough to adapt.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Oooh, that's a tricky situation. I'm not sure what I would do, other than feed on a set schedule and hope your older one conforms!

We feed on a schedule. Mine will eat until they puke and then eat some more, plus I like to monitor how much they are eating and if there are any problems. They always get fed when we get in from work, around 6pm, but if we're home all day we usually feed lunch too and just feed half at dinner. Keeps them guessing! =)

 

[Michelle67]

We only have one old man doggie, so we don't have competition issues...but we feed him three times a day on a people schedule. When we adopted him a couple of years ago we changed to a high quality dog food instead of the ultra cheap stuff he was eating, and he liked it so much he would gobble it all down at once and be starving (or so he thought) by evening. So we divide his daily ration into three servings and do it that way. We feed him in the (attached) garage, and he has a nice cushie dog bed out there in case he hangs out for awhile before he feels like eating. Is there any place your old gal would feel comfie hanging out for an hour or two where she wouldn't feel punished and could eat when she got around to it? Maybe that would give her time to eat without competing for her food.

 

[ckay87]

Thanks everyone, this is all good advice. Maybe I will mix the dry with some soft food so that she eats it all up and is done with it. Then I'll put the bowls away. She won't starve, I know that. And he definitely needs to cut back and stay away from her food! That pic in my signature of him....he's not so little anymore!

 

[marlynnp]

You're trying to let a dachshund control their own eating!!!


whew! Thanks I needed a good laugh.
I've had dachsies for 25+ years and never had one that would leave any food alone. Right now I have two, they get fed breakfast and dinner (about 12 hours apart) and they are fine!

 

[hiwaygal]

Thanks everyone, this is all good advice. Maybe I will mix the dry with some soft food so that she eats it all up and is done with it. Then I'll put the bowls away. She won't starve, I know that. And he definitely needs to cut back and stay away from her food! That pic in my signature of him....he's not so little anymore!

She'll quickly learn to eat it when it's there. You might want to give her a "private space" to eat in though (like a crate, perhaps?)

We have three dogs...they are fed twice a day generally at the same time. They have been increasingly stubborn lately about eating their kibble. And I have gotten very quick about picking it up. The hard part is not feeling guilty later when I know they have to be hungry.

 

[ckay87]

You're trying to let a dachshund control their own eating!!!


whew! Thanks I needed a good laugh.
I've had dachsies for 25+ years and never had one that would leave any food alone. Right now I have two, they get fed breakfast and dinner (about 12 hours apart) and they are fine!

Aint that the truth! And my old girl is just wasting away in the wake of his gale-force eating!

 

[TanyaLovesPooh]

We have a Bichon that we feed twice a day. He gets half his recommended amount at breakfast and half at dinner. We have done this since he was a puppy and have never changed. He is 6 years old today!!

 

[sunlver]

We have 4 dogs, 2 that I own, and 2 foster dogs. They get fed twice a day. We NEVER leave food down all day. My dogs eat as soon as their food is put down. When they finish I pick up all bowls. My 2 foster dogs eat intheir crates, my one foster dog will fight over food. She is not let out of her crate until other dogs are done. Normally its less then 5 minutes.
We do this around 7:30am and aroudn 5pm.

I also dogsit out of my house. I have customers who are use to their food being down all day.. I tell the owners it can not happen in this house, because if they walked away, Id have 4 other dogs come and eat right behind them..The new dogs learn quick. If I have a doggie customer who likes to nibble through out the day, once their food is picked up and not put down until 5pm, they LEARN quickly to eat it in one sitting

I once had a vet tell me its better for the dogs to have food put down twice a day, then to leave out all day. The vet said to give a time limit, whether its 10 minutes or 20 or whatever, once the time is over, all food is picked up and put away until thenext meal.

 

[puffkin]

I grew up in a Beagle household and we always let our dogs graze. We never had any issues with weight.

We got a beagle and tried the same approach. Nope, our Murphy just kept eating and eating. So, at a year old we started feeding him once a day (morning). Good ole Murphy was still gaining weight so we cut back his food. Still gaining weight and having other issues (uncontrollable licking, ear infections, etc) and FINALLY they diagnosed him with an underactive thyroid.

Now he takes medication twice a day with food, so he gets fed morning and evening or ROUGHLY 12 hours apart. We can be a little more generous with how much we give him, but we still can't leave food out for him or he would devour it.

It isn't a real issue except when we go on vacation and my dad watches him. They have a grazing beagle who has some weird food habits (trust me, don't ask). Poor Snooper starves to death for the first few days until he starts eating when my dad is away at work (and he is penned up in his cage). When my dad is home the food is locked up so that Murphy can't get to it and poor Snooper has to suffer until my dad either goes away or gives him alone time with his food. Usually the first few days he won't eat, but then he gets the hang of it.

In your situation I would just put her food out when you feed Murphy and put her in a separate area. Eventually she will figure it out.

 

[moredisneyplease]

We're free feeders here. The food is out all day long and they eat when they're hungry..........never, ever had a weight problem w/ any of the dogs over the years

 

[VirtuallyMe]

generally we do twice a day in the bowl -usually breakfast and then again in the evening.

But if we go away for the weekend and the dog stays home- we fill larger bowls and he will eat what he needs and no more.

In the past I've had dogs that would eat anything and everything in sight and others who come and go.

Now cats lol- I have never had problem with cats overeating- except when we had one who had to have moist food and the others had dry or soft- and they'd all want to eat the moist food- But I have had cats turn their noses at old food that sat for a while- one cat had to watch us tear open the tender viddles package and pour it into the bowl or he didn't eat- of course he wasn't smart enough to realize that we'd only pour some of the pouch and fold it over and just re-tear it to feed him a second time each day. I grew up with spoiled cats though.

 

[LaurieG]

we have a 5 year old lab and if I set out 50lbs of food he would kill himself trying to eat it all! We feed at 6am and 6pm

 

[Stacerita]

We keep the bowls filled. In the morning we make sure they are filled. Usually our two dogs don't even finish the bowls that are out for them. They are grazers and it works for us.

 

[Chicago526]

Let me put it to you this way.

One day a friend of mine stoped by to hang out. She had stoped at a drive through on her way to my place to grab lunch (I'd already eaten). She was sitting on my couch munching on her chicken sandwich. Missy, my dog, walks between my friend on the couch and the coffee table. My friend had her arm resting on her knee, sandwich in hand. As calmly as you please, as Missy is walking by, she turns her head, picks the chicken out from between the buns, eats it in one gulp, all while still walking past. It was a drive-by chicken stealing! Fortunatly my friend is a dog person and thought it was hysterical!

Needless, to say, we can't free-feed Missy, she'd eat herself sick and then eat some more. She gets fed dog food in the morning and gets table scraps at night (vet said that's okay as long as it's lean lightly seasoned meats and plain veggies, which is what we usually eat anyway).

 

[newbydisney]

We have 2 dogs. We feed them once a day at 6 ish...Big dog outside little dog inside...Big dog eats all his food and then comes inside ..little dog nibbles but has learned if he delays too long sooner or later Big dog will eat his ( little dogs) food too.although he ( Bid Dog) often retrains himself for several hours..he ( Big Dog)knows its not his ...he ( Big DOg) also knows the tennis balls are not his the little frisbee is not his..the swimming pool is not his ( thats ok he hates water anyway)..the sofa is not his ..the bed is not his..he has basically accepted that little dogs get all the breaks around the house. THEY DO NOT HOWEVER get to go to the barn! That is a big dog activity and makes all other activities pale in comparison. He comes home and tells Little dog what a great time he had , he gloats and struts and you can hear him saying in dog talk...
haha I was out all day running and smelling things ...go play with your silly ball little dog and when you a napping upon the couch I shall finish your dinner!!
...you could try this...