Feeding routines

When we first bought our 10 week old pups, we did the usual trick of feeding them to develop a routine. Of course, puppies love food so they used to tuck into it whenever it appeared. Frank ate his biscuits one by one and took forever - Arnie cleaned up everything in sight including Frank's food until we put a stop to that. Funnily enough, as time has passed, Arnie doesn't bother with Frank's food any more. In fact, we put out biscuits and they don't even show any interest. They have settled into a routine of "self service". Their bikkies can sit there all day or they just snack their way through at leisure. I must admit this is a far cry from demand feeding. You probably know the drill .... doing cartwheels when you arrive home until you fill up the bowls I was wondering if anyone else's dogs are on a self serve regime or is this unusual, particuarly as there are two dogs?

 

For me it would be unsual. My dog, Sarge, would have to wheeled around in a wheel barrow! He has the goldfish mentality... eat till you burst! I have to schedule his feedings and watch the amount. You are very lucky! What kind of dogs are Frank and Arnie

 

All of my dogs are chow hounds so we have a feeding regimine... PLUS my dogs are large breed dogs and I do everything in my power to keep Bloat out of the equasion...

 

Sara- I agree on the Bloat thing. I'm so glad Duke's Dad posted that article yesterday. Especially since the example used was a Shepherd! :shock:

 

When Nala was on kibble and the only dog, she would graze throughout the day. And she is a chow hound! It was very odd. Usually when you have two (or more) dogs, they eat their food all at once so the other won't get to it first.

Now that the dogs are rawfed, they are quite excited about feeding time. They get quite anxious and demanding in the morning, so I have had to put a stop to it. If they are being out of control or barking/whining, I stop my preparations and go sit down for a couple of minutes. They're learning.

I actually have tried to vary our feeding times somewhat so the dogs don't pester me at a particular time. It pretty much works. They only go ballistic when I go to the doggie fridge and get out their food.

I keep my dogs separate when feeding. Nala wants BOTH dinners and I have a feeling we would have fights if I did not. Pups being raised together might be a different matter, though. Our last dogs were littermates and we fed them at the same time without separating them. They just each wolfed their food down and left the other dog alone.


Jamiya

 

In the mornings I give my dogs their vitamins first thing. They think it's a "treat." Then they get a cup of kibble.

In the evening, they get their kibble mixed with semi-raw organ food. They wolf that down at a fast pace, then mutally agree to switch bowls to finish whatever the other didn't eat. Never any fights because this is something they decided to do between the two of them. It's really quite cute.

Then when they're done polishing off their food, they both go into the cat room to see if the cats have any leftovers.

Same ritual day after day.

 

I, too, did the feeding regime with Zeke as a puppy. It seems all the literature kept insisting to have scheduled feedings. It got to be a pain. He would just eat a little and walk away. Eventually I just left a bowl of food out and he just eats when he feels like it. I had two Great Danes also, and they were also on the grazing schedule. The two of them would have mega food out and ate when they wanted and neither seemed to gain or lose weight.

 

Feeding routine:

Feed Riot my big Boerboel 3 cups in the morning

Feed Askari, and Riot around noon 3 cups, Monty 2 cups and Hunnyjade 1 1/2 cups

Feed Askari 4 cups, Riot 3 cups, Monty and Hunnyjade 2 cups around 8pm at bedtime...

Riot get's 9 cups a day, Askari 8, Monty 4 and Hunnyjade 3 1/2.

I go through 40lbs of food a week--$100.00 a month on dog food feeding Nutro MAX adult large breed...

Treats in between and when I get the Boerboels running and pulling they'll each get an egg and 1/2 cup of rice if they start losing weight.

 

that sounds exactly like what happened with my dog. he used to gorge on his food but somehow along the way he just started nibbling bits here and there...

 

I free feed mine. My poms graze all day, but everything I have read states they need several small meals since they do not eat that much at one time. My husky grazes during the day but at night shewill sit down and eat a whole meal. None of them have any wieght issues so I have been fortunate. I tried the schedule thing but they all want to eat out of the same bowl. Now they all eat out of the same bowl, i cannot get them to use seperate bowls, have tried that many many times doesnt work lol.

 

My two 2 yr. old akitas, Ricky & Lucy (brother & sister) have always eaten out of the same bowl. We keep the bowl full and they eat at will and are not overweight. They LOVE their treats and frequently scratch on the closet door where we keep them....lol

 

Sarge'smom, Arnie and Frank are cross breeds - bought them from the local shelter (RSPCA) in Australia. There's a pic under the subject "Here's the boys finally .... I think" which I posted some time ago. We're really not quite sure what either of them have in them - but they're both adorable. On the food scene, it's a different matter when there's treats involved - it's 100% attention and they both definitely regard their treats as "hands off" Guess they're really a bit like kids and good wholesome meals -v- lollies :lol:

 

bpaley12 - that's really cute about scratching on the cupboard door - they don't miss much eh
My cat (who I might mention costs us in winter, around $15 per week -v- my 2 big dogs at about $35/3 weeks) sits in front of the pantry where the cat food resides or simply plonks himself in front of the cat bowls and looks over his shoulder until you get the message!

Following various postings, it seems that "dry" food seems to be the overwhelming diet for most of the dogs. My 2 now are the first to be fed on just dry (+ treats). I used to think it was cruel to feed dogs on just dry - how boring for them. I superimposed my human instincts that variety is the spice of life and "how would you like to eat the same thing every night". Apart from that, I couldn't imagine that dry food alone would contain all the nutrients necessary. Well, when we got these two pups, the RSPCA recommended we feed them on dry. The local pet store introduced us to a brand called "Bonny". I hate to admit it, but I don't think I could have two healthier dogs and their coats are so shiny and healthy. I most certainly am now a strong advocate for dry..... but still have to slip in those treats from time to time!!

 

gailau- I thought the same about dry food, but recently when Sarge got Parvo (and survivied!) the vet told me (as well as Duke's Dad) that large breed dogs are susceptible to "bloat" which can kill them and dry food is the culprit. So, we switched to canned simply because I cannot get a consistent answer on what dry food might be ok for large breed dogs. You are so lucky you found one!