Does your dog have food available all the time or only at "meal" times? I'm wondering because I don't want to over feed Lucky (or Bean when he comes home). Lucky used to get about 1 1/2 cups of dry food a day, and some day he wouldn't finish it but it would still be in his food dish. We just always made sure he had food. Lately (like the last month) he's finishing his food every day, but I haven't been giving him more because he's already stocky (not fat, but he sure is solid!) and I don't want him to be overweight. So for about the past week I've been giving him about 3/4 of a cup in the morning which he eats right up and then he gets another 3/4 of a cup when we eat dinner, which he also eats right away. He then looks at us like, Hey--don't I get anymore??? lol So how do you feed your dogs??? I'm thinking of calling the vet or the breeder we got Lucky from and asking how much food he should be getting a day. He's already pretty big for his breed. He's 22lbs and most website I've found say mini-schnauzers should top out at about 18. His breeder did say her dogs usually run about 20lbs, though. Any thoughts???

By Luvn29 on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 12:46 pm:

Well, our cocker spaniel has food available all of the time, and that's how it's been since we've had her. She never over eats. She only eats a little at a time, and only when she's hungry. But I know some dogs will always eat whatever's available so this won't work. If I walk by her food bowl, and it's empty, I refill it. Even if it is right before I go to bed. And she isn't overweight at all.

By Karefl on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 01:16 pm:

I feed once in the morning & once at night.

By Marcia on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 01:19 pm:

I leave it out for my shihtzu/terrier all the time, and did the same for my maltipoo. It's always worked well for us, and the dogs are/were not overweight.

By Reds9298 on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 01:22 pm:

Once in the morning and once at night for both dogs. One is not a a good eater and rarely finishes a meal in one sitting, so then I pick her food up so the other dog doesn't eat it when she's not looking.

Water is out all the time.

By Breann on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 02:11 pm:

All of our animals have always had 24/7 access to food and water. We haven't had a problem with them overeating.
If we did, then maybe we'd change it.
We currently just have one cat, and he has 24/7 access to his food and water.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 02:15 pm:

I think Adena and Marcia, and others who leave food out, are very lucky. Most dogs will happily overeat, and eat stuff they shouldn't, at every chance. I would urge you to contact the breeder and find out what quantity and what kind of food you should be feeding, and also ask about the leaving out or twice a day issue. For us, Sascha finishes up her bowl in about 15 seconds, twice a day, and there is no question of leaving it out (if there was anything to leave out) because the cat thinks dog food is yummy and Sascha is a bit protective about her food. With a Rottweiler, even a bit protective is a lot of teeth. Because Sascha will eat everything in sight, we keep a bowl of cat kibble on the table, where the dog can't reach it but the cat can get up, for the cat to graze during the day - cats don't often overeat.

I read an article in Parade magazine a couple of weeks ago about dog eating habits and dogowner feeding habits. The thrust of the article is that most pet dogs are at least a bit overweight, a lot even more so, and it is dangerous to their health. One neat idea was to use a small piece of kibble for a treat when you want to treat or are training the dog - the dog doesn't care about the size of the treat, just that there is a treat. Sascha is in physical therapy right now, recovering from her second ACL surgery (other hind leg), and the vet doing the PT uses single Cheerios pieces as encouragement and treats. It is so funny to see Sascha walking on the treadmill, stretching her neck out and head up for a little bitty Cheerios piece.

(Oh, and Sascha is badly overweight - got up to 119# at one point, and the vet says she should be no more than 85#, so she is now on a special diet, only one piece of dog or cat kibble as a treat once or twice a day, and has lost about 5# so far.)

By Kaye on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 02:36 pm:

We feed our dog twice a day, and I am not quite sure on the amount. I think it is 3/4 a cup. I feed her according to the dog food bag and check in on occasion to make sure where we are. I have a golden and she will eat till the food is gone, really, no matter the amount. I did find out just recently that she was able to get into the dog food. I was curious as to why she wasn't always eating right away, only to learn at night she had been eating WAY more than she should of been.

By Conni on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 02:41 pm:

lol Ginny, I bet that is cute too watch.

Cat, when our dogs were puppies seems like they ate a certain amt of food 2x per day (per our breeder). Now that they are grown they get fed 1x per day (in the morning). We have large mostly outdoor dogs though. They get 1 scoop each (our scoop is a med metal bowl- it is quite a lot of food per dog). We give treats throughout the day (especially in the evening when we are all home and playing with the dogs). I do make them work for any treats they get. *Sit* treat, *down* (lay down) treat, *speak* treat, etc... You get the idea. lol I also make them *be nice* when my hand is getting close to their mouth with a treat in it- they will very gently and slowly take the treat from my hand. Otherwise, they have nipped my fingers before. lol The vet commented on my yellow lab this morning, about how mannerly she was taking treats from the vet. Proud MOM moment. lol We have been trying to teach them to SIT and WAIT until I have poured the food in each of their bowls. I dont want them to eat until I say *EAT*. I am starting to lose hope they will ever learn it tho. lol One of these days...

Our dogs also get some table scraps a couple times a week in the evening. Yeah, I know, it can be a bad thing to do...

I would definitely talk with your breeder about the puppy. Ask her how she feeds her adult dogs as well and then ask your vet too if you still have questions.

By Cat on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 02:44 pm:

I just talked to his breeder (who is also his groomer, so she sees him every 2-3 months!) and she thinks he looks great and to just keep feeding him like we are. She said if he starts acting like he's getting lazy and fat, cut him back and if he starts acting weak and loosing weight, give him more. Then she said, "Too bad we can't do that with ourselves!" lol I do think since the weather's warming up (for now anyway, we usually get some snow in March) we are going to start taking him for more walks. Then of course, when we get in the new house he'll have a LOT more back yard to run in! The breeder/groomer did say she's looking forward to meeting Bean and that usually if the first dog is pretty good they will teach the new puppy well. She said, "I hope you get as lucky with this one as you did with Lucky!" She also said if the people we're getting Bean from mess up his haircut to bring him in and she'll touch him up for us.

By Jackie on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 02:45 pm:

Ok I havent read all the responses yet. We put food down twice a day here. If they dont eat it all, they wait until dinner time. The vet once told us this is a good way to do it, for one thing it prevents over eating.Because we have so many dogs coming and going, keeping food out all day is not an option for us. Even the customers who come here who are use to having food out all day learn quickly that when the food is put down they will eat it, otherwise they wait until dinner time. I guess leaving food out all day would work fine for one dog. But, if there is more then one dog, they tend to eat each others food, it happens here.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 03:05 pm:

Jasmine usually eats, when the kids come home from school. The twice a day thing, just doesn't work here, since she usually only will eat, when the kids are home, and we just don't have time to sit there, in the morning. She does fine, though. She eats about 1-1/2 cups of food/day.

By Tink on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 03:12 pm:

We feed our dog on demand. If the bowl is empty, we fill it back up but we only have the one dog. I doubt she eats more than a cup of food each day and is definitely not overweight. I do find the cats nibbling out of her bowl every once in a while.

By Jewlz on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 03:14 pm:

We have an automatic feeder for water and food. The dogs have access to this 24 hours a day. Our lab was about 5 pounds over weight but was usually in the winter time. The bull terreir is at the perfect weight as the vet said. he eats a mouth ful or two and then walks away. He likes to eat when someone is around. The chiauaha is funny. She gets one peice and takes off running to be with everyone no matter where we are. then sits there crunching it. She then runs to get another peice and brings it back. we laff at her alot. She is far from over weight. She is also a puppy and chiahahu .sorry spelling is wrong. thats one of those words even if it was in front of me id still spell wrong.

By Tayjar on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 03:15 pm:

We fill their food bowls up every morning and set them out. Since we have 3 dogs, it seems there is always a dog nibbling. One of our dogs will only eat at night in the dark. Don't know why but that's her little quirk.

We have never had an issue with our dogs overeating or showing food aggression. Maybe if we did we would change the way we do things. But, it's worked this way for almost 15 years.

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 05:06 pm:

We use a automatic feeder for water and food for both the cats and the dogs. With 3 dogs and 4 cats, it is the only way to stay on top of things. The dogs are all normal weight for their breed. Well, Cosmo is huge but not fat The dogs run and play a lot so they get a lot of exercise.
Now, the cats are all a bit pudgy. We figure they are enjoying the good life. They were all starving strays when we got them. They just eat & sleep. I recently changed their food to one for overweight cats.

By Annie2 on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 10:25 pm:

We feed our sheperd once a day in the evening. He gets two scoops, plus a half can of wet and table scraps, if there are some; mixed with warm water to make gravy. We also fed our older dog once a day but she got 1/2 scoop, a bit of can and warm water to make gravy. No scraps for her because she was less active and overweight.

We were free-feeding our new puppy since Dec but have now started feeding him in the morning and when our other dog eats in the evening. If he is sniffing around his bowl midday I will add some more kibble. He will never be getting wet food or scraps.

I have to pick up the cat's bowl if there is food in there, we feed her on demand, because the puppy loves cat food.

By Marcia on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 11:58 pm:

I think a lot of it is a difference between large and small dogs. My dog is about 17 lbs, and the one we just lost was only 7 lbs. A small bowl of food would easily last them both a couple of days. They just nibble at it when they feel like it.
We had large dogs when I was a kid, and those things could eat a can of dog food without chewing. LOL My dogs only have kibble.

By Karen~moderator on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 07:38 am:

Most *professional* pet people will tell you not to leave the food down all the time because a lot of dogs, particularly puppies, will overeat and make themselves sick or whatever.

We leave Kali's food down all the time and she never eats unless she's hungry. DH gives her a pig ear or 2 in the morning, sometimes she gets a treat at night, just depends. She rarely eats her dog food in the morning, and if it's left there all day and she doesn't want it, she leaves it. Overeating has never been a problem with her.

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 12:20 am:

Once a day.

My dog is an airdale terrier yellow lab mix. She's 60 pounds. She's been eating once a day since she was almost 2. She is now almost 5. When she was a puppy, she wouldn't eat dry food. I decided to mix it with canned food, and then she ate it. She ate 1/2 can twice a day until she got to a point when she just left her dish half full, so I figured why bother feeding her twice a day if she won't eat it all?

When I took her to the vet last spring (2005), I was feeding her 2 cups of dry food mixed with one 13 oz can food once every day. I was told she was getting pudgy and should cut her back. So now I give her the 2 cups of dry food every day, but only mix in the can food every other day. She is very active and happy, and still looks well fed.