How and when do you feed your dogs?
By CharRay7
@CharRay7 (1549)
United States
July 16, 2008 6:14pm CST
Hi,
Do you feed your dogs once, twice a day? or do you free feed them, leaving a bowl of food out all the time.
As a lot of you know I have five furry kids. 
I feed them every evening about 7pm. They all have their separate bowls and their proper places. They always get fed in order, with the princess of the house, Shelby, being fed first. and they know this 
They will patiently wait for their turn to get their bowl. I used to feed them twice a day but found they didn't always eat the food so I started going to once a day about 5 years ago. They also know when 7pm is, I swear they do!! Around 7 they'll start being crazy, jumping around, playing loudly with each other, jumping on my legs, telling me " Mommy it's feeding time!"
I could never leave out a big bowl of food for free feed. I have a couple of pigs that would eat till they got sick. In fact, a couple of times (and I feel sooo bad about this) I've left the bag on the floor and during the night they've dug a hole in the side of the sack and ate and ate and ate. My velcro schnauzer, Fritz, would be blown up and miserable the next day, poor thing. You could just feel his tummy and sides and tell he'd eaten too much.
So how and when do you feed your dogs?
Have a great evening,
Char
I feed them every evening about 7pm. They all have their separate bowls and their proper places. They always get fed in order, with the princess of the house, Shelby, being fed first. and they know this They will patiently wait for their turn to get their bowl. I used to feed them twice a day but found they didn't always eat the food so I started going to once a day about 5 years ago. They also know when 7pm is, I swear they do!! Around 7 they'll start being crazy, jumping around, playing loudly with each other, jumping on my legs, telling me " Mommy it's feeding time!"
I could never leave out a big bowl of food for free feed. I have a couple of pigs that would eat till they got sick. In fact, a couple of times (and I feel sooo bad about this) I've left the bag on the floor and during the night they've dug a hole in the side of the sack and ate and ate and ate. My velcro schnauzer, Fritz, would be blown up and miserable the next day, poor thing. You could just feel his tummy and sides and tell he'd eaten too much.
So how and when do you feed your dogs?
Have a great evening,
Char
1 person likes this
12 responses
@sassygirlanne007 (4517)
• United States
17 Jul 08
My mom feeds our dog 2 times a day once in the morning and then again at 5 o'clock. She is allergic to dog food so she gets cut up chicken. And also gets goodie bones during the day.
1 person likes this
@CharRay7 (1549)
• United States
17 Jul 08
Thanks for your response 
Is your mom allergic to dog food or the dogs?
I bet those dogs are pretty happy puppy with real chicken. Good for them!
My dogs get goodie treats throughout the day too. I try to buy the lower calorie, natural type treats.
Have a great evening,
Char
Is your mom allergic to dog food or the dogs?
I bet those dogs are pretty happy puppy with real chicken. Good for them!
My dogs get goodie treats throughout the day too. I try to buy the lower calorie, natural type treats.
Have a great evening,
Char
@sassygirlanne007 (4517)
• United States
17 Jul 08
my moms not allergic to either. My dog is allergic to dog food.
@cassidy22 (2974)
• United States
18 Jul 08
We feed our dogs twice a day. We have 7 dogs, all but one of them is a large breed. Large breeds can tend to get GDV or bloat if you feed them a lot, just once a day. So we feed them twice, in smaller amounts. We also have 2 giant breed puppies who are growing, their bodies need the food twice a day.
We can NOT free feed. One of the dogs would certainly bully the others and steal their food. We feed them all at the same time, in a specified order by the hierarchy of the pack to eliminate fighting and stealing. It works for us, everyone eats and then gets back to their lives as dogs!
1 person likes this
@CharRay7 (1549)
• United States
18 Jul 08
Hi my friend
Thank you for your response. It sounds like you have a large number of dogs like I do. The order you feed them is exactly how I feed my dogs. I didn't realize the hierarchy of the pack idea, but that works out to be the exact way mine are fed. How interesting!
Have a great day,
Char
Thank you for your response. It sounds like you have a large number of dogs like I do. The order you feed them is exactly how I feed my dogs. I didn't realize the hierarchy of the pack idea, but that works out to be the exact way mine are fed. How interesting!
Have a great day,
Char
@biggerb (2024)
• India
18 Jul 08
Hi!
I have a male labrador.He is 18 months old.A very fussy eater.I believe labs are supposed to have a very good appetite but mine is no where like that.I give him a glass of milk in the morning.Then I give him two meals one at lunch time and supper at 7.I really dont know how to improve his appetite.I even tried giving him an appetizer, nothing seems to work.
1 person likes this
@CharRay7 (1549)
• United States
18 Jul 08
Thank you for your response
I've never heard of giving a dog milk before. That's a new one on me 
You might need to change his food. After awhile, sometimes dogs have different feeding habits and get tired of their food. With my dogs, it seems like every couple of years they pull that on me. If you do change food, be sure and do it gradually so it doesn't upset his tummy.
Have a great day,
Char
I've never heard of giving a dog milk before. That's a new one on me
You might need to change his food. After awhile, sometimes dogs have different feeding habits and get tired of their food. With my dogs, it seems like every couple of years they pull that on me. If you do change food, be sure and do it gradually so it doesn't upset his tummy.
Have a great day,
Char
@stagewhisper (901)
• United States
17 Jul 08
I feed my dog two times a day. My Australian Shepherd/Burmese Mountain Dog mix is the sort who demands quite a bit of food (he's around 120 pounds of pure muscle and fur). He gets fed at 5am in the morning (1.5 cups of dog food), then the same amount again at 5pm (though that's when he also gets a bit of gravy or scraps). We don't leave food lying around, especially in the summer, because we don't like to attract ants. That and I'm pretty sure our dog wouldn't mind eating everything he could. 
1 person likes this
That's a good idea about not leaving the food out all the time. It could indeed attract ants.
Have a great day,
Char
@halynn (1809)
• United States
17 Jul 08
I've always just left food out for any of my animals. They can just come & eat whenever they're ready. The only time i've not done that is if i had an animal that wasn't a healthy weight or if the animal gorges themselves until all the food is gone lol. If either of those 2 things occured then i'd feed them like morning, noon & dinner while i ate.
1 person likes this
@Jade13 (262)
• Malaysia
18 Jul 08
My pug is fed twice a day. She would be awake by dawn, sitting there, waiting to be fed. Then another time in the evening. Once she sees you cook, she will know her meal time is coming soon. But then, if in between those times, she catches you munching/ opening the fridge, smells food, she will be so energetic, and follows you around, begging for some goodies. Sigh..My pug is such a glutton.
1 person likes this
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
17 Jul 08
Buster my beagle has a self feeding dish. it get's filled and he eats however much he wants. He is good about not eating a whole lot as well.
HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
1 person likes this
@trowbdon (167)
• Canada
17 Jul 08
My current dog gets feed twice a day and gets a few cookies during the day. If it wasn't for the three cats i had i would just put his daily portion in the bowl and let him eat. He only eats when he is hungry.
My last dog I free fed. He would just eat when he was hungry. So did the cat I had at the time.
1 person likes this
Have a great day,
Char
@ersmommy1 (12588)
• United States
18 Jul 08
Our dog gets fed twice a day. Once in the morning when we get up. She gets 1 cup then. At 4pm she gets fed again. At that time she gets 1/2 cup. She is a whippet/mix. Vet says that is best.
@scorpiobites (298)
•
18 Jul 08
We have two dogs 1lahashsa apso and 1 Dalmatian.. I feed them with chicken bones and lamb flabs, I make them stew with potatoes.and dry dog chips.we also provide them big bones to keep them busy ....
@CharRay7 (1549)
• United States
18 Jul 08
Thanks for your response.
I don't know where you live at, but I've always been told not to give chicken bones to dogs because they can choke on them and die. Have you had any trouble with that? I know the big bones are great for them
Lamb flabs sound great for your dogs. I bet they really like those
Have a great day,
Char
Lamb flabs sound great for your dogs. I bet they really like those
Have a great day,
Char
@momforwork (161)
• Philippines
23 Aug 08
Hi CharRay7...
I searched mylot for this topic on the discussions tab and was both glad to have found yours and sad to have been too late to join it on its first few days of discussion. Anyhows, I've got a small, cute shitzu and somehow wanted to see how often some of our mylot friends on the pet owner interest served them food.
Generally for small dogs such as mine I would hope that my feeding him twice a day is good enough...though his appetite seems to tell me he wants more. He also enjoys gnawing at bones (or is it playing?) the whole day though I have to admit I stumble on them as he tends to leave it lying around the house..lol.
Happy mylotting!!!
