As I mentioned in another thread I’ve become the new mumma for a (now) 9 week old Stumpy-tailed Cattle Dog x Labrador who is the joy of *our *lives, and the bane of my grandson’s…he who wot gets his ears and chin chewed whenever he visits
Since her arrival, I’ve been setting down food whenever the bowl is empty. And her habits seem to be that she will have a few nibbles, take a drink, go for a play, and return for a nibble-or-two later. The only time she scoffs the tucker down is in the early morn when her bowl has been emptied overnight. Her overall food consumption has been slightly lower than the recommended amount…but we have been giving her some leftovers as well.
I guess my question is that is it OK to allow a dog to ‘graze’ rather than have defined meal times. Especially as she is 1/2 Lab who are renowned for being absolute pigs about their food, would it perhaps be better to have specific meal times rather than allowing her to pick and choose her consumption?
So far the ‘grazing’ method does seem to be working for us (she’s still a baby of course) but I’m sure there’s plenny of Dopers out there who can set me on the correct path for the future.
I do set mealtimes and amounts. Reasons: I’ve seen some really fat dogs who are obviously fed too much. I can tell immediately if my dog is off his food for any reason. If there are multiple dogs, it eliminates fighting over food. Leaving food dog out can attract insects.
I put enough down for my dog to eat in 5 minutes or so at a normal eating pace (i.e. not wolfing it down, just munching). If he dawdles, it gets picked up and put back down at the next mealtime. Dog food makers are notorious for advising people to feed much more food than necessary, so I don’t rely on package instructions on how much to feed. I judge by how much my dog eats and his body condition.
I feed 2x a day, partially because I’ve always had Labs who tend to be greedy guts & air ferns. But I’ve found that the picky eaters I’ve had along with the Labs (a Dal & a German Shepherd) actually ended up eating better with set feedings.
I also like that you can instantly see when someone is feeling icky enough to not eat, and it can make getting meds into them much easier.
You can sometimes help a non-foodie adapt to eating set meals a bit better by adding something truly yummy to their food for a bit, or if you give leftovers, put that into their kibble instead of feeding it whenever you are done.
It depends on the dog really. Many dogs do better with a set routine. and it has its benefits. You can use it as a training tool, it re-enforces your position as dominant in the pack, and as others have mentioned you can keep track of consumption, and tummy upsets better. On the other hand, a dog that is not strongly food motivated often does better on the grazing program. Our two graze and maintain a healthy weight without any help. Both love people food, but are primarily motivated by play or love rewards. So for us it is a lot simpler to use the watercooler style hoppers and top them up once a week. The benefits just aren’t enough to outweigh the hassle of a food routine multiple times a day.
We let our dog graze, and she was good with it for a few years, but when she started gaining too much weight, we switched her to once a day. So I vote keep doing what you’re already doing; graze, but monitor.
I do a mix my dog gets a fixed amount of food each day (6 coffee cups) but it’s left out for him to graze on if he finishes early he doesn’t get more until the next day on the other hand if he doesn’t eat it all I just top it off the next day.
We always fed our guide dog pups on a schedule. It helped control how much they ate (their weight got checked frequently) and GDB said it was a good time for training, because a dog who sees you have her bowl will really listen to you.
Control of portions was especially important when our breeder was pregnant and eating absurd amounts of food. We’ve never had a feeding problem - the one time our breeder refused food was just before she lost her litter.
