Do you have your main evening walkies before or after dinner?

During the week Harley gets a walk around 11.30am off lead for about an hour, in the afternoon we do a 20-30 min mainly on lead walk around the block, sometimes stopping off in the field for a run about if it’s quiet.
On a weekend she has a main walk off lead around lunchtime for around 1-1.5 hours, then an around the block walk around 6/7 for 20-30 mins.
Her meals are 7/7.30am, then 7.30pm.

 

Inky has breakfast when we get up, he always goes back to sleep after then usually main walk in the morning but depends what we're doing. Lots of the rest of his food ration is used for training but what's left, he has about 5.30. Sometimes he has a second walk before this.

 

On the occasions I’ve taken Snowie to the beach before dinner (his evening walk is before dinner), I make a mental note that next time I should feed him before - just a whiff of food and he’s off, he’s probably so hungry. Many picnics have been raided... Of course I always forget the next time - me being a creature of habit: walk first, dinner after.

Morning walk is after breakfast, and he’s definitely less frantically following his nose. But if I expect picnickers along our walk, I take very tasty treats to keep him with me.

Both walks are his “main” walk. Nighttime wee is just a walk around the pond in the garden.

 

There was a study (which I could find if I could be bothered, but I can't... sorry ) that suggested dogs were better being trained after eating, because they could be too frantic to work out how to get the food to stop and think if they were too hungry. It was a fairly limited study and didn't have exact parallels with how we normally interact with our dogs day to day, but I can see with Shadow that if he's too hungry, he can't think straight if he knows there is the potential of a food reward. So for him, not being entirely starving is a plus if I want him to learn something new. The girls don't react in the same way.
When I'm feeding "meals", I always do so after walks, but if I'm going to be training and I know that Shadow is hungry, for example if I take him out first thing in the morning, I always make sure he's had a little snack beforehand so he's not too ridiculous.

 

I've been trying feeding before our big evening walk, but a couple hours before. Especially with it getting dark so late now, it's no problem to shift their dinner to 5:30pm and then go out at 7:30 and still have a couple hours until dark. Carbon is still a food hound (we'll need to work on this much more) but as you say, he doesn't seem as frantic if he's eaten first.

The only issue so far is that I eat my own dinner when we get back home and the dogs have conveniently forgotten that they've already eaten much earlier. Then it's lots of sad eyes and 'poor starving us' looks all around.

I have to say, I've ALWAYS shared a little of my meal with my dogs, fosters as well as my 'permanent' dogs. I can't do that with Carbon. It's not that he's on a diet, it's simply that his brain just goes out the window if he thinks he's going to get the slightest bit of food. I think this may change with time, but for the moment, he gets zip while I'm having my dinner. Poor guy!

 

Save a bit from his tea and give to him when you have yours?

 

Mine are never given food when we are eating - that way us eating is a non-event to them.

 

I actually LIKE sharing mine, and the tiny bits I give of whatever I'm having (a tiny bit of bread for example) isn't going to blow his diet. It's just that he goes bonkers with excitement...as in out of his ever-loving mind. And that's one of my rules - I share but not if my dog is begging, pawing, crying, etc. So poor Carbon just isn't to that point of self-control, so I don't think it's fair to him as his brain shorts out and he can't do 'calm' around any kind of food. Yet. There's always hope for the future!

Yeah, but you're better at rules than I am.

 

I`m obviously a cruel neglectful Mummy , my dogs don't get an evening walk ! Nelly has breakfast at around 7.30 , then goes to the village school with my daughter and Silas . Following the routine I`ve always had , she goes for a longer off lead romp early/mid afternoon , tea at around 4ish . No further walk , unless we decide to go out to a dog friendly venue in the evening , small supper at 9 and that's that xx

 

That pretty much sounds like a perfect doggie life...or a human one too for that matter!

 

It can be a bit dodgy round here for evening walking. There's yobs about so i pick my times and take care. I used to go out in the evenings but there was just one too many Willy's waved at me. Also groups of youths drinking taking drugs with Staffies ask you if you want to fight your dog honestly it's just too stressful.

 

That does not sound appealing

 

No though one incident did make me laugh latter.

 

I'd take the willies over the dog fighting.

Please do stay inside and safe in the evening, Swampy.

 

Yep I do. I do a lot if early morning walks by. I work on the theory that people with slack morals who do drugs don't get out of bed early,. It seems to be with big ok so far