Out of interest how do you feed your adult dogs during the day? I've always given Lady a light breakfast after her morning walk then the rest of her food in a main meal just before we eat in the evening. Just wondered if it should be either the other way around or 2 x same sized meals. What's best? If she's working the next day I give her a large supper and a light breakfast. It wouldn't work the other way around on a working day because of the heavy exercise after a large meal.
Re: Feeding? I used to give a third of the meal for breakfast and 2/3rds for dinner; for some reason I now give both equal amounts at both meals, perhaps just a smidgeon more at dinner. Maybe because I have Labs now and they don't eat as much as the German Pointers did, even though they were smaller!
Re: Feeding? Equal portions for us not that there's any science to that decision it just didn't occur to me to do anything else ;D Bonio for lunch while the pup gets fed and a couple of biscuits before bed to tide him over. All the extras floating around for puppy training have resulted in Riley putting a little weight on. Not too much but definitely a litte. Between that and new food that he loves I seem to have got away from the constant struggle to keep weight on him.
Re: Feeding? I give the most (2/3) at breakfast but if we have a strenuous day that will involve plenty of treats (like a Flyball comp) Obi gets no breakfast at all (shock! horror! ;D). On a normal day I don't think it matters too much which is the bigger meal
Re: Feeding? Ours are still on three meals a day although the lunch is now more of a snack as they're getting bigger. When I go down to two meals, my instinct would be to split 50/50. It was once suggested in human nutrition that we should start the day with our biggest meal and end on the smallest, or that you should eat five small meals a day, but more recently it has been shown that it doesn't matter in the slightest when you eat, it's simply the number of total calories that matter, whenever they're consumed. I'm inclined to believe the same is true of dogs, although we obviously have to take things like bloat into consideration and not feed them too much in one go.
Re: Feeding? Yes it was the eat heartily at breakfast and then lighter meals later that prompted me to ask. So if it's not critical I'll leave as is - full Lab in the evening means a more peaceful evening! ;D
Re: Feeding? We do 50/ 50 and when he looks a bit rangy I feed him a little lunch for a week or give him that allowance in treat balls through the day x
Re: Feeding? We do 1/3 in the morning and 2/3 in the evening. Absolutely no idea how that came about though ???
Re: Feeding? I feed one meal a day in the evening as basic. But, I also feed a light meal in the morning on days when the dogs are working (usually raw eggs) and a more substantial meal in the morning, the day after a shoot. Plus extra breakfasts for any dog that is struggling to keep weight on. - usually most of them by January. Then back down to one meal a day at the end of the shooting season.
Re: Feeding? One egg or two? I guess that's better than solid as it won't sit in the stomach to the same extent. Yes I feed a good meal the night before a working day and then also crank the amount up a bit the day after as she's always ravenous.
Re: Feeding? My parents work to the same routine as Pippa with their labs. I'm planning to get Inca onto a 50/50 split once she's older. A lot of people have advised me that training a dog when they are hungry works well but I find Inca struggles to concentrate within the 2 hours before she is due to get fed. Has anyone else ever found that? Post mealtime she's still very food-driven which is handy!
Re: Feeding? I give Simba 50/50, but sometimes adjust the amount in the AM if I know he's going to have extra in terms of kongs or treats
