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

This may seem a strange question from someone who has had dogs for so long, but I'm curious as to whether you think it's healthier to give your dog(s) their evening meal and then a walk or vice versa? I've always done dinner and then walk (and breakfast and then walk too) but with two younger fosters, I'm wondering if it's a mistake to load them up with food and then have them run around like crazies.

By the way, here in Spain I have a garden, so the last walk isn't the same as the last wee. In Germany, where I live in a flat, of course I always did a right-before-bed short wee walk.

So any thoughts on what is best? Carbon continues to have very loose stool, and so I'm wondering if I'm contributing to it by the dinner then walk thing.

 

Oh, and sorry - I realised my 'HIS walk' terminology was doggie-sexist. Of course I mean either "her or his".

 

I don't think it matters personally, Cassie gets her main walk at any time of day. I think the important thing is not to go running round on a full stomach whatever time of day.

 

The only thing thats important, obviously is not to walk on a full stomach. Charlie gets his walk at 0600 so gets fed when he gets home and Hattie walks are around 0900 so she gets fed before her walk. Weekends/holidays are totally different! xx

 

During the week Plum gets brekky before walk and tea after late afternoon walk.
At weekends, and when I'm on leave from work, she gets both feeds after walks.

 

We do walk THEN food. If food first then at least a couple of hours until walking.

 

Our walks consist of some high energy romping so I’m always concerned about bloat and I walk him hungry so he responds to cues better for the food reward.

 

Thanks for the answers. I actually tried the dinner after walk tonight but it was kind of disaster for Carbon. Paul (the little one) was fine, but Carbon (the Lab) was completely distracted and kept trying to find food in the sand or from random strangers. He has been listening to me quite well lately off leash, but for his own safety I had to put him back on leash for most of the walk. He also didn't seem his normal happy self. It was probably just because of the abrupt change in routine and him frantically thinking WHERE DID MY DINNER GO???!!! but still...

I think what I'll try is moving dinner time a bit earlier and the evening walk a bit later. He'll have to get a little extra snack along with his medications as those need to be given at precise times that won't work with an earlier dinner, but I'm sure he won't mind that!

 

I always walk Xena and reward her with her daily kibble ration (I know you're not doing kibble) so the walk is always before the meal, even though part of the meal is given during the walk (if that makes sense). When it was stinking hot this summer I'd skip the evening walk and just take her out for a short spin around 830pm when it had cooled down, using some kibble that I'd kept aside.

 

Mmmm... guess I could also try the little snack with medication before the walk so he's not completely on empty, some treats (part of his normal dinner like bits of lean chicken) during the walk, and then the rest of his meal (the biggest part with veggies, fruit, etc.) after the walk. That may keep him from feeling so desperate during the walk, but still no full tummy and no major change in dinner time.

Thanks again!

 

We walk Ella before dinner as her dinner is usually around 7.30pm and that's when the toddler goes to bed so walks after this time can be tricky.

Morning walks are usually an hour or two after breakfast. On Sundays we have dog training early but I always give her a small meal before we go to help reduce the food obsession. Otherwise she gets distracted by other people's treat bags

 

We are exactly the same as you with the Pig, she gets about two thirds of her kibble during the walk for training and check ins, and the rest in her bowl when we get back. A bit more difficult with home cooked I would expect!

 

What do people class as a main walk? Curious given the question about a main walk.

Vanilla gets 2 walks/off lead activities twice daily, and on days off/WFH or weekend more or longer time out. Morning ones is about 45-60min depending on time, on leash if walking along esplanade (gold course off leash) and evening one is about an hour+ depending on mood. Evening one mainly consist of off leash at the oval or beach in the dark (not as dark as you think)

Morning walk is before brekkie, evening walk is mainly after dinner.
Then after walk is her bed time biscuit

 

I feed at 5 and 4 with a small super at 7.30. Rory's main walk is at 1ish and he goes for a small walk at either 6 ish am and 6.30pm

 

Nothing set in stone with Cassie -- very much depends what's going on during the day. I'm not a routine person, although it's fair to say that mostly she gets a long walk in the morning and a short one later in the day. But as long as she gets a good hour to an hour and a half exercise average daily she seems happy. This is a mix of physical and mental stuff combined.

 

Neither of mine have an evening walk.

Tatze has a long morning walk for 1 - 2 hours and a short afternoon walk.

Keir has 50 minutes in the morning and then training sessions in the afternoon, as he's only 11 months old.

No meal an hour either side of walks. Breakfast is at 7:30am. Morning walks usually 9:30am but that changes quite a lot.

They have their meal at 7:30pm and we all go in the front room at 9pm dogs snooze, we watch TV.

10pm wee then bed

.

 

Morning walk is usually around 10:30 and then a late afternoon shorter walk. Breakfast is usually around 8:00am and dinner around 7:30pm. Breakfast/morning walk does vary though according to weather or appointments with clients so some days it's walk around 7:15 which is followed by breakfast around an hour later.

 

Like @selina27 , I'm not a routine person either. But for me a 'main walk' is 45-90 minutes and a 'last wee round' is just the time it takes me to get to the wee spot and back again (15 minutes). With Brogan, he got one main walk sometime in the morning and another sometime before bed. In the summer with it staying light so late, his second main walk and last wee walk was usually the same thing.

Now with Paul and Carbon, I have been keeping conscious of the fact that Carbon needs to build up slowly, so "main walks" are much shorter.

 

Our main walk is in the morning - about an hour after breakfast during the week and maybe an hour and a half after breakfast at the weekend.

 

I always walk Stanley after his breakfast and after his tea through the week.

He gets so little kibble in his bowl that I don’t imagine it will do him much harm. He gets the rest in his walk.

On a weekend he generally only gets one really long walk in middle of the day somewhere