Hi ~ I'm new to the forum and excited to learn how to train my lab puppy to be the best he can be. He's just now 3 months old and was wondering if my feeding schedule is what it should be. I'm feeding 1 cup purina puppy food 3 x's a day. Seems to be good with this, but wondering when I should cut back to 2 x's a day? and how much? Thanks!
Re: FEEDING LAB PUPPY Hi and welcome! I just follow the guidelines given by the packaging. Also, I try to weigh out the food and then split it into feeds and treats, kongs etc. actually, my pup is 10 months old and still has 3 meals a day because it suits us. I think I read somewhere that going to 2 feeds was around 6 months but again the food brand should offer guidelines.
Re: FEEDING LAB PUPPY Thanks for the reply! Guess it's just pretty much what works for your puppy. Package guidelines are good. Enjoying the forum.
Re: FEEDING LAB PUPPY I'm a bit rubbish in that I never really went off the guidelines because I supplemented with other food so it was too difficult to work out. From what I've heard, most of the guidelines over-estimate, anyway, so people often use only 80% of what it says. But every puppy is different, so the best way is to just keep an eye on your dog's condition. If he starts to look a bit skinny, add a little and if he starts to look a little podgy, dial it back. My two are just over six months old and I still feed them three times a day because it suits me. I work from home and giving them some food at lunchtime splits up the day for them.
Re: FEEDING LAB PUPPY Juno is 8 months old and has 2 meals a day plus a Dentastix at lunch time. She went from 3 meals to 2 a day at 4 months as recommended by her breeder. Best advice is to always the food with kitchen scales - we always over estimate portion size never under! If you use treats reduce the daily recommended amount of food on the packaging to allow for them. I've always given Juno around 50g less than the manufacturer recommendation to allow for treats she gained weight steadily. Also take puppy to the vets regularly for a weigh-in so you can keep a check on weight gain as well as monitoring your puppy's shape. I visit my vet every month to pop Juno on the scales and the receptionist/nurse makes a note of the weight on Juno's record. My vet says that as long as they have distinct waist and are nicely covered around the ribs there won't be much wrong. Good luck and enjoy your puppy.
Re: FEEDING LAB PUPPY My pup doesn't have meal times. I divide half her food into kongs/busy bowls for her to have in her crate. She gets these when I leave, portioned out (so not all 5 things at once, but 2 when I leave, 2 when I leave again, then one at night for "dinner" or whatever). The other half of her food I use for training and walks throughout the day. So it's very split up and she doesn't really have a routine, except she does know when I say "are you hungry?" that she is going to get some food in her crate. Sometimes I make her wait in the crate for her food, sometimes I let her wait in the kitchen while I get it out of the freezer, and she THROWS herself into her crate to await the deposit of food… so it works out well. I'd say she gets kongs/bowls in the crate around 2x per day, so two real "meals" but the rest of the food is split up throughout the entire day.
Re: FEEDING LAB PUPPY I suspect you will get a million different replies on this forum about how people feed their puppies! For what it is worth, Pongo has been on two meals a day ever since he arrived with us (aged 10 weeks) and it's never been a problem for him. Welcome to the forum! I hope you find it as great a resource as I did when we got Pongo a year ago (I'm quite sure I'd have gone nuts without all the sensible advice to my silly questions on here....)
Re: FEEDING LAB PUPPY Hi there to you and Trip,welcome to the Forum... I changed Dexter onto 2 meals at 6 months....up until there tummies are still quite small so it could easily upset them giving them too much in one go x
Re: FEEDING LAB PUPPY Bella's 5 months today ;D she currently has 3 meals a day ( always did as she wasn't a fan of 4) I put all of her lunch allowance in Kongs so I plan to carry on doing that to keep her occupied whilst I'm at work.
Re: FEEDING LAB PUPPY Hi there....just wanted to say welcome to the forum. I think we dropped to 2 meals a day at around 5 months or so. Suited us but they are all different Jac and Lilly.
