Dexter is now 6 months old, he was on 3 meals per day for a while whilst using his 4th feed for training. Then at 6 months (a week ago), I switched to 2 meals, slowly increasing the amount of the 2 feeds by reducing the treat part. Hope I'm making sense . Is it ok to feed slightly less at the 2 meals to give more food for training? He's not much interested in toys unless it's retrieving or has food in it. Getting him to occupy himself is difficult as he ends up just chewing what he shouldn't. I try encouraging him by rewarding when he's chewing a toy but then this just distracts him and he goes on to chew what he shouldn't. I'm at home all the time and do training and walk him, go to the field, free run with training etc etc but it's hard to do this 24/7 all day. Once he's had a good walk etc, I can crate him for about 1-2 hrs whilst I work. I'm worried I'll over do the interaction and make a rod for my own back or is it ok to keep up the interaction. I do use some treats of varying high reward status depending on situation but don't want him getting fat. He is extremely fit and doing really well training wise. We do meet up with other doggy friends too. I'm finding it hard to put a training log together so I can look at it quickly to think of what to do with him.
Oops in my hurry, I didn't write my real questions Why are adult dogs fed only once or twice a day? Should I continue with twice a day but save a good portion of food for walks and training with some more enticing treats for high rewards? Also, can anyone suggest a good sturdy toy that has tassels or the like? As Dexter loves to chew a label or tassel.
Juno has two meals a day. As she has kibble it would be too much for her to eat in one meal and the manufacturers always recommend the daily allowance being split into two meals. Previous dogs in the family have had only 1 meal a day consisting of meat and wholemeal biscuit but that is some time in the past. Dogs fed on a raw diet are frequently fed just one meal a day because of the time taken to eat/crunch up bones. There is no reason why you can't use nearly all the daily food allowance for training treats if that's what you want, or to stuff it in kongs - it's purely up to you and what works for you and your puppy/dog. If you use other treats remember to reduce your daily food allowance to ensure you don't over feed. Can't advice on the toy but Kong have numerous toys with dangly bits for dogs to chew on .....
I don't know the answer to why adult dogs are fed once or twice a day....is there a reason or is it just a pattern we all fall into?.I dropped my Dexter down to 2 meals at 6 months but I know there are quite a few older forum dogs that still have a 'lunch' My method for quantities is to feed Dexter 2/3 of the recommended amount on the bag....I divide that into 2 meals and they are bagged up for both his walks ......he is fed from those bags as we complete our walk for rewards for different things and the balance is placed in his bowl when we get home......this can mean there is hardly anything left on his morning off lead walk ,much to his dismay and there can be considerably more in the evening when he has really only been rewarded for nice loose lead walking and a few drills along our way.This allows me to give him a couple of stuffed Frozen kongs a day and be able to use higher value treats( which are usually higher calorie) when I need to without ever having a problem with his weight...it also means if I want to train something just for fun to entertain him through the the day I can grab a handful of kibble that's not accounted for and use that.My method isn't very scientific i know but it works for us. It's funny how they go for labels ....Dexter can't have soft toys,he just destroys them in minutes but he will alway be attracted to the labels ........I did have a decent success with really heavy denier tights!Id tie knots in them and sometimes a squeaky toys and they just seemed to stretch rather than rip ...I think there's an old manly pair in the garden even now as I type this!
My two are 16 months old and have three meals a day, plus (lots of) training treats. It's not the frequency of feeding that makes a dog fat, it's the caloric imbalance of too much food vs too little exercise. Of course, you want to try to ensure the diet stays relatively balanced, so if you're feeding a whole meal as training treats, you wouldn't make it all cheese! The reason adult dogs are fed once or twice a day I think is generally for convenience. Puppies need the food split up because their tummies can't cope with a large volume of food in one go; this isn't so much of a problem with adult dogs. I think that more meals enrich their day more, though. One meal means one "wow" a day; three meals means they get this three times
I'm not sure why the general guideline about feeding adult dogs is once or twice a day, probably convenience, but I've always gone with what suits the particular dog. Jura (our first dog in a long time) is almost 8 months now but is still fed 3 times a day as this suits her due to a bit of a sensitive tum meaning she does better on 3 smaller meals than 2 larger meals. I plan to keep her on 3 meals, and can't see me changing this. I do reduce her meal size depending on the number of training rewards I'm using as well. The amount varies depending on what training she is doing, and what rewards I'm using, but every day she will get a proportion of meals as training rewards.
Hi, thank you all. I don't give him the full amount stated on the bag and his weight is doing great. 21kg at today's weigh in, lean not ribs showing and a lovely waste. Luckily he isn't destructive with his toys but will hump a teddy. He has a Kong knotted fluffy teddy that is now too small to hump but does a good head over heels with it . I'll carry on as I am then and not worry about how often I feed him just keep weighing his kibble and adjusting accordingly ⏲
My understanding of it is that barrel-chested type dogs like labs are prone to bloat if their meal sizes are large (everything at one sitting) particularly if they exercise within 1-2 hours of eating. Convenience would certainly drive for one meal a day perhaps. I think the issue of fewer/larger meals is the important limiter. Spreading it out over more than 2 meals +/- for training is a choice thing. My opinion, and not based on any fact or evidence!
Thank you, I'm going to continue measuring out 3 feeds a day and using some as 2 meals and the rest as treats. I'll reduce if I use other actual treats too. I'm in no rush to just feed twice a day and if he has too much at once he'll have a dicky tum anyway. Spreading it out suits Dexter and me, so not a problem for us.
