Arnie is now six months old. How did you guys transition your dogs to two meals a day, if you have? I want to start feeding my little man twice a day. It would fit in with our lifestyle so much better. Feeding three times is do-able for us but twice would be perfect. Do you just one morning feed him heaps and then completely skip lunch and let him adjust in his own time? A.
I just gave slightly more at breakfast and then slightly more for evening meal, I don't really recommend giving heaps, might overload his stomach.
I'm not sure that phasing it out would do a massive amount as far as his expectation goes; my two don't seem to notice if there are four bits of kibble in their bowls or forty. It's the absence of the bowl that's the big deal. However, phasing it out gradually will allow his stomach to become accustomed to the greater volume of food at each meal, so is still worth considering. If you're around at lunchtime, I'd still consider giving him a kong or a chew then, just because it breaks the day up a bit more. This is the reason that my two still have lunch. But, lunch isn't always at the same time, it's flexible around the rest of my day. Sometimes it's a 1pm, sometimes at 4pm. We are rather Iberian in our approach to meal times for all of us, and their dinner is usually between 8pm and 9:30pm - ours generally an hour or two later still.
I find they tend to give up a meal of their own accord, so I never had difficulty in stopping the lunch one.
As Stacia said just increase the amount in each main meal. I didn't substitute lunchtime with a chew or similar she just seemed to accept it.