The cowboy was reading something on the internet this morning—something political and said, “you should post that on your blog.” I said, “nope, my blog is not political!” When I told him what the topic of tonight’s blog would be he laughed and said, “and you said your blog was not political!”
Of course you feed your dogs—your furkids, your babies. But how people feed differs greatly! Some veterinarians will tell you dogs should be fed on a schedule and others will tell you, “just put the food out, they will eat when hungry.” And all dog owners have an opinion—there is no right or wrong way as long as your dog maintains a healthy weight as far as I’m concerned—this is just how I do it.
In my adult life I’ve had five dogs—an obnoxious, mean little dachshund, two 70 pound each Airedales, one male, one female and litter mates, another little schnauzer and then Emmi. I have always free fed—put the prescribed daily amount of a high quality dog food in their bowls in the morning—and walked off and left them.
None of my dogs including the dachshund were ever overweight, the two Airedales had separate bowls and they worked out who ate when. All the dogs including Emmi might eat some in the morning, leave the rest and go back at some point in the day to finish their food. Emmi is the funniest dog we’ve ever had—she eats when she feels like it which is usually when Michael and I decide to go to bed. Emmi rarely eats everything in her bowl and she has always weighed the same—a perfect 11 pounds.
Emmi doesn’t wake us in the morning wanting fed—she sleeps late, we usually have to wake her up about 8:30—9:00 to go for a walk. She doesn’t beg for food unless she hears the word “cheese” as that’s what I wrap her three times a week medication in. We give her no people food other than the cheese. My Airedales and the other schnauzer were given people food and it made horrible beggars of them. After Jazz, our schnauzer died I swore the next pooch would only get dog food.
So—that’s how I do it—and I’m sure our dog owning friends have an opinion! In our North Ranch circle of friends, our feeding method is in the minority it seems—most feed on a schedule.
OK—that was fun—for me—looking back through old photos of our pooches! All the photos of the dachshund and Airedales are pre-digital and back at home in Montana—I need to get some of those scanned into the computer.
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It is so refreshing to know that someone else has some common sense when it comes to feeding dogs. Paddington mainstains the same 10lbs the way Emmi does and he never begs for food. Our vet is a hoot...take the boy in before a haircut and am told he needs to lose weight. Take him in a week later after a haircut and am told how much better his weight is. I never say anything because I know the boy better than he does.
ReplyDeleteMy son's dog is a small mutt of about 10 pounds. He is given a breakfast amount and then in the evening a supper amount. It took them a few months to get the right schedule for him. They found that if they put all the daily ration out at once he would stuff himself and shortly later would throw it all up. He was losing weight at first but the two meal a day routine has been good for him for about 7 years now. Probably like people, different ways for different dogs.
ReplyDeleteWe generally put out food in the morning and again in the late afternoon. Together, it is the target amount she should have. Of course, she is spoiled and she gets treats for various reasons. She only eats when she is hungry, sometimes she does not eat the daily amount. She eats in small bits when she has the urge. Basically, she has food available to her all day. The vet says she is in great condition.
ReplyDeleteI love all the pictures - sure miss those Schnauzers!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should switch to dog food, put it out once a day and eat only part of it. THEN I might be at my target weight!!!
ReplyDeleteYep we have always free fed. Seems to work fine. Max always gets a bit chubby during the winter months but slims right down in the summer while we are back at DPN and has more things to chase and more room to run. The last few days neither of our dogs have been eating very much but seem to be okay!
ReplyDeleteMaybe if we had started when Skitz was a pup with free feeding it would have worked. But now she would weigh 50 lbs or throw up a lot if we did that. She gets a small amount of food with her morning pill and her main meal about 2:30 and then a small amount with evening pill. And she knows exactly what time it is for her to get those. She gets cooked chicken breast for a very small treat. She is at a great weight of 13 lbs but thinks we are starving her to death.
ReplyDeleteI don't even own a dog. But I boil a huge chicken a couple times a week, take everything off the bone (discard them) and shred it (including skin and fatty parts off the chicken feet)... then use the broth to cook rice in. I divide all this up into 5-7 containers. My favorite "town" dog got hit by a car sometime around Thanksgiving... it really messed him up and he lost a lot of weight. His owners feed him but folks here are more likely to feed table scraps than dog food. So.... he's starting to put back on some weight and isn't so lethargic, but I guess I'll continue to feel him chicken and rice every day for a while. I hope it's okay for dogs to eat chicken and rice... if it's good for the soul, maybe it's good for damaged dogs?
ReplyDeleteI've always free fed my dogs, mostly shepherds and now Tessa, the Wheaten Terrier. Never had one with a weight issue, even when they were 15 years old. I'm guilty of feeding Tessa a nibble of people food too many times so now have to work on changing the habit I started :-( Fun to see your doggie pics, they do fill our lives with joy :-))
ReplyDeleteI had two Yorkie's that lived to be 17 each. They very seldom got anything but dry dog food. When I got them the vet told me if I would only feed them dry food they wouldn't lose their teeth as young as Yorkie's do when feed "human" or soft food. Maybe once a day they would get ONE bite of chicken or a small piece of vegetable like a carrot. My little girl ,2&3/4 lb, lost one tooth at about 14 from play, or trying to play, tug of war with our 80lb Rottie.
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