feeding once a day vs twice a day - Page 2

I feed once a day in the morning mainly due to my own schedule and I just kinda got used to not having to worry about rushing home to feed and let out the dogs. Also it always helped with them housebreaking by not feeding them late in the afternoon early evening. They don't seem to mind it.

Mine are just the opposite Agar. Though now that it's dark when I get home at night, man do they want to eat right away. Don't they know that in the summer they probably eat a full two hours later!

Adults 2 x a day pups 3 x a day......I have high food drive and they gobble fast smaller amounts are safer and I do add a bit of warm water, yogurt or extra virgin olive oil for digestion...Olive oil is for digestion and for your dry skin on your elbows and head also.....has to be extra vigin not mixed

If working your dogs feed twice daily. It will help greatly in the recovery phase for them. Feeding once is a body stress also. Constant fuel for their systems works better with higher health and work.

Rezkat- Isn't that funny how even the dogs know when it's time to eat. LOL I swear mine have their own alarm clock, either that or they hear mine go off and wake up thinking "ok, where's she at, it's time to eat". LOL If I get caught up doing something and I don't get to them right away they will be patient only for a little while then they start getting vocal to let me know "hey lady, remember us, we wanna eat NOW". They're just as spoiled and demanding as the kids and hubby. LOL

yup, that's the way. and forget about even mention FOOD or EAT, they know how to spell now too. :)

I feed once in the evening but during the day they get snacks to tide them over. Sometimes a little cottage cheese or a kong stuffed with liverwurst and chopped up cheese chunks. That way they're not hungry all day. If my girl has cottage cheese first thing in the morning she will throw it up immediately, but if I give her a little in the afternoon she does just fine with it. And of course there's training rewards during the day too.

Like anything else you can't say "you must do" to anything. It's dog by dog basis. My dogs do fine with free feed and they now do fine with once a day eats. Never had a dog bloat or torsion in 15 years of GSD's. I kinda laugh at those that wait 90 minutes before and after but whatever floats your boat and makes you feel good about yourself.

I agree, but then I am not afraid to swim after eating either.

4 Pack, Your and others experiences with never having bloat in years without being cautious really makes me wonder how much genetics come into play with bloat. I know a woman who frowns upon me for feeding once a day because she said she has had so many GSDs bloat over the years. She's in her 60's and has had them all her life. Even with feeding her dogs twice a day and being very careful, it still happens. I asked if she's noticed a difference in the many different pedigrees she's had and she said no, but they have primarily all been American. I save feeding all my dogs until the late evening for two important reasons: First, they are ready to train when I am and the extra food drive doesn't hurt. Second, my schedule is irregular and I hate the fuss my dogs make if their dinner is late, as it is, but know it would be so much worse if they had to wait hours after their usual time. Although dogs were long ago descended from wolves, it may be worth mentioning here that wolves go for days without eating and then gorge. If bloat is genetic I bet it was extremely rare in wolves as those ones could not handle it. Of course none of us would want to purposely put our pets lives in jeopardy and most of us take different levels of precaution when it comes to bloat. My dogs do not exercise right before or after eating. But we have to ask ourselves what we are doing to the breed if we are covering up dogs that are genetically predisposed to have bloat by being extra careful. Just food for thought ;)