How many times a day do you feed your puppies?

[Juneysmom]

Background:

When I first got Juney, the breeder said that her husband got up at 4:00 in the morning, let the puppies out to play for 1.5 hours, then would feed them (at 5:30 a.m.).

Reality at my home:

I get up around 6:15 a.m. and get ready for work. By that time, it is around 7:15 a.m. and Bunny and Cooler are already up, waiting for their food. Most of the time, Juney is up, but sometimes I have to wake her. The older dogs are yelling while I'm trying to get their bowls together (I feed them diced Natural Balance rolls, which they love :bounce: ). Juney is off playing. :bounce2: ) :dog: :bounce2: )

I then put down the bowls for Bunny and Cooler, and also put out a bowl for Juney. Juney won't eat, until the older dogs come around and start walking towards her bowl. Then and only then, will Juney eat, but it doesn't seem like she really wants to; she seems to eat to prevent the others from eating her food.

Sometimes, I've noticed that when she has gotten up around 6:15, too, then she would be hungry at around 7:45, when I am leaving for the day.

After noticing that, then for the next few weekends, I put some Natural Balance kibbles down after their breakfast to determine if there was a specific time that any of the dogs would eat the kibble. Sure enough, after waking up 1.5 hours or so afterwards, Juney will eat some kibble. This is on top of what she ate earlier.

She eats fine when I come home that night.

I have thought of four solutions:

1. I get her up earlier (5:45 a.m.) to play for 1.5 hours so that she will eat before I go to work, hopefully at the same time as the older dogs, too?

2. Hold off feeding her, then as I walk out the door, give her a Kong filled with her breakfast. I'd have to give the other dogs a Kong, too, but I could give them half their breakfast, then fill their Kong up, too.

3. Feed her only once a day.

4. Leave out kibble for her during the day.

I'd rather do the second, but I'm afraid that when I'm gone, one of the older dogs will get her kong from her and eat the rest of her food and she'll waste away. :)

I'm afraid to do the third and fourth because I don't want to be a bad mommy and either starve her or make her overweight.

And she doesn't like the pumpkin stuff. I've tried giving her only kibble and not the diced roll, but no change. I've tried putting sardine in with her food and she eats the sardines, but not the dog food.

If you have any other ideas, let me know, please.

Actually, I think that I should get up earlier, but I think I really had to write these options down for my benefit as well as asking for your ideas.

Thank you very much.

[Mark]

Here's a couple of recent threads posted here that had some good discussion on feeding.

http://www.dachsie.org/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4537

http://www.dachsie.org/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4806

I hope these threads and the links referred to in the posts will help.

And IMO regarding your solutions:

1. Seems like it would work well

2. Kongs would be OK if the dogs were all crated, but likely the more aggressive one(s) would end up with all the food if uncrated.

3. Another one that would work.

4. IMO . . . don't do it . . .

Good luck, let us know what you do and please let us know how it works (or doesn't).

[Cheryl]

Both my girls eat only once a day--in the evenings. I tried doing 2 feedings a day, but like your little one, they werent interested in food in the mornings. I can't leave them unattended to eat (they have free roam of the house and are never crated) cause Sassy will steal Sadie's food, gain weight that she definitely doesnt need, and leave Sadie to go hungry until I get back home. And forget about waking up an hour earlier just so they can play--at least for me--cause I work 12-hr shifts at the hospital and Im usually getting to bed when the sun is coming up. I do have reservations of free-feeding, only because I cant monitor how much they eat. They do get Wellness cookies 2x a day, though, to settle any rumbling tummies throughout the long hours. Of course, this is just what worked for us.

[Cindi]

The children will be happy as long as they are fed :bounce: #1 or #3. I wouldn't want to leave food out in any fashion that might allow for aggression or overeating on anyone's part.

Another option would be to switch everyone over to evening feedings. The morning eaters could just get a cookie or half breakfast on the first day and then they could get their 2nd ration that evening when Junie got her full meal. The next day they would just get a cookie in the morning (you would get those *looks* of starvation - knowing full well they weren't) and then their full dinners in the evening.

Cindi

[Juneysmom]

One of the reasons why I went to two feedings a day is because either someone told me or I read somewhere that it was best to feed elderly dogs twice a day because they forget that they got fed earlier. So I just divided the food.

I think that I will continue feeding the elderly dogs twice a day, but I will put Juney on a once a day feeding with a small snack in the morning. (She is 10 months old.)

[Juneysmom]

Thank you for your replies and support.