I have long advised friends and family members to keep their dogs’ mealtimes vague, in order to prevent “clock-watching” and demand behaviors from dogs who are anticipating their breakfast or dinner. Not for me, those dogs who wake me by barking for breakfast, no matter whether I’m sick or worked until 3 am the night before. Not for me, those dogs who start pacing, drooling, or staring at 4 pm every afternoon. By keeping mealtimes somewhat unpredictable, within a range of an hour or two, I haven’t ever had to deal with those anticipatory behaviors – even when Daylight Saving Time changes. I’m not one of the people who posts memes and pictures of my dogs freaking out about dinnertime twice a year!
Oh, sure, either of my dogs might do a little happy skip in the kitchen, as I walk toward the dog food area – which happens to be next to the microwave in which I heat my coffee. But if I tell them, “Not yet!” they resign themselves to waiting – alertly, but not underfoot. Or, dog forbid, whining under their breath.
Another Dog Is Throwing Things Off
Things have gotten a little testy over the past two weeks, however. I have been dog-sitting a 14-year-old deaf dog, little Leila, who belongs to a dear friend. Leila has strong opinions about mealtime – and spins and chases her tail for attention, and barks, barks, barks, when she is certain she’s going to starve without food. I have a hard time with barking – but what am I going to do? She’s old, and deaf! Easiest just to feed her when she starts up! Naturally, my giving into her demands has resulted in some incredulous “WHAT DID SHE JUST DO?” behavior from my two dogs. “SHE got fed and we did not? Perhaps WE should skip about and make noises!”
Taking my own advice when it comes to my own dogs, I’m ignoring the noises and skipping about. Otto gets it, and retires to the floor with a groan and a politely wagging tail. Woody is more persistent, and keeps trying a charm offensive, coming to me every time I sit down at the kitchen table with my laptop or at my desk in my office, and placing his heavy head in my lap, looking up at me with imploring eyes and that seductive slowly wagging tail. “Pleeeeaaassse? We are so VERY hungry.”
Prepping For Otto’s Surgery
Worse: Over the past two days, it has been necessary to skip Otto’s breakfast. Yesterday he had a chest x-ray, in preparation for today’s general anesthesia: He is having yet another tooth removed – he has somehow suffered another slab fracture of a molar (this is his third), so the tooth has to be removed. Also, the vet is going to scope his throat; he’s been having a lot of regurgitation, and we have been treating him for acid reflux and a possible esophageal ulcer. And when Otto has to go without breakfast, I don’t feed Woody, either; doing so would be just mean.
“Some experts recommend making dogs fast one day a week all the time,” I tell my dogs. “You are going to live. Mealtime is just delayed.” So the moping and charming persists for hours.
Do you have set mealtimes, or do you wing it with your dogs?
My daughters dogs eat on the dot and they start the begging and staring ten minutes before it’s”time” to eat. I feed my dog at whenever schedule. I’m happy with it and I think he is as well . I don’t experience the begging or any barking. I do think different breeds are more food driven, that being said I have a Malinois my daughter has labs.
My work hours are very irregular. The dogs luckily haven’t gotten set on specific mealtimes. The cats, on the other hand, simply take those few hour windows to be terrible the entire time, just in case.
Our doggies eat on a regular basis at about the same time every day. I never thought it was too much to ask to feed them at a regular time. Let’s face it, dogs have not too much excitement in their lives. They don’t go to work, don’t go to church, don’t go dancing or partying. Dogs, at least our dogs, have little social life, they don’t know about Christmas, New Years, Easter, Thanksgiving. They HEAR about 4th of July via the fireworks. Is it too surprising that the one thing they get to enjoy, get excited about… having a meal… is a cause for dancing and barking and impatient waiting. The only other thing they get to do is bark at dogs going by the house and the occasional car trip.
Personally, I like eating at about the same time every day and don’t think it is too much trouble if the dogs like a sense of order. Dogs are naturally creatures of habit and it doesn’t seem like too much of a burden to e to feed them on a schedule!!!
I feel exactly as you do. Plus, my greyhounds have always been used to a more regulated routine, so, even though we are all now retired, I try to keep them on a fairly even schedule.
Agree with you Patrick. Our dogs eat twice a day and it’s within a half hour of the same time every day. This helps transition during DST changes. We also have other cues besides walking into the kitchen so they don’t expect to be fed every time we go into the kitchen at 7 am or 5 pm. One is putting their bowls down on the dog side of the counter, which after being washed are put in another place. We put their bowls on the counter and start preparing their meals and that’s when they start going crazy. We also have to feed them on schedule because of their meds, some of which have to be given with meals.
If you’d like to provide them with a little excitement, get a snuffle mat or make one. That way they can eat their kibble, plus have a bit of hide and seek fun with it. Would liven their days and relieve some boredom. I find a bored dog can bee an annoying dog. When they find something to keep themselves amused it is usually an activity about which I will not be pleased.
I don’t need to look at a clock — 4:00 p.m. for dinner, 5:00 a.m. for breakfast :(. I try to make them wait, but it’s really not worth the aggravation on both sides of the food dish.
My 3 year old intact, female German Shepherd is UBER UBER picky and finicky. To the point that I now raw feed her (although “raw” isn’t accurate because Princess Snotty Pants[not her real name LOL] won’t eat anything raw so I cook for her), and she eats – usually – twice a day. I leave for work at 5:30 a.m. M-F so she eats in those mornings about 4:30 a.m. then again around 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. On the weekends, she eats later in the morning and the evenings. She’s been known to skip a meal, too but I understand that is normal. My other dogs ate at their leisure, too. But they all ate kibble so it was ok to let it sit out.
I guess we are like a lot of folks, we treat our dogs almost as if they are our children. So, we like to eat our meals on a fairly regular schedule, and so do our dogs. I agree, when we are late for a meal, they will let us know they are hungry. So what? We just feed them.
Absolutely. I like giving my girl as much choice as possible. Just don’t understand why people want to show there pup who is boss. They know..the person with hands is. During the summer here, we get up early and as a result my girl wants to be fed earlier sometimes. So what? I’m delighted she can tell me.
For me, this isn’t about showing my dog who is boss, it is about not wanting to be harassed if a meal is not served at a certain time. I don’t like barking or being pestered. Also, I just eat when I’m hungry and then feed my dog at the same time because its convenient. Its OK if that’s not for everyone, especially for those who have a regular schedule – it just works out wonderfully for me.
I wing it and always have. But to be honest, I’m winging it with my own mealtimes as well. We lead busy, active lives, and we just can’t always be at the table eating at the same designated time. I never have any issues with my dogs bugging me when I want to sleep in or are on vacation, and they never bug me to get out of bed. When I am up however, they would happily eat every hour on the hour if I would feed them that way.
I’ve always fed my dogs at random times. It helps if I have to work late or leave earlier than normal. I also recommend this approach to my clients. It keeps my dogs from demanding to be fed.
Unfortunately, I have a dog undergoing radiation and he can’t be fed the morning of treatment. So no one else gets fed either. They get a bigger meal at the end of the day though. Because I’ve taught them mealtimes are not on a schedule, I’ve had no issues.
Good luck with your pups tooth extraction!
Our dogs eat on a regular basis. It works for us as it makes us get up at about the same time each day. I might add we are retired
I’m with you . My four months old puppy wakes up hungry, and her first meal sets the schedule for the day. I keep each of her three meals a little short of one third of the daily amount to have wiggle room for healthy treats. Being retired , I can please both of us.
I have two that LOVE to eat and eat well. I have another that could care less if he ever eats. The two who do are those you would go crazy over. They can’t eat fast enough. My new puppy is a jumping jelly bean (yorkie, 7 months) all the way to the food bin and my 12 yo yorkie poo circles all the way. It makes me crazy! I so wish I could break this behavior but have no idea where to begin. Any advice would be welcomed!
Hi, Karen. I had a Lab puppy that was a voracious eater…to the point that he’d throw up because he would eat so fast. To break that habit I would put his bowl down and hold onto him by wrapping an arm in front of his back legs and around his belly and made him “sit” and “wait”. He eventually figured out that I wasn’t going to release him to eat until he complied. The first few times when I let him go he’d head for the bowl like his tail was on fire. I would let him take a few bites, but would then pull him back and go through the “sit/wait” drill again…as many times as it took. Dogs are smart. Good luck with your two!
Debra’s advice is great and it’s the same I’d give you. In addition to the “sit” and “wait”, I’d use a slow down bowl so they eat much more slowly. Our puppy mill rescue Dane will eat so fast she throws up and will eat anything in sight. We use a slow down bowl and feed her both her breakfast and her dinner in two smaller portions (rather than a larger portion). That also slows her down a bit (and also helps her with relax and wait, as we wait a few minutes between portions). That works for her–she can then eat and keep her food down. Since you have a multiple dog household, a puzzle feeder may not work for you, depends on your pack (wouldn’t work for us because our Dane will steal the other dogs’ food and a fight over food would not be out of the question), but with the right pack, you might be able to use a puzzle feeder for at least some (if not all) of her food. If in doubt, I wouldn’t try it–a fight isn’t worth it. But using a food dispensing toy will slow her down, as well. Best of luck. And harden your heart against all the pitiful looks and vocal pleas of “But I’m starving” during the sit and wait training.
Feed with either the scatter method or a snuffle mat, that’ll slow ’em down!
I have a couple of fast eaters and use a smooth, round/oval appropriate size/weight rock in each of their bowls. Works like a charm! (I had tried a slow down type food dish and the one dog just gave up after a few bites.) I used to use the same rock method in buckets for horses who ate their grain too quickly.
What a great idea! What do you consider size and weight appropriate for a 75 lb dog who basically inhales his kibble?
LOL – I forgot to say size and weight appropriate rock for adding to the food bowl.
Karen, I have 3 large dogs from age 5 to 14, with different eating speeds and calorie requirements. Mine are required to `go kennel’, i.e. lie down on their sleeping mats in different rooms where they wait while I bring the food to them. That way I don’t have 3 dogs jockeying for space in the kitchen.
Some people use `place’ for this concept, and there are videos on YouTube as well as articles in WDJ, etc. on how to teach this. It is a helpful cue in general, and easy to teach.
I do use a slow feeder (a dish with open maze compartments) for my Akbash who eats too fast and who is an easy keeper. With this dish, she finishes about the same time as the others, so there is no opportunistic scouting of the older dog’s food, which she would do if she finished first.