# Should I pick up the food?



## rockhead (Jul 8, 2007)

I've never had a dog leave food in the bowl all day. Rookie is in great shape and eventually eats, although I confess to sometimes coaxing him into eating when he really isn't interested.

The problem is this; my schedule swings weekly. There are days when someone is home with him all day and others where he is brought to daycare at 7 am and picked up at 4 pm. Daycare does not feed, so he can go all day without a bite. While this is fine for an adult, I have reservations about a 5-month old not eating all day.

I've read that I should leave the food on the floor for 20-minutes, then pick it up and not offer it again until the next mealtime. I just don't have the heart to do it. Am I doing him an injustice?


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

If my dogs don't eat in about 45 seconds (maybe a minute...) I KNOW there is something wrong with them cause they are chow hounds! So mealtime is a great place for me, twice a day, to REALLY know how they are feeling and if it's normal (or not). If I just left food down all the time I'd have no clue.

When I had a dog that was a picky eater, she would leave the food, but that meant a) she wasn't hungry, so why leave the food down.... and/or b) the food wasn't that appealing so she was fine to wait to the next meal time. For THIS dog, I would (for one of her meals a day) add extra yummy to get her stimulated enough to eat. So to her extra kibble I'd add just a bit of my table scraps with water to gravy it up a bit, or 1/4 can of cat food (since they are picky, cat food really had more flavor and stink to get them eating). 

I do NOT ever believe in leaving food down. When you have a real meal time, that's twice a day to give us an opportunity to bond with our dog, affirm our leadership role with the dog, really SEE the dog and how they are acting if they are starting to get ill, and look at them for weight (heavy or thin). Mealtime is a time of great excitment for my dogs in the day, and I think that's an easy way for me to give them a joyful moment.


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## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

My dogs have set feeding times. Of course, they practically inhale whatever is in their bowls. 

There there are some dogs who don't have to eat anything they see and just eat what they need. It sounds like your dog is like that. 

I think it's better to not leave the food out. That way you know exactly what they are eating and when.


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

I agree with MRL. 

The Hooligans are Pig Dogs and when one of them doesn't eat, s/he is sick - you can bet on it - they go to the vet, no other symptoms are necessary.

I also don't believe in leaving food down. If a puppy or new addition to the family doesn't eat in 15 minutes or so, they will have to wait to the next meal to have another opportunity to eat.

I've only had one picky eater. JR ate at every meal, but he only ate enough to survive - he ate to live, the other Hooligans live to eat. JR was extremely SKINNY, nothing the vet or I did changed it. When he was about 11 or 12 years old I switched to a complete frozen raw meat and JR became PIG DOG OF THE YEAR. He couldn't get enough and would actually steal the food when I wasn't looking. When he went to the Bridge at 13plus years old, he was a good weight for a GSD.

Good luck with your pup!!!


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## rockhead (Jul 8, 2007)

I'm really on the fence here. I've always had Pig Dogs myself and there was no such thing as leftover food. "Not eating" meant "sick". I remember this with Eich, who at 4-months turned his nose up at the food one morning. He was at the vet an hour later and was diagnosed with Coccidia. Rookie is just really calm and laid back. It really doesn't matter how much excitement I try to add to mealtime. He'll eat a few mouthfuls, leave it alone for an hour, eat a few more, etc. He's an only dog so it's easy to keep track of how much he eats, and he's getting enough. <sigh>

I might start picking it up after next week, since it's going to be a day-care week. That might get him in the game.


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Stark is 5 months old and when I first brought him home I had a problem with him eating. He just wasn't interested in food. I tried many different kibbles in a three week span but he wasn't trying any of it.

Finally I gave up and went to raw. He LOVES meal time now! And I am actually having fun with it too, I am always trying to find new things for him to try (buffalo, ostrich, kanagroo, etc..).

I feel your fustrations and although I have no more ideas then what has already been offered I wish you luck. 

Have you considered a raw diet? Worked for me and I (and Stark) couldn't be happier!


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## alaman (May 3, 2006)

I started two puppies on free feeding meaning they always have food available. They do not overeat and look great at 4 1/2 months. They simply eat when hungry.

In comparasion my other GSDs will eat everything they can get and will overeat if allowed to. Been trying out how to get the others on free feeding.

I started free freeding after talking to a long time handler of GSDs. He was the head K-9 officer for a major city for years. He required all K-9 officers to free feed their dogs. In 15 years he was the head man, the department never had a GSD bloat. The department has continued the free feeding policy and has not lost a GSD to bloat during the 10 years since his retirement. In addition, their GSDs look great.

I lost a GSD to bloat. I'm becoming more and more convinced GSDs bloat because of the way we feed them and that free feeding may put a big dent in bloat losses. 

JMHO


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## rockhead (Jul 8, 2007)

> Originally Posted By: alamanI started free freeding after talking to a long time handler of GSDs. He was the head K-9 officer for a major city for years. He required all K-9 officers to free feed their dogs. In 15 years he was the head man, the department never had a GSD bloat. The department has continued the free feeding policy and has not lost a GSD to bloat during the 10 years since his retirement. In addition, their GSDs look great.
> 
> I lost a GSD to bloat. I'm becoming more and more convinced GSDs bloat because of the way we feed them and that free feeding may put a big dent in bloat losses.
> 
> JMHO


Interesting. I happen to know the person who supervises the entire K-9 unit for the MTA Police here in NY. I am going to look in to this and follow up. Anything so simple that could help prevent bloat would be worth the effort.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

I recently lost a dog to bloat also. If I were able to find a way to prevent that it would be awesome. What a really crappy way to go. My 4 month old pup will be gastropexied some day. I am going to do what I can to prevent that scenario again. Feeding frequency and bloat would be an interesting study. 


I have a friend whose GSD youngster does not eat great. She leaves the bowl in the crate and each morning the bowl is clean. She wasn't willing to watch the weight loss keep up on an already slight dog. I don't know if withholding food not eaten quickly would have worked. maybe, but it is hard to endure for some people trying to get a picky eater to grow.

I had a finnicky eater a long time ago. I ended up feeding him a BARF diet for awhile and he really turned around. Woke up his appetite and he never walked away from a meal after that.


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## rockhead (Jul 8, 2007)

I got an e-mail back from the K-9 guy I know. He give them 20-minutes to eat, then picks up anything left over and limits activity before and after meals. He says he's never had a dog bloat this way.

I also read a couple of websites that encourage smaller meals with greater frequency. This is just not going to be possible with my schedule.

I'm the process of introducing adult food and will most likely implement a stricter feeding ritual once on 100% adult. Thanks for the replies.


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## rapnek74 (Mar 19, 2009)

I have free fed dogs for 20 years now with no problems. My pup now has been sick since Wednesday. He didn't eat Wed evening until Saturday at noon. I have been feeding him 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time since then. You could tell he was hungry all the time on that little food. This morning he was feed 1/2 at 8 and 1/2 at 10. He was then feed 1 cup at noon. He only ate 1/2 cup and it's all been can Hills i/d food. Something he has never had before. If he was going to over eat it would have been something like this but he ate what he wanted and then quit. 

I am a firm believer that dogs that are free fed from the start are not going to over eat. No need in thinking about bloat. I have never had a fat dog or a skinny dog... I had around 50 dogs at times. 

My dog will usually eat a little in the morning around 6 and then he eats when we eat supper at 6:30. Other than that he may go get a kibble or two durning the day but that's it. 

My cat is also free fed....


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

All the people I know that have had dog bloat say there isn't really any consistancy in free feed or meal times. They seem to feel it's the GENETIC component of bloat (the fact it's generally seen in older dogs....) that take over. So though it may help to keep our dogs on smaller meals (or not) or less grain (or not) or raised feeders (or not), no exercise around meal times (or some)....

I've known people who have done everything right and their dogs have bloated. As well as people that don't watch their dogs at all ever, give them 4 cups of food at once then run them, and these dogs live healthy forever.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

My two were males 7 years old. They were from disparate lines, but both had impressively deep chests. Lil' dude now can look forward to his gastropexy.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

The vast majority of free fed dogs I have seen are overweight. Maybe not all "obese", but heavier than would be ideal.


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## rapnek74 (Mar 19, 2009)

How many dogs have you seen that were free fed? I kept up to 50 at one time who were free fed and never had one overweight. 

Every one of my hunting partners also free fed with no problems.


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