# Free Feeding



## InControlK9 (Sep 23, 2013)

Are you guys against it.. or for it? I've been thinking about giving it a try since my girl is on the smaller side... I don't think she will over eat she's not real food crazy


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I don't. I feed twice a day. 

She may be small due to the parasite infestation she has. Did you get her into the vet today?


----------



## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

How big is she? How big are her parents?

I used to feed twice a day but they would still go to the bag buffet so I just started free feeding. 

I do feed half raw and that is handed out once a day.


----------



## InControlK9 (Sep 23, 2013)

Jax08 said:


> I don't. I feed twice a day.
> 
> She may be small due to the parasite infestation she has. Did you get her into the vet today?


she went to the vet this morning.. they gave her booster shot & a dewormer... didn't seem too concerned about the worm.. just said she can now get started on her heartworm prevention and rabbies.. set for next visit


----------



## InControlK9 (Sep 23, 2013)

MineAreWorkingline said:


> How big is she? How big are her parents?
> 
> I used to feed twice a day but they would still go to the bag buffet so I just started free feeding.
> 
> I do feed half raw and that is handed out once a day.


her parents were pretty big.. not really on the heavy side.. slim build but was tall


she's slouching in this pic but she is 18" height 29 lbs.. 17 weeks


----------



## ausdland (Oct 21, 2015)

Aw, she's really cute. I'm sure she'll fill out. I wouldn't free feed. That's a great way to kill food drive and make the pup grow too fast.


----------



## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

Free feeding means odd times to eliminate.If you need your dog to potty on schedule and not be uncomfortable waiting for you to get home to let her out,then no.


----------



## Themusicmanswife (Jul 16, 2015)

Have you tried making the food more appealing? I mix about a tablespoon or two of wet food in with the kibble.


----------



## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

She is beautiful, very nice face. If the parents were tall and lean, I would not expect her to weigh so much at maturity, but if they were that tall, don't be surprised if she keeps on growing in height for a longer period of time. That can be common in taller dogs.

I would definitely put her back on three feedings a day if she were my dog. Two is not enough for a 4 month old baby IMO.


----------



## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

dogma13 said:


> Free feeding means odd times to eliminate.If you need your dog to potty on schedule and not be uncomfortable waiting for you to get home to let her out,then no.


It doesn't matter when you have five of them pooing on individual schedules. It can be never ending. :grin2:


----------



## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

MineAreWorkingline said:


> It doesn't matter when you have five of them pooing on individual schedules. It can be never ending. :grin2:


Lolol!Agreed!


----------



## InControlK9 (Sep 23, 2013)

thanks for the input ill put her back on 3x a day.. I'm def. not going to attempt to mix wet food in with her fry food... had bad experience with that before with a diff. dog.. and he stopped eating dry all together and would only eat the wet and spit all the dry back out into the bowl

she doesn't have a problem eating, I just have to provide it more (3x instead of 2x).. when I said she isn't food crazy I meant if I place it down.. she won't eat at the moment most the time she will play with a ball or just lay around a few mins... then 10mins later gobble it up


----------



## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Do you use mealtime to train? I would (if I fed kibble), most of the meal would be training rewards when the puppy is this young.
I feed raw and still use some food roll reward as part of the meal portion for younger pups. Tracking also takes up part of a meal. 
I would never just have a bowl of food set out for the dog to graze on.


----------



## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

MineAreWorkingline said:


> It doesn't matter when you have five of them pooing on individual schedules. It can be never ending. :grin2:


If I had 5 dogs, no way would free feeding be an option...I'd have one obese food driven dog and 4 others with scars on their faces and ribs showing, lol
My rawfed dogs generally go once a day and usually in the afternoon.


----------



## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

onyx'girl said:


> If I had 5 dogs, no way would free feeding be an option...I'd have one obese food driven dog and 4 others with scars on their faces and ribs showing, lol
> My rawfed dogs generally go once a day and usually in the afternoon.


They were stealing the food anyhow, so I thought I would give it a try. I never thought it would work but it did. They still are all underweight but no scars. Nobody is allowed to hover around the food bowl. When you done eating, move along. 

Surprisingly, they also tend to all go in the morning, but you never know when they plan on having me do some nosework in the yard. :wink2:


----------



## cloudpump (Oct 20, 2015)

InControlK9 said:


> she went to the vet this morning.. they gave her booster shot & a dewormer... didn't seem too concerned about the worm.. just said she can now get started on her heartworm prevention and rabbies.. set for next visit


The Benefits Of Diatomaceous Earth For Dogs


----------



## Della Luna (Jul 14, 2015)

I definitely like to keep a close eye on puppies' food intake, so I would not free-feed them. I also like to make them work for their food, whether through obedience training, shaping, or just putting the kibble in a food-dispensing toy. Then they can bond with you and/or burn some mental energy, too. I only started feeding my GSD meals when she was about 11 months, and I've recently reverted to having her work for the food about 30% of the time.

Personally, I've only had luck free-feeding small breeds, though this may be a coincidence.


----------



## SadTales (Jul 20, 2016)

I don't because it's really hard having to juggle with the idea of knowing when they have to go potty. Chances of mistakes happening in the household are raised when you free feed because you don't know WHEN they'll do it. I also noticed my puppy wouldn't eat his food when free feeding because he'd forget to because he's caught up in play time, and, if they're a fussy eater, they're basically like; "Nope" he's a fussy eater too, so free feeding was a big no, no.

Stopping free feeding got rid of his fussy habit, and got him to start eating (he never use to want to eat the little fuss ball because he was fussy), and it stopped random potty times, now he's fully potty trained.

I only free fed him to experiment with him a little, haven't done it since.

But honestly that's just my experience with it  .. If he was potty trained by a bell, and I always saw him eat and timed it on my phone.. Sure, than I'd know when to let him out .. But than that'd be more of a hassle.


----------



## milaneechan (Dec 29, 2015)

My boy isn't food driven either. I feed him twice a day, and somedays he will let the morning feeding sit all day long and then eat it in the late afternoon. Sometimes he only eats once a day for that reason bc I don't want him have 2 meals worth of food in such a short amount of time. But he doesn't care. 

Recently, I've made feeding time into a game for him by having him bring his dish to the bag of dog food at meal time. He seems to like that. It's also helped that I started putting a dollop of pumpkin on top of his food (not mixing it in) every meal to help his digestion. He LOOOOVES pumpkin. Though, sometimes he just eats that, and slowly eats the rest of his food over a couple of hours. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(before anyone suggests trying new food, it is extremely difficult to find him food bc he has a lot of allergies including chicken and wheat, and most large breed puppy foods have a base protein of chicken. He is on a high end holistic puppy food right now that is free of his allergens...his health can't afford to be picky, haha)


----------

