Dogs may be fed successfully in a number of ways that meet both the owner’s and the dog’s needs and circumstances. These methods include portion-control feeding, free-choice feeding and timed feeding.

1) The portion-control feeding entails measuring your pet’s food and offering it as a meal, thereby controlling the amount of food that can be consumed. This method is used for weight control programs and for animals that might overeat if fed free-choice. Food can be provided in one or more meals daily, some dogs will overeat when fed free-choice method, which can result in obesity. If your pet eats free-choice and has put on too much weight, you will need to switch to portion-control feeding.

2) Free-choice feeding is also known as “ad lib” feeding or “free feeding.” Food is available at all times, as much as the pet wants, whenever the pet wants. Most nursing mothers are fed by the free-choice method.

3) The timed feeding method involves making a portion of food available for the pet to eat for a specified period of time. For example, the food can be placed in the dog’s bowl for thirty minutes. After that time, if the pet has not consumed the food, it is removed, by doing so we are setting a pattern:-

a) you need to eat when it is offered to you and

b) you cannot have any more until next meal time.

Soon, the dog or puppy will understand the concept of mealtimes and look to you at feeding time. We, as human leaders of dogs, don’t need to be so strict, but letting dogs know where the food comes from does help with leadership symbolism.

4) Leave your dog in peace while it is eating from its bowl. Taking the bowl away while it is eating causes anxiety, this can lead to food aggression. If you want to be sure that your dog is comfortable when you approaching during mealtimes, add a little food to the bowl while it is eating, so it sees you as an asset, rather than a threat.

5) Never feed your dog from the table or your plate, owners should eat FIRST (remember, leaders get to do everything first) before the dogs are fed. This is a good time to work with “no begging”. Dogs are opportunists, and pushy dogs will insist you feed them from the table. “Spot, NO – go lie down!”. feeding table scraps results in begging so it becomes a constant thing, to avoid encourages drooling and attention seeking behaviors such as begging and barking.

6) Each dog should have his or her own dog food dish. Supervise that one of the dogs is not taking the other dogs’ food, this method will allow you to notice if one of them has lost their appetite indicating a health problem.

7) Train your dog not to be possessive of its food. There will be times when you will have to intervene when your dog eats something that may cause him harm or discomfort. You need to be able to step in at such times without any danger of your dog lashing out at you.

8 ) Feed dogs of different ages at different times. Dogs have a very specific hierarchy or “pecking order” which stems from their early years in the wild and they will expect to be fed accordingly. Feeding the puppies separate from the older dogs will preserve this relationship and ensure less conflict.

The above training is BEST done while the dog is still a puppy! Older dogs can be MUCH more protective and have a lot less inhibition about protecting what they feel is theirs. CAUTION ALWAYS is key when working an exercise like this with an older dog.

When it comes to feeding your dog, there can be a maze-like number of considerations to keep in mind and what will work for one dog may not necessarily work for another, thus it can be hard to put together a feeding guide that will work for all types of dogs, where people have always argued the merits of their particular way of feeding.

Nevertheless, we have managed to put together a collection of general tips that owners of most any type of dog will be able to follow safely, and here they are!

Food can have a serious affect on our pet’s behaviour, as well as their health; many have additives, etohoxy, colorants, preservatives, some of these additives can and do affect our pets dramatically. It is often obvious from its appearance that a food contains say artificial colours. Some almost look as though they were made in Sell afield.

As a responsible dog owner, one of the most common pitfalls you’ll have to watch out for is overfeeding. Attempts to shower our dogs with love by means of big meals and tons of tasty treats are sweet, but misguided. In dogs, as with humans, extra weight can lead to health problems. Be sure to indulge your four-legged friend with affection, not food.

Adult dog or puppy require sufficient nutrients to meet energy needs and to maintain and repair body tissues. The amount you feed your adult dog should be based on his or her size and energy output, activity levels vary dramatically between pets. In their activity levels. An animal with a “normal” activity level should receive what we call “maintenance” energy. A pampered lap dog may require 10 percent below maintenance, while an active pet who exercises regularly outdoors may require maintenance plus 20 to 40 percent.

We recommend all dogs be fed twice daily. Simply divide the amount suggested on the label of your pet’s food into two meals, spaced eight to twelve hours apart. You may need to adjust portions as you learn your dog’s ideal daily “maintenance” amount.