April 15, 2011
What is the benefit of picking up a dog's food after a certain amount of time?
Full Question:
Hi Cindy,I remember seeing somewhere on your site that when your dogs are fed it's picked up after a certain amount of time. The time I can't remember, 20 minutes to an hour, I think. My question was what is the benefit of this??My German Shepherd never eats all of her food in one go and I feel guilty about taking it up after a set time, as I know she always goes back to it before bed time and finishes it off.?Is this bad for her?
Regards
Sandra
Cindy's Answer:
I give my dogs 15 minutes to eat. Believe me, none of them need more than 5.
Allowing dogs to eat at their leisure is not something we do. We feel it’s healthier for a dog to eat regular meals as opposed to grazing whenever they feel like it. Their digestive tract is designed to fill up at one specific time and then empty. Horses and many other animals do better taking in small amounts of food more frequently, but we don’t believe it’s the best for our dogs.
It’s also a leadership thing. I use food for training and I also control my dogs’ feeding times as their leader. I want them to look to me for food, not a bowl. I want my dogs to have a lot of drive for food. Dogs that have the option to eat whenever they wish are often difficult/impossible to motivate with food. Food is a primal need for all animals, if we can use it to help teach our dogs things and to make ourselves more valuable to them as leaders why wouldn’t I take advantage of that?
For many dogs, allowing free feeding can make housetraining more difficult too. By knowing when your dog takes food in, it’s much easier to set up a potty schedule.
A lot of people do free feed, but we don’t recommend it or do it with our own dogs. I hope this helps.
Cindy Rhodes
Allowing dogs to eat at their leisure is not something we do. We feel it’s healthier for a dog to eat regular meals as opposed to grazing whenever they feel like it. Their digestive tract is designed to fill up at one specific time and then empty. Horses and many other animals do better taking in small amounts of food more frequently, but we don’t believe it’s the best for our dogs.
It’s also a leadership thing. I use food for training and I also control my dogs’ feeding times as their leader. I want them to look to me for food, not a bowl. I want my dogs to have a lot of drive for food. Dogs that have the option to eat whenever they wish are often difficult/impossible to motivate with food. Food is a primal need for all animals, if we can use it to help teach our dogs things and to make ourselves more valuable to them as leaders why wouldn’t I take advantage of that?
For many dogs, allowing free feeding can make housetraining more difficult too. By knowing when your dog takes food in, it’s much easier to set up a potty schedule.
A lot of people do free feed, but we don’t recommend it or do it with our own dogs. I hope this helps.
Cindy Rhodes
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