# What do you do ?



## ConnieVa (May 9, 2005)

I am asking this question for our *adult * Malt owners. Tucker is 2 years old and as you know I have had some trouble with his potty behavior. We are no longer free feeding and his potty behavior already seems to be better. Now if I could get him to put all four feet into the pee area. He has a pee pad in a 31x31 pan. He will stand on the pad and put his front feet out and pee OR he will put his front feet in and leave his back feet out and pee. Either way the pee sometimes misses. 


I would really like to know which of you FREE FEED and which of you have your dogs on a set SCHEDULE?


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## Morkie4 (Oct 13, 2006)

I do not free feed.........they, my 4 1/2 yr old maltese and my 1 1/2 yr old Yorkie, are given a morning meal and an early evening feeding. Since I mix human food with the kibbles, once they have walked away from their dishes, they are picked up. Water is always available but both are outside trained.


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## Bonnie's Mommie (Mar 2, 2006)

I feed Bonnie twice a day - 9:30 and 5:30-6:00. She has edible bones available all day but seldom chews them.


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

I feed on a schedule. That way I can make sure they are getting the proper amount of food and that one doesn't eat it all, etc. I feed them slightly less than 1/4 cup morning and evening. I give them a few kibbles for a snack at lunchtime and sometimes at bedtime.


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## phesty (May 30, 2006)

I free feed Josie. It's just always worked for us. She eats about 1/2 c. of Natural Balance Duck and Potato every day. She's very much a grazer and doesn't ever really hunker down and eat a bunch at once. She's outside trained and rings when she needs to go out. When we're not home, she's kenneled.


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## PreciousPrince (Feb 27, 2006)

I feed twice a day as well. Sometimes he chose to eat breakfast and sometimes not. If he didn't eat breakfast, he'd get a little snack in the afternoon, and then an early dinner. I think this is because he was becoming less and less enthusiastic about his food, so I'm in the process of switching to a new food that he seems to like better. He'll pick out all the new kibble and eat that first. So I'm hoping he'll start eating breakfast more regularly when he's completely switched. As for dinner, he always eats that, but not always as soon as I put it down. I just leave it down till he's finished.


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## NC's Mom (Oct 23, 2004)

I do a mixture. They always have kibble available for when they get the urge to munch (though, what with the recalls, when this bag is empty, that might change). I eat breakfast around 8:00 every morning, so that is when they get their share of the smoothie. I also make my lunch around 8:00 am, so if I have enough bread, they get some bread. If not, I give them some extra oatmeal when I add that to my smoothie. Oh, and they always get a share in the bell peppers. (I make bell pepper sandwiches.) I generally eat dinner around the same time and they get their share of that as well. But, if something gets skipped, like my breakfast this morning because I was out of fruit, then they are out of their share as well. That's when they go for the kibble....well, not right away. Only after they are absolutely positively certain that I'm not going near the fridge or the stove. It takes hours for the hope to die. Usually, before it does, I've gone to the market to replenish whatever I'm out of.







Sir N will be 10 this October. Little C just turned 3. They have both been free-fed their entire lives. Neither are overweight. Well, Sir N was, for a while, after I first got Little C because he felt obligated to eat all the food all the time. He's gotten over that, thankfully.









I've always thought that keeping them to a schedule teaches them that they have to eat everything available because if they don't, it'll disappear and they won't have it forever. (speaking of a dog's perception of forever, not ours) I don't want them to wolf down their food. And I want them to know that food will ALWAYS be available and it is not something they ever have to worry about. Then again, I might be this way because of the way I grew up. Food was not always plentiful. To this day, I feel happiest when my cupboards are crammed and overflowing with food. And I like to have as much as possible out and displayed where I can see it. Makes me feel "rich".


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## CathyB (Mar 10, 2007)

We free feed for now, Later if we get a weight problem I will feed more on a schedule.


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## munchkin1616 (Dec 8, 2005)

I free feed Nikko (9 yrs) with kibble and water since he's for sure a grazer. I give him some canned food when he asks for it as well, which is more of a treat than a meal staple for him (the vet said this is fine to do with him since he was never raised on canned before I adopted him). Since both the dry and canned are bought in bulk and were purchased before the recalls, I don't know what I'll reconsider once I'm done with those amounts.


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## ConnieVa (May 9, 2005)

(I would NEVER let a little dog go all day long without food--you're asking for some serious hypoglycemia probs. Ollie is a good, solid boy and there's been a few times where he didn't eat right away in the morning and a few hours later he'd dry heave from not eating. I highly recommend free freeding. Many people on the forum here do.) 

This was the reason I asked the question. One post had me question myself for for putting Tucker on a schedule. (He gets a few treats during the day.) It scared me thinking I was doing the wrong thing.

Now I see both can be done with success and won't harm our babies.

My husband was who let Tucker graze. I was against it. Now that he is on a schedule, he gets down to business and then the rest of the day he seems more satisfied. It's almost like he has more energy. We both have paid close attention and can see a difference.

So far this seems to have taken care of the bathroom problem. I am not saying he won't go elsewhere but so far so good.


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

Ollie is only 7 months but has been at, what I believe, is his adult weight for several weeks now--he's 8 lbs and grew a LOT when we first got him but hasn't gained any in months now. Anyway, we free feed. At 8am I give him one cup of kibble with about 1/4 cup of canned ON TOP of the kibble. He eats all the canned off first and then takes the rest of the day to eat the rest of the kibble. At around 6-8pm he usually only has a few kibbles left so I give him about 1/4 cup more--there is usually some remaining by the morning but I toss it and start over.


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## LMJ (Feb 16, 2006)

I have Jeff on a schedule. Since I work, it makes it much easier to deal with having a potty schedule too. I give him a total of 1 cup of dry food per day 1/2 in the AM and 1/2 in the PM. He also gets chicken breast jerky a few times per day as a treat. I'm assuming this also keeps him at a consistant healthy weight.


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## Malteseluv (Feb 6, 2007)

We have always free fed because we have always fed dog food. But with all these recalls, we have switched over to home cooking, so now it's impossible to free feed. Now, they get three meals per day







And fresh snacks throughout the day, like yogurt, fruits, veggies, etc.


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