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Im not really sure why we ever did it but we have always put down bowls at meal time. We want to switch to just putting down a bowl and walking away. I just dont know how to train the dogs. Put down the bowl(s) and use the wait and enough commands until trained to not eat it all in one sitting?
I doubt this will work in a multi dog household. My dog free feeds and will let his food sit until he's hungry, but he has no competition and is not stressed about not getting enough. Now when my granddog is here, he eats his food as soon as it hits the bowl just to make sure she doesn't get it.
I agree with UNC4Me that it probably won't work in a multi-dog house. We were able to do it with our multi-cat household, and when we had only one dog. But we're not able to do it with two dogs in the house.
My vet Stop me from this practice decades ago. Cause the timid dogs wouldn't eat the others were some how keeping them from the food even when they were not eating.
I have four dogs and free feeding would not work here. My French Bulldog would bully the others away and he'd eat every nugget in sight. Not good. lol When I just had two female Boston Terriers, they did ok with free feeding but I stopped it and haven't regretted it one bit. I prep their food, serve it up and they eat. Bowls and feeders get washed and there's a repeat at dinner. Works for me.
I've only seen this work in a household with one dog, that wasn't terribly food motivated, and knew his food was safe from being touched. All of the multi dog homes, and in our own home when we've had 2 or 3 dogs, we have had to monitor, referee and/or separate the food bowls so that everyone gets their "fair share". We occasionally dog sit a dog that is free fed, and when he's here, he knows to eat or our dogs will eat his food for him.
I doubt this will work in a multi dog household. My dog free feeds and will let his food sit until he's hungry, but he has no competition and is not stressed about not getting enough. Now when my granddog is here, he eats his food as soon as it hits the bowl just to make sure she doesn't get it.
Agreed. It would only work in a multi-dog household if the dogs had been raised that way and all of them have the right temperaments IMO. Some dogs will only eat when they're hungry while others will gobble every last crumb down even if they're not really hungry and they have no competition.
Im not really sure why we ever did it but we have always put down bowls at meal time. We want to switch to just putting down a bowl and walking away. I just dont know how to train the dogs. Put down the bowl(s) and use the wait and enough commands until trained to not eat it all in one sitting?
4 dogs, all older than 1yr.
Why on earth would you want to do that?
Bad idea for multiple reasons; here are a few reasons just to start-
1) you need to know how much each dog is eating.
2) in a multi-dog household each dog deserves their own space to eat in peace
3) leaving food out and available is an open invitation to unnecessary snarkiness even between dogs that get along
4) how would you know whether one dog was scarfing all the food and the other dog wasn't getting any food? How would you control portion size for each dog? I guarantee you that a dog who doesn't get their food for a day or two will become more aggressive around food, potentially starting unnecessary issues between the dogs (see #3)
5) free-feeding leads to obesity (dogs and not healthy)
Bad idea for multiple reasons; here are a few reasons just to start-
1) you need to know how much each dog is eating.
2) in a multi-dog household each dog deserves their own space to eat in peace
3) leaving food out and available is an open invitation to unnecessary snarkiness even between dogs that get along
4) how would you know whether one dog was scarfing all the food and the other dog wasn't getting any food? How would you control portion size for each dog? I guarantee you that a dog who doesn't get their food for a day or two will become more aggressive around food, potentially starting unnecessary issues between the dogs (see #3)
5) free-feeding leads to obesity (dogs and not healthy)
My thoughts exactly. And one more point to make, the longer kibble sits out exposed to air, the grosser it gets. I know, most dogs don't care about gross, but do you really want your dog eating bacteria and slime coated kibble that flies have probably laid their eggs in?
Or putting it another way, do you really want that sitting around your house all day?
Stick to scheduled meal times. Better for them, healthwise, better for them psychologically, better human/dog bonding, just all around better.
IF these are Dogs that Live inside 99% of the time & left home alone while you work. DONT do it... UNLESS You love coming home & cleaning up Poo & Pee.
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and not healthy)
