Scheduled Feeding v.s Free Feeding

calliecritturs

. . . or she'll lick that empty bowl 80 kazillion times (you gotta love the sound of stainless being nudged all over the kitchen floor ... um ... NOT)

At the risk of leading this thread astray -- but it's SO FUNNY. 

When you have multiple dogs they EACH have their own "thing". 

Charlie?  Usually Tink and Luna are standing there staring a hole in his back (he's always last) so he'll walk away from an empty but ... relatively 'unlicked' bowl just to let the girls have it (but of course Mom doesn't allow that LOL)

Luna -- she will lick it giving it quite the "spin" but she can still walk it right out of the room.

Tink? oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh "NOPE .... DANG YOU BOWL --- STAY STILL -- Ain't chasin MY bowl ... it can jolly well just STAY PUT 'er I'll put my FOOT on it!! That'll fix it!!" suddenly a pug FOOT will plop down in the middle of the bowl to hold it still!!! and she'll lick around her own foot.  (but then Tink uses her paws like hands anyway ... she'll grab at things with her front paws just like a human or monkey will use their hands - you'd think she had opposible thumbs)

So Ruby's from the Luna school of bowl "advancement" ... I've only had a couple of dogs in my life who put their foot in their bowl but I about split every time Tink does it because she is SO out of patience with it!!! 

I watch my dogs eat partly for 'control', partly for health reasons ... but partly just because it's so entertaining.

Tink's strategic paw placement on the bowl reminds me of a cat we had in our dorm when I was in college.  If we poured milk in a bowl for her, she'd dip her paw in it and shake the drops off.  Whether or not she then took a drink apparently depended on if she thought it was the right temperature, because sometimes she'd walk away and come back and try it again later!

Jes -- sorry we derailed your thread a bit here, but I'm glad you got your husband on board to help with the new scheduled feeding plan.  Good luck with it, and I hope Lily adjusts easily for you!

JesDaMom

I feel like Lilly is very prissy.

Partly that's a sheltie thing -- Foxy was like that!  David used to say he was the only dog he'd ever seen who walked with a "mincing" step.