Dog Community

Feeding schedule?

Posted : 8/21/2006 7:15:03 AM

Hi, I'm new here but it looks like I've come to the right place for answers! We have an unidentified rescue dog, she's been with us for several years, she's about 7, we think. We always fed her at night, she slept in the basement and we had very few accidents (she came to us housetrained). Since the winter she has been sleeping in the den, with an occasional accident. We tried changing her feeding to morning, so she wouldn't need to go at night, but she went about three days without eating and I felt bad and caved in. She has this odd habit where she won't eat if anyone is around, but the minute we leave the area, she chows down.

Anyway, to the problem. She has recently discovered that if she needs to go out during the night, she can come upstairs to our bedroom door and jingle her tags. One of us (me!) will wake up and let her out. Accidents prevented, but I'm losing a lot of sleep!! I want to change her feeding to morning, but I don't know how to go about getting her to change. Put it down for her, leave it a short time and take it up? Let her go hungry for as long as it takes? I feel so guilty doing that.

She goes to work with my husband every day, so she has about a two-hour window in the morning, then she doesn't have another chance at her food bowl till they get home in the evening.

Any suggestions would be welcome!!

cyclefiend2000

Posted : 8/21/2006 7:20:47 AM

why not feed her 2 times per day? once in the morning and then again in the evenings. that way she doesnt get a whole day's worth of food at one time.[sm=2cents.gif]

angelamarie

Posted : 8/21/2006 7:22:13 AM

Your dog should be able to get through the night without a visit to the great outdoors, regardless of what time of day you feed her. The night time poops could be caused by a number of different things. What type of food are you feeding her, and have you changed that food recently? Does she get a good long walk some time after dinner and before bedtime? Could you possibly be over feeding her?

aok27502

Posted : 8/21/2006 6:55:19 PM

Well she doesn't eat all that much, she's about 50 lbs and might go through 2-3 cups of food in a day. The long walk before bed is a good idea, if she would eat anything, but she's bashful and won't eat until we go to bed. I guess my biggest issue is how to get her to eat when WE want, not when she wants. If I could get her to eat in the morning, and/or again when she gets home, that would be fine. But short of starving her, how do I get her to change?

the1irishgirl

Posted : 8/21/2006 8:22:02 PM

Your girl won't starve herself. My 53lb female hound eats about a cup and a half a day - divided up into a morning portion and an evening portion.

When we got her, we had to change our feeding habits because our big dog used to free-feed. But then he'd leave some for later and the little dog would scarf it all up. So when we changed his routine from free-feed to being on a schedule, we would leave the food down for about twenty minutes. He didn't eat for a few days because he just knew we'd cave. Well, we didn't - and now he knows when it's time to eat, and he eats it all in that 'sitting'.

Anyway, that's something you can try. Leave it down for only a certain amount of time and then pick it up. She'll eventually know that you're the one deciding - not her. Like I said, she won't starve herself. Just be patient...

angelamarie

Posted : 8/21/2006 8:27:30 PM

Ditto to what others have said here--and, also, 2-3 cups of food per day sound like ALOT for a 50 pound dog. What type of food are you feeding?

cyclefiend2000

Posted : 8/22/2006 9:55:12 AM

ORIGINAL: angelamarie

Ditto to what others have said here--and, also, 2-3 cups of food per day sound like ALOT for a 50 pound dog. What type of food are you feeding?

amelia gets about 3 cups per day (blackwood 3000) and she is just over 50 lbs. so that sounds about right depending on the brand.

Sapphire04

Posted : 8/22/2006 9:58:02 AM

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