Of course I would walk my children, how do you think they got to the park,

I would hope that anyone with children would get them out into the fresh air and give plenty of exercise .

Well I don't think I'll bother to post on this anymore either. Seems to go round in circles. The whole thread from the beginning is a bit puzzling.

Free feeding not recommended but I'm doing it anyway.
It's not for everyone but it's for me.
Shouldn't expect dogs to be treated any different from children (WTF?)
You wouldn't stop children snacking between meals
and then
You wouldn't WALK CHILDREN?

That's the cruncher! Kids these days need MORE exercise! And if walking isn't exercise - what is it?

I am truly wondering if you posted this to begin with just to be a bit 'controversial'

Find something most won't agree with and post to say I do agree with it and then argue with those who predictably will disagree?

Best I can say is do what you think best for your dog but don't expect others (some of whom have far more experience and many many more years of dog ownership under their belt) to either agree with you or take advice from you.

I feed free, like I feed free myself
and I just don't care what others are saying

and both of us are doing well with, so what?

Would never free feed a dog. Set meal times always and if I am five minutes late feeding them, they let me know

The cats - now that's different, they are free fed.

I am going to put my experiences on this, to me experience and telling others about it is worth a lot more than reading books, they are just that person's opinion, by swopping experiences we learn a lot more.

1) Free feeding delays potty training because it is harder for owners to determine when the puppy eats and therefore needs to go outside.

I agree with most of what you are saying, choking can happen at any age not just puppies, I started to soak my dogs kibble because my ex-racing Greyhound choked on his food.

I rarely crate puppies apart from overnight, during the day I try to leave them in a puppy proof room, the problem is puppy proofing the room, pups will always find something that I have forgotten.

When toilet training a pup I keep the pup in the same room as me so I can watch them, I don't like crating them when I am there, I got the pup for companionship and in a crate he isn't a companion.

My biggest objection to free feeding is the food gets contaminated when left in a food bowl, the bowl has to be on the floor so is easily contaminated, I won't eat contaminated food and don't expect my animals to either.


2) A lot of dogs eat out of boredom and some will literally eat themselves into obesity and oblivion. Obesity leads to many diseases and kills dogs.

This is true with the dog next door, she eats out of boredom and is very overweight. Since I moved here she now gets exercise twice a week and occasionally at odd times, she is a Cocker Spaniel and bored stiff.

3) Dogs can be less likely to be food motivated for training

If you want to motivate your dog with food you need to work with them when a feed is due soon, also many trainers recommend you don't feed your dog before taking them out first think mornings so that they will be more focused on the treats.

My dogs get 3 small meals a day and I have to leave several hours before a training session if I want to use treats for anything because they won't work for them no matter how high resource the treat is. Every dog is different, my Staffy who nearly starved to death won't work for treats, he will work for cuddles. Tilly will do anything for a treat, it depends on the dog.

One dog can over eat while other dogs are not getting enough

Hunt kennels in the UK always let the slow, shy feeders into the food room first to eat because the other hounds don't let them get the food so this is true as well.

I always supervise my dogs when feeding them, new dogs have a closed door between them, I have only just started to let Dolly eat in the same room as Bonnie and Tilly and still have to watch that they don't take her food.

I have highlighted some of you words, When I am around, dogs are opportunists and if you are not around this shows that you are expect they will eat each other's food when you are not there.

5) Can add to the factors of bloat

There are many reasons for a dog to get bloat, some we can work out many we can't

6) Owners may not be home after the dog eats and bloats

Owners may not be home anyway when a dog bloats.

That is bad ownership but when you are in the habit of feeding a dog at set times a day, pick up the bowl after they have eaten then a owner my be quicker to notice the dog isn't eating. Personally I don't worry unless the no eating goes over 24 hours.

8: Leaving food out all the time is not very sanitary

I agree with this, anything can get into the food when it is down all the time, flies, spiders etc. Also dogs bring in mud and dust which can get into the food. Every house has dust which is mainly dry skin, that will also settle on the dog food if it is left down all day.

Every dog is different, I like to watch how my dog eats when possible, this can give an indication of something going wrong before it does, a greed dog suddenly taking his time eating needs watching, the way the dog stands etc. Observing how are dogs are can save their lives, one of mine wasn't stepping under his body with one of his hind legs, I took him to the vets, MRI scan, operation on his spine which stopped a calcified slipped disc from cutting through his spinal cord later I had a normal dog back. This poor dog must have been in a lot of pain as well.

Observing our dogs eating helps us keep them fit and healthy.

That's a good point and reminded me of something: If you free feed your dog you never really know or can predict when she/he has eaten or is going to eat. So if you plan to go out for a long walk and then realise your dog has literally just eaten, you will have to wait an hour or so.
Especially with large dogs, as they can have problems if they are exercised after they've just been given food.
But even with small dogs, you shouldn't walk your dog after feeding it. So I'd rather know when I've fed her or when I'm going to feed her so I also know when it's safe to go for a run.

I will post again because - one thing I've learned, having had both children and dogs for 30 odd years, is that both benefit from and like a ROUTINE in their lives (it can be quite scary for little kids to think 'they are in charge of their world' lol)

My dogs have all been raised with a routine. My present dog's routine is that once I am up and dressed, the first thing we do is go for her long 'proper walk' of the day. She follows me about as I get up, wash, clean teeth, in anticipation of this - you can see her getting more enthusiastic as I get to putting my shoes on, get her lead out and take the keys from the door. She never goes nuts, just waits near by me and stands good as gold while I put the collar and lead on as the last thing before we go.

I would never feed her anything before going on this. I don't eat anything before either! We get up and we go. I take a bottle of water with us for both of us to drink from if we need it.

When we return she knows that it is the time for her food. And she is eagerly looking forward to it from the minute we get in the door (the only time it is delayed is if she is truly knackered out and overheated and then she will go lie on the cool tiles for a short while first or if she needs a shower off to get salt off her - but she loves that too). She will then stand by the fridge waiting for me to get her frozen chicken wing and when I've taken it out she hares out to the verandah and her 'eating rug' waiting for it.

She really enjoys this meal. And afterwards she mostly rests until it is time to go out again usually about 5/6hrs later (just to pee - round a block or two) when we get back from that she knows she will get a treat and just stands still waiting for it when we get in. If I'm a bit tardy getting her treat out she will give me a soft bark! Hey aren't you forgetting something? lol! Same thing again on the last short walk before bedtime.

I used to give her a small dry meal at this time but I am trying to get her weight down a little so we've made this a 'treat' time too. I put the treats in something so it takes her longer to get at them and she loves that. She settles down more or less straight away for the night after that.

None of this would be happening with so called 'free feeding' and there's no way I'd take my dog out in the extreme temperatures and humidity here if she'd just stuffed herself with food - no more than I'd eat a whole meal and then leap in the pool or go for a long walk immediately.

I swear by 'routine' and in my experience it works. Both for me and for my dog. For the dog you can see clearly she 'knows what to do' it's like her 'being clever' or obeying a command. And it is, to me, a sort of 'training'. She is doing what is expected of her. To be quite honest I think 'free feeding' is a lazy method. And I'd get no satisfaction from just chucking a load of dry food in a bowl and leaving it there all the time for her to eat as and when she did or didn't feel like it. No more than I would have gathered together all the food my kids would eat in a day and bung it on the table and leave it there.

I like the 'structure' it gives to the day and the routine and I am absolutely convinced that my dog does too. After all, if it is a day when not much else is 'going on' at least the 'routine surrounding feeding' is going on!

it's amazing how much Lacey and my day mirrors yours and Bella's Just being on our own all day, we also have a routine. Beginning to think Lace can tell the time!!She's knows exactly what time we walk and eat,if either is late for any reason she soon lets me know!!!!Love that we have our little ritual together xx

Like Tangutica I have a routine with my dogs, taking in dogs with terrible pasts I find that they settle much better if there is a routine. I used to have 2 dogs that needed to be fed 3 times a day, now they are at the Rainbow Bridge I have kept it up because I find the routine helps me and my dogs especially when a new dog comes into my house. Being fed 3 times a day seems to help them settle in a well.

When I first got Cyril he had to have 4 meals a day and biscuits in between because he was so emaciated, it was 2 weeks before he was strong enough to walk a short way down the road and back but again the routine of doing that then gradually building up the length of the walk made a big difference to him.

I suspect that you, like me, think that it is much easier to get to know your dog, their habits and them yours when you don't have anyone else around in the equation. We are like Ebb and Flo lol! Or sometimes I say 'the house of hormones'!

When I was warned that minpins are the tyrants of the miniature dog world. And they only do what they want when they want and all that - I said FINE she will fit right in with me coz I'm like that too - it will be the battle of the tyrants but I can tell you now that scrap of a dog ain't gonna win it! lol!
*I'm just the butler really!

All respect to you for making a difference to unfortunate dogs' lives Mattie.

I too have had a pet (a cat) who was in that state and there's no way I could have fed it once a day. It lasted 16 yrs with me and was adult when I rescued it off the street. But it had lived by the mantra that it didn't know where its next meal was coming from. Put a whole day food down for it and it wolfed it down so quickly (and tried eating all the other pet's food too) that it promptly usually upchucked it again soon after! So start again! So, for 16 yrs I fed it four times a day in smaller portions and made sure it couldn't get to the food destined for the other 4 legged inmates. Had to sort of adjust their feeding to to fit it in.

And some animals just NEVER forget their bad start. If they had to 'fight for food' as the runt of the litter it's been my experience that you can never convince them no one is going to steal it or take it away - they still snatch a bit from the dish and run as far as possible with it before eating it and back again to snatch another bit (I sometimes wondered if the energy expended for every mouthful equalled the value of the food!) Lordy you couldn't 'free feed' an animal like that it would be running up and down all day and night! Nor the cat that would eat all of it in 2 secs flat and try to eat the bowl and the mat it was on too! You'd be cleaning up vomit on a daily basis!