# Daily timetable for feeding an adult working dog ..



## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

So what is your timetable for feeding your working dog? 

I've seen a few different schedules and different reasoning for them.


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## Selena van Leeuwen (Mar 29, 2006)

once per day, in the evening after their P&P round.


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

once a day, in evening or after training - schedule changes a bit in race season.


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## leslie cassian (Jun 3, 2007)

Morning and evening for my dogs, equal portions. I may cut the evening meal a bit if I'm training so they're not working on super full bellies, though I feed a fairly calorie dense food, so portion size is pretty small. Food drive is good, so even if they've been fed and I'm training with food, I still get a good response.


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## Tammy St. Louis (Feb 17, 2010)

equal morning and evening meals , sometimes if i know its going to be alot of exercise that day i feed a bit more in the morning than usual , I have had 2 dogs torsion on me when i was feeding once a day , i cant prove thats why , but i wont do it again , to see


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

A little something in the morning (an egg, some yogurt, etc), because one dog occasionally barfs yellow bile on an empty stomach. A bigger meal in the evening (raw). A very small evening meal with extra water if am going to work the dog really hard the next day, and then extra food in the next AM/ PM to compensate .

Puppies get fed several times per day, usually 3-4, reduced to 2 equal meals by the time they are 6 months.


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## Alyssa Morin (Sep 21, 2010)

I feed twice a day (I swear if it was once a day my bulldogs would start gnawing on my legs in between). I do a chicken back in the AM and then a homemade raw mash at night. The AM meal is always bigger.


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## Ashley Campbell (Jun 21, 2009)

I give mine 1 meal a day, at dinner time when we're eating. Serves a dual purpose, they're getting fed and they're not trying to mooch off my table. 

I use kibble, but I also mix in chicken broth in it. Not just to make it more appealing, but to lessen the likelyhood of bloating because it's already swollen up by the time they eat it. Then they have to chill for 30 min to an hour after eating before I let them go romp. I do training before dinner because they're really hungry by then.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Twice a day. Canines in the wild aren't on any particular schedule so I'm not concerned about time as long as there is 10-12 hours between feedings.


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

Lynn Cheffins said:


> once a day, in evening or after training - schedule changes a bit in race season.



How does the schedule change? Do you add more food at different times or time it differently? I remember the herring oil in water for hydration before a race.


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

more to do with the timing of when I feed the night before a race (feed alot earlier) and I don't add herring oil to the water but do use herring, mackeral or ground beef as water bait(i want it tasty but not too fatty as the fat slows things down in the tummy)when I water if I am going to be running - usually water very heavily about 2 hrs before a race with a smll drink about half hr or so before start. Longer runs I will snack on a run sometimes herring or liver ice cubes. When I am training I usually feed right after a run(as soon as they are cooled down and have been watered) and generally on the truck especially when I am running at night. I water again about 1.5 to 2 hrs after a run Off season they generally get fed about the same time every day but training/racing season it season it can vary alot more and there is more snacking and alot more watering.


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Bob Scott said:


> Twice a day. Canines in the wild aren't on any particular schedule so I'm not concerned about time as long as there is 10-12 hours between feedings.


 
HA! Please come tell that to my damn male dog. I feed in the morning and at night. He starts worrying at 6:00 AM and will go into a full blown panic by 6:30 AM crescending into a dramatic pout by 7:00 AM.....same thing at night.................see how well he trained me?:-$


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

Interesting replies. I feed twice a day as well, though I feed a smaller meal in the AM than the PM. 

I used to feed one bigger meal in the PM but if we are training really hard the dog seems to hit a flat spot by the late afternoon. So I experimented by giving a smaller meal in the AM so far so good. 

IMO it makes sense to have either 1 big meal at the end of the day or if you are feeding 2 meals to still make the PM meal bigger so as the dog sleeps it puts the fuel back in the tank. Feeding a bigger meal in the AM and then doing the heavier work or training, my dogs anyways can get the shits. That tells me they are not getting the the full nutritional benefit of that meal. 

Interesting how different dogs use the nutrition to work.


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

I was wrong. I am feeding a little over a half pound of tripe and organ meat in the morning, and a little over a pound to a pound and a half of RMBs at night, so obviously the evening meal is way bigger than the morning meal.....................duh


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## Tanith Wheeler (Jun 5, 2009)

When my dogs were actually 'working' i.e. 8 hrs or more including travelling they would get; a small easily digestible meal about 45 mins before leaving for work, another very small easily digestible meal when they were put back in the vehicle for a rest and another very small one at the end of the working day. In the evening they would have their larger meal.

At the moment I feed on no particular schedule because I hate dogs who 'watch the clock' for meal or exercise times. They are fed kibble in the morning and raw or kibble in the PM.


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## Ashley Campbell (Jun 21, 2009)

Mine is a clock watcher, she knows when I start cooking dinner that she's going to eat very soon afterwards. But that's handy, because I feed her in the crate so she goes and lays in there instead of being under foot while I"m cooking.


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

So nobody seems to feed their dogs through training. i.e kibble by hand in exchange for work? I've seen more than one handler feed their young dog in laying a track with food. Or complete meals through rewards from obedience during the day.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

I do a lot of different things when it comes to feeding my dog. There isn't a schedule. What I feed, how, and when is different every day although there is some structure depending upon what time of year or activity the dog is engaged in. Sometimes I fast for a day, sometimes it's work for a trade off of food, sometimes especially in the summer I will feed her up to 6 times a day. It's all dependent upon what she's doing. This goes for any dog I've had here or owned.


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

Light meal in the morning and the main meal they get in the evening (RMB).
Schedule always is different.
During weekdays they get their morning meal at 5am and usually their evening meal at about 8pm. When we train they get the evening meal when we return (around midnight)
During the weekend time for the morning meals differs according to "my sleep schedule" 

I don't feed heavy, difficult to digest meals the day before a trial.


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## Chris Daleo (Apr 22, 2010)

Currently 2lbs/a day raw split in half, 7am & 7pm. on Saturdays, because I train Sunday AM, I feed him at 10pm and no meal Sunday AM. He is only 7mos, so I would continue twice a day until 18mos or so and then go to once a day in the evening. I fed all my adult dogs once in the evening, never had a bloat issue and the predictability of elimination made things nice and easy. I am also a believer in fasting (water only) one day once a month.


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## Matthew Grubb (Nov 16, 2007)

My guy eats 3 times a day.. 8 hours in between feedings. Any time over 8 hours, even 10 mins results in a crate full of yellow bile.


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