Changing from free feeding to timed feeding

[glennmayeda]

Aloha to all,

I have a Rott/pit/lab Mutt and a new 9 wk old Rott puppy. I used to "Free Feed" my mutt before I got the puppy. I was uneducated that it was soooo bad, but despite that my mutt is a very healthy weight with a shiny coat and absolutely no health issues. I recently just switched my mutt to "Timed Feeding" because I have to monitor especially how much my puppy is eating.

I tie both dogs up and try to give them only 10 min. to eat. My Rott puppy gobbles all her food in the 10 min. with no problem, but my Mutt barely eats 1/4th of his food each time. He has been doing this for 2 days. I take away the food as I am trying to train him to eat at the specific time.

How long should I let this last if he has no signs of being sick?

[Shelby427]

Why are you tying them up to feed? Separate them, then feed. I'm glad to hear you're going to timed feedings - it's much easier to tell how much they are getting and also you can kind of time when they have to go out to eliminate.

Like you're doing, put the food down for 15 minutes max, if he doesn't eat it, take it up and wait until the next scheduled feeding. I would give it more time. He'll eventually pick it up that he must eat when it's available. But don't give in and give him goodies either, he may figure out that if he doesn't eat his meal, you might give him something else if you feel bad for him. Give him a while longer, no healthy dog will starve himself.

[glennmayeda]

Is it bad to tie them up? I tie them up because my puppy wants to eat both bowls while my mutt seems disinterested with his bowl. After both dogs are more than sure which bowl to eat out of and at what time, then I will untie them. I just didn't want to throw 2 things at them at once.

[Shelby427]

Originally Posted by glennmayeda

Is it bad to tie them up? I tie them up because my puppy wants to eat both bowls while my mutt seems disinterested with his bowl. After both dogs are more than sure which bowl to eat out of and at what time, then I will untie them. I just didn't want to throw 2 things at them at once.

I can imagine tying up both dogs would cause frustration. Feed them separately. Put the puppy in his crate while the mutt eats for 15 minutes. Then it's the puppy's turn. I would NOT tie them up.

[glennmayeda]

I will try this again. I did try it 2 times but my Mutt seemed to get jealous, jumped up at the door a few times, and wanted to know where the puppy was at and didn't pay attention to his food. Meanwhile the puppy in another room was scarfing her food.

[trish603a]

I too have a "mutt" dog, and a young rottie. I was in the same situation that you are in when I purchased my puppy. It has been a year and a half, and we now have a schedule. My rottie and my mutt are fed at the same times everyday, in separate areas. Like yours, Zoey (rottie) inhales her food, while the other one slowly eats. We just let her eat slowly until she is done as she is 10 years old now and don't want to change things too much. She eats it all within 20-25 minutes. He will eventually get the hang of it, it took about a week tops before our mutt figured out the routine.

[glennmayeda]

Trish,

Thanks for the reassurance. I love both dogs dearly and don't want to see my Mutt loose wait over a change of routine. I am going to not give him any treats for tricks either until he gets it.

[Shelby427]

Originally Posted by glennmayeda

Trish,

Thanks for the reassurance. I love both dogs dearly and don't want to see my Mutt loose wait over a change of routine. I am going to not give him any treats for tricks either until he gets it.

He may put up a fuss about the whole thing, but YOU make the decisions, not him. I highly doubt he'll lose any weight if there is food offered. Two times is not enough time for this, do it every day. Ignore the mutt when he acts like that, he doesn't need to be around the puppy when he eats and vice versa. Good luck.

[glennmayeda]

Still kept my dogs tied up and decreased the food amount for my Mutt a little and he finally ate about half of it last night, and this morning gobbled it all up. I also tried to give the attention to the puppy that was eating all of her food. This drove my Mutt crazy and he has hopefully figured it out now that he has to eat when I give him the food and if he wants attention. Thanks everyone. Glenn

[CleasMommy]

We just had the same problem.

I was free feeding my older rottie (bad, bad, bad I know) and when we stoped that she wouldn't eat when I would give her her food. Either pick at it for a minute, or just ignore it (yeah, why worry about gobbling up when she's used to grazing all day) but I did notice now after a couple of weeks of being on a good schedule with her feedings and only giving her 15 minutes to eat, she's finally eating.

It just took her a little while to realize the food was going away if she didn't eat it, and she was probably a bit hungry from not eating all of her other feedings. But all is going well now, and now with the new pup we've gotten on a good schedule. YAY finally.

Oh and by the way, she had some extra weight on her, and her hips seemed to be bothering her, now she's been more active and no whining when she gets up from a nap!