Ringing the Dinner Bell For Fido
The best feeding time and routines for your dog

Most dogs will need to use the bathroom shortly after they eat. So feeding your dog at a time that dovetails nicely with your dinner schedule – allowing you to take the dog for his needed post-meal walk – will work well. If you feed your dog too late, you may have a mess on your hands n the morning, or he may wake you up in the middle of the night demanding a walk. Neither situation is ideal for owner or dog. Exceptions would be in situations where the dog has an outlet, such as a doggy door, to go outside and relieve itself without your assistance.

Puppies are different than adult dogs, and will need three meals a day initially, and then two meals a day for a while, and then, finally, as an adult dog, only one meal per day. People tend to make one mistake when feeding their puppies: too much food! It's really best if you put all the day's food into a container and then break it into the right number of servings. This will help prevent over feeding the puppy. Consult your Tucson veterinarian for a reasonable sized serving for your puppy or pregnant female.

Don't reuse dirty dog food bowls. They should be washed between uses to prevent bacterial growth and disease. Do not mix fresh food with old food that has sat in a dog bowl. Your dog's dish should be placed on a clean area of the floor, or outside. Placing the bowl on an open sheet of newspaper will help keep the floor clean. (Don't do this if you've trained your dog to use the bathroom on newspaper.)

Nobody should be told they cannot give their dog between meal snacks, but if you are going to do this, do it rarely, and don't give the dog too much at any one time. This will reduce the dog's interest in eating his healthier meal, and may also introduce a behavioral problem: the dog will expect to be fed whenever there is food present. This is the root cause of many an obese dog that is constantly and annoyingly begging you and your guests for food.

Rewarding your dog with a special treat during training is different than feeding it between meals. Treats while training are an effective means of teaching them new things. There is nothing wrong with this method of training, though many would disagree. Just keep the special treats small, and only give them for truly wonderful behavior or obedience. A great reward treat are the small, freeze dried pieces of liver that are available at pet shops. These are tiny, dry, neat, keep forever – and the dog will love them!

If you want to give your dog a very special between meals treat, that won't affect its eating later, a bone from the butcher is incomparable! Give your dog a fresh one of these, and he'll spend hours gnawing on it, but only get very little food off of it. Bigger dogs will crack certain bones open and get some of the marrow, which is very rich and nutritious. Be sure to take the bone from the dog's area and throw it away in a timely manner, so that bacteria doesn't grow on it, and get inside the dog.

As always, your Tucson veterinarian is your best source of information about feeding your dog.