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Good Dog Eating Habits
Good Dog Eating Habits
It can be said that dogs' eating habits are generally controlled by three things: its brain, its experiences, and its environment. The very first experiment in human behavioral psychology is known as the Pavlov's Dogs Experiment - it was conducted by a scientist named Pavlov who taught dogs to get ready to eat when they heard a certain sound. Since that initial experiment, scientists have observed over and over how important the things happening around, and to, a dog are when it comes to affecting the dog's eating habits.
Today's dogs have become creatures of habit. They thrive on monotony and are most comfortable when things remain the same. Few dogs appreciate a sudden change in their sleeping quarters or the surprise of a new food in their bowl. The more that can be done to prevent change in a dog's feeding program, the better it will be for both the dog and its owner. Regularity in feeding promotes good appetite, good digestion and regular eliminations. The more commercial food is part of a dog's diet, the more this applies. This is because left to their own devices, and with a completely natural diet, dogs can self regulate their feeding patterns and they never become overweight even when there is an abundance of food. They eat when they're hungry, until they're satiated. Then they stop.
But because so many dogs today eat processed foods, these dogs have lost the ability to regulate their own feeding needs, so now require us to do it for them. So if you're feeding your dog a commercial or otherwise processed diet, routine and regular feeding times are very important.
Thus, the first general consideration to be made when feeding any dog should be the establishment of a regular feeding schedule and should stay that way without being altered.
Once, when dogs were wild, most of their daily activity was devoted to obtaining a meal. While the need for this activity has practically disappeared, mealtime still constitutes one of the most important events in a dog's life. And, many of a dog's behavioral responses are still linked to its eating routine.
Puppies have conventionally been fed small portions of their daily diet at frequent intervals during the day. The rationalization behind this is sound, but the frequency of feedings often is too high. Even newborn puppies do quite well when fed only four times daily. Some breeders even reduce this to three times daily, but unless your schedule absolutely prohibits it, a minimum of four feedings should be the goal. The feedings need not be separated exactly six hours apart, but it is desirable to space the feedings as evenly as possible throughout the 24-hour time period. For example, my own schedule usually works out best when I feed around 7:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, 6:00 p.m., and 1:00 a.m (or a little earlier, depending upon how late I'm going to bed!). Yours may be different.
The frequency of feedings should not be reduced to three a day until the puppies are weaned. Whether you are feeding newborn puppies four times daily, or older puppies three times, once the pattern of feedings has been set, it should not be changed, but should occur at the same time every day, until it comes time to reduce to two feedings per day, and so on.
Dogs need to be fed only once per day, although many dog owners prefer to split this into two meals. It's not a bad idea - it gives the dog something to do, and something to look forward to twice a day instead of just the once.
To find out more about healthy eating habits for dogs, and dog health in general, click here for your special free dog health report.
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