when to eat

[dakota hunting]

i hace two dogs ones a brittany spaniel and is about 8 years old and eats like a pig, my other is a 1 year old german shorthair. the brit i dont hunt with but i excercise and run along with the shorthair almost everyday. the shorthair i run like crazy however she almost never eats. in the morning my shorthair just sleeps while the brit gets up. i feed the dogs a scoop every morning and night however while i am at school the brit will eat both bowls of food while my shorthair is asleep. therefore my shorthair will no longer touch her fod in the morning only at night will she eat some.

the shorhair is almost to skinny but she is healthy still. i want to get her a little bigger because she will be doing a lot this summer and next hunting season with both ducks and pheasant.

do you have any tips on how to get her to eat in the morning and to eat more?? oh and how to keep the brit from eating all the food while i am gone??
Also what foods are good for high action dogs but is kinda cheap

 

[quail hound]

Some guys might not like this but put some bacon drippings or a couple morsels of meat on the food to stimulate her hunger. Don't leave them access to the food all day, set a feeding time and allow about 10min for eating. Your dog won't starve she will eat how much she needs when she needs it. Lastly feed a high energy 30/20 mix, diamond dog food makes a good affordable food, I know they stock it at the tractor supply company if you have one in the area.

 

[BleuBijou]

You may want to see a vet to be safe. There are a lot of parasites out there!!!!

 

[jasper]

I just started control feeding my lab as weight started to become an issue and I didn't want to let it get out of hand. It took him about two weeks to get use to it and now that he is it is much easier for me to know how much he is eating. He gets 3/4 cup in the morning and after I get home from work and 1 1/2 at dinner time. I feed him Taste of the Wild salmon flavor. It is 25% protein and 18% fat. I don't think you need a 30/20 blend during the off season unless you train very hard everyday. During the season I will feed him the Taste of the Wild bison which is 32% protein and 20% fat. I just rescued a brit for my nephew who didn't want to eat. He is on Nutra so they mixed some Nutra canned food in with his food for the first week and now he eats great with out it. You don't want to feed strictly canned food though as animals need hard food for their teeth.

 

[JMc]

Get you a bottle (like a restaraunt mustard bottle); fill it with canned beef stock. Squirt a little on the food in the AM and they will gobble it up. I do this when I am fostering rescue dogs. They are scared and won't eat, but this works. I use the sodium free. Easier and cheaper than bacon fat.

 

[MJinMN]

I have two dogs and just feed them in their crates. That keeps the bigger dog from eating the little one's meals. When I come back in from the garage with food bowls, they're usually standing in their crates waiting anxiously...

 

[mnmthunting]

I top off the dry food with stuff they REALLY like.
A bit of high quality canned dog food.
Left over meat gravy or meat scraps. [always cooked]
Bacon or sausage grease.
Add a little warm water.

 

[Dakotazeb]

I would suggest switching to a once a day feeding in the evening when you can keep an eye on both dogs to make sure they eat their own.

For years I only fed my dogs once a day in the evening but for some reason a few years ago I changed to feeding them twice a day once in the morning and once in the evening. My breeder/trainer suggests going back to once a day (evening) feeding. He runs his dogs hard and does trials. He maintains the dogs perform better on an empty stomach. And I know from experience that when I was feeding once a day (in the evening) that my dogs hunted hard all day and never ran out of energy. They are still getting the same daily calorie intake. I've now switched them to once a day.

 

[jmac]

great advice from other,
if you want to feed them twice a day seperate the at the morning feeding time. i think the shorthair is dominated by the brit. meaning that the older brit i the alpa dog. hope this helps. dont know any dog that will not feed given the opportunity, unless it is dominated by a pack.