1st gundog - pros and cons of free feeding?

[shinbone]

Hi All,

I'll be getting my first gundog, a shorthair, in a few months and I am wondering about the pros and cons of free feeding him. Does free feeding have any negative affects on training or anything else? Anything good about free feeding beyond the convenience?

TIA.

--shinbone

[LBH]

In my opinion there ain't a good thing about it. I'd take the time and feed him once (atleast) or twice a day.

Good choice on getting a Shorthair

[Fireside]

Just off the top of my head, some of the drawbacks are:
Some dogs are gluttons... they will eat until they burst (or weigh 800 lbs).
They are more likely to become picky eaters than dogs fed at set times.
You don't know if/when a dog is off their feed.

[birddogger]

All dogs are different. If it works for you, I don't see anything wrong with it. On the other hand, convenience is the only positive I see in it. JMO

Charlie

[ezzy333]

Hi All,

I'll be getting my first gundog, a shorthair, in a few months and I am wondering about the pros and cons of free feeding him. Does free feeding have any negative affects on training or anything else? Anything good about free feeding beyond the convenience?

TIA.

--shinbone

I think that about covers the advantages but there are a couple of disadvantages as well. Unless you are not home to feed it I would suggest hand feeding but you can do either if you are vigilant about how much the dog eats, condition of the feed that is left in the feeder, amount of waste, condition of the dog, you don't mind drawing vermin to the area, and is the dog sick or well which is easy to see when you feed everyday and know it is eating.

Ezzy

[mudhunter]

I want as little food in my dogs belly when I run/hunt him as possible. They run better and are safer(no chance of flipping stomach) with an empty stomach. If the dog free feeds you don't know when he has a full belly. Just my thoughts on the matter.

[A/C Guy]

I want as little food in my dogs belly when I run/hunt him as possible. They run better and are safer(no chance of flipping stomach) with an empty stomach.

We found our dogs hunt better and longer if they eat half their normal breakfast before the hunt,
We feed twice a day.

[big steve46]

I have owned Setters for over 35 years, usually English but Llewellin during the last 10 years. I have always free fed, usually every 3 days. Most of the time, I have one dog so there is not competitive eating.

I understand that some breeds do tend to gulp food faster especially GSPs. Setters tend to not do that, but I'm sure there are exceptions. Maybe Setters are smarter than other breeds?

[sjkennels]

i use to free feed my dogs and i never seen so much dog poop in my life. i put 30 pounds of food in a self feeder when i was out of town so my buddy wouldnt have to feed them all he had to do was just check the food and make sure it was dropping down and check the water. when i got back the hole kennel was filled with poop after that day i through away the self feeders. and on a second thing about it is my dogs got to over weight to my likings but i have seen people that swear by them i think i seen some one else say this but it all depends on the dog.

[RayGubernat]

I have free fed my pointers for some years now. No spoiled or waterlogged food.

They seem to maintain their weight pretty well and if I take a couple of them to a trial, the rest don't need much in the way of care for a day or two. My wife appreciates that.

If I am taking them to a trial or hunting and leaving in the morning, they typically have not eaten anything when they hear me rustling around in the house. When I come out to go to the kennel, eating is about the last thing on their minds.

I suppose if one did not spend time with the dogs, except to feed them, it might have some negative effects.

The only real negative I can think of is that, at trials, it takes me far longer to feed my dogs than most others, because my guys eat in a relatively leisurely fashion. They will eat so much and then quit for a while, then go back later for more.

I kinda prefer that to a dog inhaling its food even though it takes me longer to get done.

RayG

[ezzy333]

I have owned Setters for over 35 years, usually English but Llewellin during the last 10 years. I have always free fed, usually every 3 days. Most of the time, I have one dog so there is not competitive eating.

I understand that some breeds do tend to gulp food faster especially GSPs. Setters tend to not do that, but I'm sure there are exceptions. Maybe Setters are smarter than other breeds?

I don't believe you understand some breeds gulp their feed more than others. I know your memory isn't what it used to be but that is just something you made up about two years ago when we had this same discussion.. Dogs are dogs, some over eat, some don't. And if you are going to change to free feeding any dog will over eat at first. It's just that some never quit.

Ezzy

[shinbone]

Thanks for the thoughtful replies, everyone.

Does free feeding have any downsides to using food as a reward for training?

--shinbone

[ezzy333]

I don't like to use feed as a reward so I wouldn't know.

Ezzy

[vikings269]

I don't understand the hateful thoughts to free feeding and overweightness as I have done both and if anything I want to add poundage to a couple of my dogs and I am currently free-feeding daily and maybe i'm just lucky but I don't see a big difference with either method (at least with my dogs) I have 2 gsps, a chessie, a vizsla, and a lab. I just recently acquired the vizsla but he seems to do well on free-feed and he aint overeating! Again maybe I just been lucky but all my dogs do well on free-feeding.

[birddogger]

I don't understand the hateful thoughts to free feeding and overweightness as I have done both and if anything I want to add poundage to a couple of my dogs and I am currently free-feeding daily and maybe i'm just lucky but I don't see a big difference with either method (at least with my dogs) I have 2 gsps, a chessie, a vizsla, and a lab. I just recently acquired the vizsla but he seems to do well on free-feed and he aint overeating! Again maybe I just been lucky but all my dogs do well on free-feeding.

I don't see any "hateful thoughts" about free feeding in these posts. Nobody cares whether or not you free feed. The only comments that may be close to hateful are yours!! :roll:

Charlie

[birddogger]

I tried free feeding one dog several years ago. Everything was going fine for the first two or three weeks. He wasn't overeating or anything, and I thought to myself, man this is nice. Then one day, he learned that if he scraped it with his paws, it would just keep coming. He amused himself by scraping the entire contents of the bin onto the ground. It obviously was great fun for him, and the starlings had a feast while he took a nap. I did have some pretty hateful thoughts at that time.

Charlie

[windswept]

I don't understand the hateful thoughts to free feeding and overweightness as I have done both and if anything I want to add poundage to a couple of my dogs and I am currently free-feeding daily and maybe i'm just lucky but I don't see a big difference with either method (at least with my dogs) I have 2 gsps, a chessie, a vizsla, and a lab. I just recently acquired the vizsla but he seems to do well on free-feed and he aint overeating! Again maybe I just been lucky but all my dogs do well on free-feeding.

I don't see any "hateful thoughts" about free feeding in these posts. Nobody cares whether or not you free feed. The only comments that may be close to hateful are yours!! :roll:

Charlie

Awh, cut him a little slack. With a name like "vikings" I have a feeling he had a pretty bad weekend last week and it'll be awhile before the world starts looking up again!
Sorry, just had to say it.
A fellow Vikings fan

[ezzy333]

I don't understand the hateful thoughts to free feeding and overweightness as I have done both and if anything I want to add poundage to a couple of my dogs and I am currently free-feeding daily and maybe i'm just lucky but I don't see a big difference with either method (at least with my dogs) I have 2 gsps, a chessie, a vizsla, and a lab. I just recently acquired the vizsla but he seems to do well on free-feed and he aint overeating! Again maybe I just been lucky but all my dogs do well on free-feeding.

Please give us your definition of "Hateful" and then show us which ones you are referring too.

On another note, if I wanted to put weight on a dog I can do it faster by hand feeding. Dogs like humans tend to over eat their appetite, so when the dog is hungry feed it as much as it will eat and then take the feed away till tomorrow. The dog will eat more that way than free feeding normally. Have done it many times and it works.

Ezzy

[windswept]

Seriously, I can't imagine free feeding for all of the reasons above. Another thought is planning things and knowing exactly when the dogs last ate. I like to put all of my dogs inside for the night and on a full belly that would be a problem. Same thing with taking them out for a run or a car ride.
Free feeding must work for some but I don't think it would for me.

[Ruffshooter]

If you free feed and you are training a dog or hunting a dog, when did the dog last eat? What if it was just a half hour before your training time or hunting time?

If you feed at a fairly set time you control the maximum intake at a time that is effecient for you and your dog and at a time known, you don't have dogs eating at different times etc.

Less chance of problems as I see it.

Just my .02

Rick

[ezzy333]

I think as you can see from the posts that your convience is the one plus aspect of free feeding. All of the rest are negative. What that says is do whichever you like and if it works for you that is good. If you look at it from the dogs stand point then everything is pretty much negative. No daily contact with you at feeding time, not having the digestive tract empty which is uncomfortable as well as dangerous for the dogs health during periods of exercise, food that is not as fresh and appetizing as it was coming out of the bag, and having to protect the feed from the rats, mice, and coons it attracts if you are feeding outside. Weigh the evidence and pick what works for you or what works for your dog. And this is not to say that some dogs don't get by OK with free feeding but there is not really any advantage to it for them.

Good luck,
Ezzy

[RayGubernat]

Like I said, free feed five pointers that are kept outside. I have no problems with it...any of it. My dogs do not over eat, they do not eat in the morning before excercise, training, hunting or whatever. I keep my dogfood in a rubbermaid trash barrel next to the kennels, so whether it is in an opened bag in the barrel or in the self feeder, there ain't much difference. As far as I am concerned, if the only contact you have with your dogs is at feeding time, that is another problem and if you need to feed your dog to have it respect you...you got work to do.

It really is not a big deal either way, in my opinion. Whatever works for you.

I know I can leave my dogs overnight, or for a day or two or even three in a pinch, and they will be absolutely fine. You simply cannot do that without self feeders and waterers.

RayG

[DGFavor]

Biggest problem I see with free feeding is when you take those dogs on the road hunting or to a competition, IME, they almost all, across the board, seem to never eat.

We are pretty scientific in our approach to the feeding and nutrition of our dogs and studies I've read regarding performance dogs bear out feeding once per day, ideally 21 hours before their next event/activity. Works for my dogs - I can pull over anywhere, anytime on the road and they'll eat which gives great flexibility to feeding time to optimize their nutrition around their hunting schedule or the time their braces goes off...not the other way around. Get much more consistant performance that way IMO.

[snips]

Biggest problem I see with free feeding is when you take those dogs on the road hunting or to a competition, IME, they almost all, across the board, seem to never eat.

We are pretty scientific in our approach to the feeding and nutrition of our dogs and studies I've read regarding performance dogs bear out feeding once per day, ideally 21 hours before their next event/activity. Works for my dogs - I can pull over anywhere, anytime on the road and they'll eat which gives great flexibility to feeding time to optimize their nutrition around their hunting schedule or the time their braces goes off...not the other way around. Get much more consistant performance that way IMO.

That nailed it.

[Elroy's Bandit]

I have read the various posts and there are pro's and con's to free feeding.The bottom line is this- Each and every dog is different and it basically comes down the individual dog. If you are running a trial dog and he is a pig (my 3 year old) it must be a once a day feeding and not before they run. If you let a glutten free feed, you will soon have an overweight and unenergetic dog on your hands that is always looking for food. Then you have the opposite end of the spectrum which I have as well. My 7 year old has been a free feeder since he hit about 2 years old and I realized he was only interested in eating when he wass really hungry. He just seems to have a sense of when that time is and it's typically early evening when things sort of quite down. Sometimes 2 cups of food will sit until the following morning. Si in my opinion, it can vary widely from dog to dog.
Bill L.

[DGFavor]

Si in my opinion, it can vary widely from dog to dog.

Personally, I don't think so. I've seen too many reportedly "picky" dogs that'll only eat a certain food in a certain way over a certain time get right with the program about eating what you want them to eat when you want them to eat...or they go hungry. You set the food down, if they don't eat, you put it away. Repeat next day at feeding time , etc. Sometimes the alpha dog has to use tough luv to keep the pack in working order!!

[Elroy's Bandit]

Personally, I don't think so. I've seen too many reportedly "picky" dogs that'll only eat a certain food in a certain way over a certain time get right with the program about eating what you want them to eat when you want them to eat...or they go hungry. You set the food down, if they don't eat, you put it away. Repeat next day at feeding time , etc. Sometimes the alpha dog has to use tough luv to keep the pack in working order!!

Doug,I will say that when my free feeder is together with my once a day boy..........he chows it all down immediately , otherwise the other one trys to eat both bowls. Then he sits and gags for 20 minutes :roll: He just does not react well to speed eating. Again, IMO they are all different.

[DGFavor]

Yah, I do agree with ya' there, they certainly can be different in how quickly they can get to the bottom of their bowls but even gulpers and slow eaters will stay at their bowls until they are empty. At my place the fast eaters will usually scatter some kibbles across the floor that they can then spend some time hunting down, using their monkey paws to reach out thru their kennels and drag wayward kibbles back into eating range. Gotta admit, I'm guilty of setting a few kibbles down outside their kennels, right at the end of their reach, just to watch 'em try and grab 'em - great entertainment!!

[big steve46]

I have owned Setters for over 35 years, usually English but Llewellin during the last 10 years. I have always free fed, usually every 3 days. Most of the time, I have one dog so there is not competitive eating.

I understand that some breeds do tend to gulp food faster especially GSPs. Setters tend to not do that, but I'm sure there are exceptions. Maybe Setters are smarter than other breeds?

I don't believe you understand some breeds gulp their feed more than others. I know your memory isn't what it used to be but that is just something you made up about two years ago when we had this same discussion.. Dogs are dogs, some over eat, some don't. And if you are going to change to free feeding any dog will over eat at first. It's just that some never quit.

Ezzy

You are mostly correct, but I did assert that some breeds gulp their feed more. Free feeding I think works better for the ones of us that just feed one dog in a pen. It is imprtant to carefully monitor anytime you change. My dog gets lots of attention, and gets to run most days.

[Bigg_Redd]

Hi All,

I'll be getting my first gundog, a shorthair, in a few months and I am wondering about the pros and cons of free feeding him. Does free feeding have any negative affects on training or anything else? Anything good about free feeding beyond the convenience?

TIA.

--shinbone

Feed him/her yourself once or twice per day. In this way you establish a bond and hierarchy: you are the provider and he/she is your dependant. Also, most dogs are incapable of self regulating and will over eat.

[ecater2218]

My pup has had weight issues, so I am feeding her 3 times per day manually. We are trying to get her weight up after some enteritis problems.