Gun Dog Forum

I'd like to know what everyone is doing and why. I've done some research and talked to a few guys that I respect a great deal, and would like to hear what everyone is doing with their dogs and why. If you could give some insight as to what breed you have, and what you do with your dogs (ie. trial, hunt, both, etc.). I am looking forward to everyone's comments. Thanks!

I trial, hunt and train 12 months of the year. I feed once per day in the evening for the following reasons; 1. I do not want my dogs involved in any excercise activity on a full stomach or actively digesting food. 2 It's much easier when you are on the road, or you work, or you leave some dogs home while traveling for work and a working wife that is say a 5th grade teacher and perpetually late for any possible event and she has to tend to critters...well you do the math, in my calculation that's 50 % less nagging. 3. In my opinion it keeps dogs more regular with their big potty.

The exceptions are pups up to about 10 months or pregnant mommas in the last month I usually feed them twice per day.

We've been stuck in this 2 x day feeding trap for the last year.....pregnant bitch, then puppies, then pregnant bitch, now puppies again...but as soon as this litter goes home, EVERYONE will be fed once a day, when we get home from work again, for all the reasons Chuckar12 has listed.

I feed 1/4 of daily food in the morning then the rest at night. My pup was getting an upset stomach in the mornings when he had an empty stomach.

I free feed all my dogs. They eat what they want when they want.

Generally they will eat in the evenings, but one or the other might take a few bites at odd times during the day.


RayG

Twice a day because I would not want to eat once a day.

Chukar12 wrote:I trial, hunt and train 12 months of the year. I feed once per day in the evening for the following reasons; 1. I do not want my dogs involved in any excercise activity on a full stomach or actively digesting food. 2 It's much easier when you are on the road, or you work, or you leave some dogs home while traveling for work and a working wife that is say a 5th grade teacher and perpetually late for any possible event and she has to tend to critters...well you do the math, in my calculation that's 50 % less nagging. 3. In my opinion it keeps dogs more regular with their big potty.

The exceptions are pups up to about 10 months or pregnant mommas in the last month I usually feed them twice per day.

Exactly ; well said.

I feed 2 times a day, If I don't feed in the am he will throw up bile by 2 or 3 pm...

2 times per day for both my dogs. One is a hunting dog and the the other is a hunting and trialing dog. I've found that if I don't feed in the morning the dogs don't do as well the second half of the day. On days when I trial or have an or hunt I will give a smaller portion of foodand prefer to have at least 4 hours between the hunt/trial and morning feeding. If my trial dog is going to be running earlier in the morning I prefer to wait to feed her about a half hour after she finishes. I don't want my dog running as hard as she does in a trial with a full stomach.

In reality it rarely matters with my setter as she usually won't eat before a hunt or trial. I guess she's too excited. My lab will eat at any time of day so regulating her intake before a hunt is more crucial.

My dog self feeds. Food is always in his bowl but his main feeding is done in the evenings. He may have a bit in the A.M. but likely 75% of his intake is after 6.00 pm. I have always free fed my dogs and never had one with any kind of weight issue.

Twice a day. Feed dry in morning and with water in evening (hydration). Night before field trial half serving and nothing morning of. I wait two hours after hard work out before feeding. Train evenings weekdays and early mornings on weekends. I use to feed once but have seen good results since I changed. I will supplement with glyco charge on weeks with up coming trials and on trial days between runs.

I am admittedly obsessive about trying to figure out performance issues and an edge. I rest my dogs some in the heat of the summer and over the holidays, otherwise they are never allowed to get out of condition. I see dog performance as a sum of genetics, training and overall health/condition, too casual or an uninformed apporach to anyone of them is generally reflective in the end product. As many know and maybe some do not, dogs do not digest food the way we do. The process of beginning the breakdown of food in a humans mouth is markedly less effective in a dog. Conversely, the acid and digestive power in a dog's stomach is much stronger than ours (this is why they are able to eat many bacterias that would make us vomit post haste) . Kibble takes 8-10 hours to be processed by the stomach and enter the small intenstine where the absorption of nutrients can begin. Most raw food diets are generally thought to be 25% quicker. The exception of course are glycos, which burn quicker and many performance companies provide science that say they have liquid or powder products that pass and absorb quickly to replenish the faster burning fuels.

Therefore kibble fed at 6 in the morning has only a chance by volumes of modern science, to reach the bloodstream and provide energy by 2-4 pm in the afternoon. If you are running a dog while that food is actively digesting you risk overheating, bloat (in large chested body cavity dogs its worse) and you are taxing the bloodstream and flow because the muscles need it for excercise and the digestive system needs it for its job...

So...that is an abridged version of the science i believe in that leads me to feed as I do.

No one entirely knows what causes bloat (other than food+exercise together), but there is definite evidence that feeding twice a day reduces the likelihood of gastric torsion. Having lost two dogs to this some years ago, I now feed twice a day (normally; unrelated to hunting days) and don't let them "tank up" on water.

If they're working on that day, they get fed much less (and earlier)in the AM.

We feed 2x/day as well because the younger dog will wolf down his food so fast that he throws up. So breaking it into smaller portions twice a day solved the problem.

I feel the most important thing is to be consistent and never feed before strenuous exercise and allow a couple hours after. It is no harder on a dog to be fed a partial feeding at 6am and exercise at 6pm with another partial feeding at 8:30pm as it is to have a full feeding at 6pm and run them at 7am next morning. Same time frame but more food to digest. Both ways work just be consistent with your plan. Sled dogs are not kept off feed for 24hr intervals and they are pushed to the extreme.

I feed twice a day because I would not want to only eat once per day myself.

I get up very early so I give 1 cup about 4:45 am and 2 cups after dinner.

I free feed all my dogs. They eat what they want when they want.

Generally they will eat in the evenings, but one or the other might take a few bites at odd times during the day.

+1
We do the same thing with our adult GSP and have no issues with it.

Half morning and half evening. Morning at about 6AM prior to a self directed light workout while walking in a nearby park - in the crate until about 1:00 - another walk and light work out (horsing around in the park) with retired neighbor. Hardest work out of the day when I get home from work at 6ish - 1/2 hour to 45 min. of swiming, land retrieves and some ball chasing just for fun. Wait for him to cool down (half hour to an hour) and then feed the last half of the daily ration.

Currenly 4 cups total for the day. I may up it to 5 soon as he seems to be getting a little leaner than I think he should be.

During hunting season when I know we will be going hard all day, he gets all his food at night when returning to the house with some small amounts (treats of small portions of food) through the day.

I kept the once a day feeding up that the trainer I got him from had going and I too found that he would occassionally puke - not always, but enough that it was a concern.

Not saying its right, that's just what I do.
Oh ya, Callahan is an 87lb Chessie. 2.5 years old.

I can't imagine free feeding the dog - that sounds like a recipie for an overweight dog. Plus the cat, who does free feed, has taken a liking to Cal's dog food, so I'd be stuck with a bunch of un eaten Nutro Cat food and a bigger PPPP bill every month.

Steve007 wrote:No one entirely knows what causes bloat (other than food+exercise together), but there is definite evidence that feeding twice a day reduces the likelihood of gastric torsion. Having lost two dogs to this some years ago, I now feed twice a day (normally; unrelated to hunting days) and don't let them "tank up" on water.

If they're working on that day, they get fed much less (and earlier)in the AM.

you are right. most of old time hunters fed their dogs 1 time a day.me, i feed mine 2 times a day.
when going hunting in morning, i dont feed toby until i get home,so i skip morning feed and give him more at night.

i free feed all day cc

I feed twice a day but I base mine on how my dog did on feeding once a day. I noticed he didn't seem as productive only feeding in the evenings.

I feed twice a day when the dogs aren't working to give them something to look forward to when they're bored. When they are working, it's once a day. When hunting, if food is offered in the morning all the dogs refuse to eat. Could it be they instinctively know it's not the right thing to do? I keep my dogs lean & have never noticed any energy issues.

Chukar12 wrote:I am admittedly obsessive about trying to figure out performance issues and an edge. I rest my dogs some in the heat of the summer and over the holidays, otherwise they are never allowed to get out of condition. I see dog performance as a sum of genetics, training and overall health/condition, too casual or an uninformed apporach to anyone of them is generally reflective in the end product. As many know and maybe some do not, dogs do not digest food the way we do. The process of beginning the breakdown of food in a humans mouth is markedly less effective in a dog. Conversely, the acid and digestive power in a dog's stomach is much stronger than ours (this is why they are able to eat many bacterias that would make us vomit post haste) . Kibble takes 8-10 hours to be processed by the stomach and enter the small intenstine where the absorption of nutrients can begin. Most raw food diets are generally thought to be 25% quicker. The exception of course are glycos, which burn quicker and many performance companies provide science that say they have liquid or powder products that pass and absorb quickly to replenish the faster burning fuels.

Therefore kibble fed at 6 in the morning has only a chance by volumes of modern science, to reach the bloodstream and provide energy by 2-4 pm in the afternoon. If you are running a dog while that food is actively digesting you risk overheating, bloat (in large chested body cavity dogs its worse) and you are taxing the bloodstream and flow because the muscles need it for excercise and the digestive system needs it for its job...

So...that is an abridged version of the science i believe in that leads me to feed as I do.

This is spot on great advice . One thing i could add to this is that the people at purina did a study on performance dogs and found they had twice the endurance on an empty stomach. This would make sense in that if you take into consideration that dogs are pack animals and before they were domesticated they would be hunting when they were hungry. There was no person there feeding them the night before a hunt. For the guys that said they would not want to eat once a day, we are talking about dogs here, they are dogs and are not people. What is good for the goose is good for the gander, but we are talking about dogs not people. By the way I think it is a 12 gauge 3 inch magnum for the geese.

I've been feeding twice a day (still dealing with a pup) but am considering, on active days, to going to once/day and supplementing with a 'power bar' type of supplement (like Kronch Pemmikan bar) throughout the activity period to maintain a consistent glucose level throughout the day. It seems to make sense metabolically but will definitely be experimental throughout the summer. Anyone else tried doing this?

Gertie wrote:I've been feeding twice a day (still dealing with a pup) but am considering, on active days, to going to once/day and supplementing with a 'power bar' type of supplement (like Kronch Pemmikan bar) throughout the activity period to maintain a consistent glucose level throughout the day. It seems to make sense metabolically but will definitely be experimental throughout the summer. Anyone else tried doing this?

You are still feeding no matter what you feed. Dogs that are doing no more work than what our hunting dogs do seldom need any type of supplement to aid in their energy level.

Ezzy

Those bars are expensive. 2 ounces of Lard for $10. :roll:

Red Paw makes a bunch of bars and treats, but a can of sardines in olive oil sounds better to me.

4dabirds wrote:

Chukar12 wrote:I am admittedly obsessive about trying to figure out performance issues and an edge. I rest my dogs some in the heat of the summer and over the holidays, otherwise they are never allowed to get out of condition. I see dog performance as a sum of genetics, training and overall health/condition, too casual or an uninformed apporach to anyone of them is generally reflective in the end product. As many know and maybe some do not, dogs do not digest food the way we do. The process of beginning the breakdown of food in a humans mouth is markedly less effective in a dog. Conversely, the acid and digestive power in a dog's stomach is much stronger than ours (this is why they are able to eat many bacterias that would make us vomit post haste) . Kibble takes 8-10 hours to be processed by the stomach and enter the small intenstine where the absorption of nutrients can begin. Most raw food diets are generally thought to be 25% quicker. The exception of course are glycos, which burn quicker and many performance companies provide science that say they have liquid or powder products that pass and absorb quickly to replenish the faster burning fuels.

Therefore kibble fed at 6 in the morning has only a chance by volumes of modern science, to reach the bloodstream and provide energy by 2-4 pm in the afternoon. If you are running a dog while that food is actively digesting you risk overheating, bloat (in large chested body cavity dogs its worse) and you are taxing the bloodstream and flow because the muscles need it for excercise and the digestive system needs it for its job...

So...that is an abridged version of the science i believe in that leads me to feed as I do.

This is spot on great advice . One thing i could add to this is that the people at purina did a study on performance dogs and found they had twice the endurance on an empty stomach. This would make sense in that if you take into consideration that dogs are pack animals and before they were domesticated they would be hunting when they were hungry. There was no person there feeding them the night before a hunt. For the guys that said they would not want to eat once a day, we are talking about dogs here, they are dogs and are not people. What is good for the goose is good for the gander, but we are talking about dogs not people. By the way I think it is a 12 gauge 3 inch magnum for the geese.

I agree with you guys, I tried to find the purina article and could not find it. It is a great write up. I give my dogs a 24 hour fast before I hunt them hard. I would say I get at least 2 times more out of them. Obviously if I am in the field for multiple days they are fed between hunts, but I try to do it so that the dog has at least 12 hours before it is put on the ground and hunted hard. Dogs were not meant to be hunted and ran really hard with food in their gut, they are not like humans.

tried transitioning to once a day this weekend and the pup was puking bile in the afternoon...looks like I'll stick to twice a day

Other than small puppies, I have never fed a dog more than once a day, in the evening. That has always worked well for me and my dogs.

Charlie

I feed once a day. Before I hunt my dogs hard I put them on a 24 hr fast, I would say I get at least two times the performance out of them. When I am in the field for multiple days I try to get feed in the dogs at least 12 hours before they are going to be hunted again. The canine machine is a lot different than the human machine, you cant go by the way you would feel on a similar meal schedule. I agree with the post above that mention the article put out by purina, some great info for performance dogs.

Feed adult dogs once- evening
Feed dogs under 12months morning and night.

My dogs run almost everyday, traveling every day, feeding once works for my scedule.
I also believe a dog hunts getter on a empty stomach !