Gun Dog Forum

I have a young GSP. Wonder when most people go to one feeding a day ?


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4-6 months.

I normally wait till they are grown, somewhere near a year old or more. Some dogs I feed twice a day all of the time.

Actually I still feed a smaller meal in the morning besides their big evening meal.

I feed 2x per day and adjust the timing of the morning meal depending on what we do that morning. If we're hunting, the morning meal ends up in the afternoon and combined with the evening meal.

I feed all three of my Golden Retrievers twice per day!

I would wait until they are fully grown. 12-24 months. I feed once a day (late afternoon) as from everything I've read and heard, a dog runs and hunts harder on an empty stomach. They are getting the same amount of ration, just once a day. I have also had both a vet and a breeder tell me that it's easier to control a dog's weight with a once a day feeding. They don't know why, but it just seems to be the case. I want my dog's stomach empty when she hits the fields in the morning whether it's hunting or at a field trial. It's worked very well for me.

I feed twice a day forever.

edit: 1/3 in morning and 2/3 at night. Few morsels in a.m. if we are going hunting that day

My GSP's were always skinny and hard to keep weight, so I feed them twice a day. I won't even get into how much.

At about 4 years old I still feed them twice a day, but the early morning feeding is only a half a cup. The evening feeding they get 4 heaping cups.

There are studies that claim not to feed in the morning before activity that I can not argue with. However I usually don't hunt my dogs until about nine or ten AM and they have already taken a couple of good poops.

The important thing is to measure what you feed and keep track of the weight of the dog.

During hunting season they will really get slim, but rock hard.

NO FAT DOGS!

When I'm not working them hard and they are cut back on food is once a day in the evening. If I'm working them hard and I'm trying to keep weight on I'll do 1/4 of ration I'm the morning the rest in the evening. If I give it all at once they won't eat it all.

Aggie,

You must not have GSPs lol.

My dogs are fed twice a day all of their adult lives. Whelps get fed 5-6 times a day, then down to 4 times a day when they are weaned. Meals are twice a day after they turn a year old.

If you want to feed once a day, I suggest that you don't cut back to once a day until after the first birthday.

Absolutely unscientific but I don't think it is good to stretch their stomachs or suspensory stomach ligaments. Every dog I've ever known that has had a torsion belonged to someone who fed large heavy meals. Who knows. Maybe that is superstition, but why chance it?

I'd go with a small meal before a heavy day's work with maybe a small snack like a graham cracker or half a granola bar at midday. You don't want their stomach heavy but you don't want low blood sugar, either. The dogs are burning a lot of energy when they hunt.

Around 1 year old.

I never feed before the dog goes hunting ,and that can be most part of the day ,so if those that feed twice or more they must stay up late ,anyway's a belly full would be enough .
.....
3 squares a day for a young one just playing around .
When?
Depends what the dog does. If it don't hunt ,it don't get fed .

I never feed before a morning run or hunt. It will inhibit a dogs performance. Don't care how old it is.

I feed a light meal in the morning in addition to a night feeding even on hunting days. I get up at 5, or sometimes to 4 on hunting days and feed right when I get up. By the time the dog is turned loose to hunt is around 8-9 AM so the dog has had 3-4 hours to digest said meal. It gives her the energy to hunt for 4-5 hours and not slow down. I hunt with a few guys that only feed once per day and on several trips their dogs have gone into hypoglycemic shock on the mountain.

Vision wrote:I feed a light meal in the morning in addition to a night feeding even on hunting days. I get up at 5, or sometimes to 4 on hunting days and feed right when I get up. By the time the dog is turned loose to hunt is around 8-9 AM so the dog has had 3-4 hours to digest said meal. It gives her the energy to hunt for 4-5 hours and not slow down. I hunt with a few guys that only feed once per day and on several trips their dogs have gone into hypoglycemic shock on the mountain.

I have 5 dogs, no need to run one for 4-5 hours;-)

SCT wrote: I have 5 dogs, no need to run one for 4-5 hours;-)

For sure ! But the OP perhaps does not ?.
Or any one else ?
The 'Huntsman' has a pack of 30- 40 . He hunt's them all ..all day .Just a thought .

How about sled doggers, they often have 50 dogs. Do they feed before a run? Their runs can go a lot longer than 4-5 hours.

How about Pet dogs ? ..how often do they feed their dogs ?

Also, who's to say all those dogs had glycemic problems. Maybe they were just out of condition. My dogs often times go on week long trips where they run 4-5 days in a row. Never had a glycemic issue, but I've seen dogs get stronger every day which concludes they were not in top condition to begin with. I have other reasons why I won't run them for 1/2 day jaunts. I believe it causes a slower pace, which isn't my cup of tea.

And the hot weather humidity in 'Louisiana' is a bitch I hear ?

polmaise wrote:And the hot weather humidity in 'Louisiana' is a bitch I hear ?

Not yet, it'll get worse!

SCT wrote:Actually I still feed a smaller meal in the morning besides their big evening meal.

This is what I do as well. That said, I do make sure it's at least a couple hours before running them hard. I also feed a little less in the morning when it's warm than I do when it's cold out. I suspect that's fairly common. Also, in the winter when we're hunting in the snow/cold I like to warm up a little broth and put a little on their food in both the morning and evening as well. Maybe I'm a softie but I know how much I like my warm beverages when it's chilly out and figure the dogs like a nice belly warming too.

SCT wrote:Also, who's to say all those dogs had glycemic problems. Maybe they were just out of condition. My dogs often times go on week long trips where they run 4-5 days in a row. Never had a glycemic issue, but I've seen dogs get stronger every day which concludes they were not in top condition to begin with. I have other reasons why I won't run them for 1/2 day jaunts. I believe it causes a slower pace, which isn't my cup of tea.

Both guys that had problems with their dogs started to carry a little food with them on hunting trips and gave the dogs a few nuggets throughout the day, problem solved.

Yeah, nothing a little honey won't solve;-)

If you look up the linkages between feeding and gastric torsion, a strong case can be made for feeding twice a day permanently. Depending on activity levels, I divide evenly or do 1/3, 2/3, as do others here.