Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

Brinkley currently eats 2 1/2 cups of food at 7am and 3pm at the breeder's. He's pretty big, 9 months, but not full grown yet. Probably 70 pounds.

When he comes home tomorrow, we will try to keep him on the same schedule and slowly change it to fit our own.

My sister feeds her Lab 2 1/2 cups once a day - at 5pm. She thinks that feeding 5 cups a day is too much and that feeding in the morning before I leave for work probably isn't good either.

I can walk him first thing in the morning - 6:30am, we'll have a dog walker between 11am and 1pm, and then I'm home by 4:45. One day a week he'll come to work with me also.

If you were me, how much would you feed and when? What do you do?

Message edited 9/19/2008 1:05:28 PM.

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

We have a 70lb pit mix. Porter gets fed twice a day. 1 cup at 6:60 am and 1 cup at 5pm. Good luck with your new baby

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

I was told twice a day by my vet.. You are going to be the best Mommy ever.. You have it all figured out!! What a very very lucky doggie he is!!

Message edited 9/19/2008 5:58:38 PM.

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

I was told once a day by my vet but I have a smaller breed that is in the 20lb range. So 2x a day sounds about right for the bigger breeds.

As for walking we let her out in the morning before work and when we come home from work. When we are home on weekends she just lets us know when she has to go.

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

i have a *much* smaller dog and our doctor recommended once a day... when she was a pup she ate three times a day at first, then twice a day up until she was a year and a few months. now, she just gets food in the evening. she weighs 15 pounds. she gets a one cup of organic dry food (lamb & beef) and i usually slice up little bits of apple, carrots, or maybe just a little bit of american cheese. i put the faucet on HOT and put just a little in, mix around, to make it soft - she likes it like a gravy. once our vet told us to switch from 2x a day to once daily we waited a bit to do it - a few weeks - and we noticed that she really didn't eat with the same amount of "gusto". then when we switched to just once she now eats very happily -- so, we figured the vet was right on with the switch.

you're going to love him!!! good luck!!!!

Message edited 9/20/2008 12:49:24 AM.

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

labs love to eat!!! feed him twice a day. We feed brady (our yellow lab) 2 cups 2x a day. He gets breakfast around 6:30 and dinner around 6pm. We do not give him more because he gets lots of treats and we need him to keep lean because he has bad knees (torn both ACLs as a pup).
Gina will give you a suggested schedule for feeding him.

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

I feed Teemu 2x per day and walk him 2x per day. He gets 3/4 dry and 1/4 wet in the AM and the same in the PM. Larger dogs Definitely need to be fed 2x per day.

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

Misty is a 60lb. Weimaraner...She eats 1 3/4 cups of food a day - 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night. We got her at 9 months and she was eating almost 3 cups a day then. We have gradually weaned her down as she gained any weight. It's harder with a lab though, cuz you really can't see their frame. He needs to be more stocky than slim, though.
Misty gets a long walk/run in the morning - about 45 minutes to an hour and then another shorter walk at night when we get home. She also goes out in the yard a few times at night - basically she does it for a cookie.

You will figure out a schedule that works best for you and the dog.

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

Maddie just turned 6 months, is 47lbs and we are trying to wean her off her midday meal to only AM & PM. She was getting a cup 3x a day but now we are giving her 1 1/2-3/4 AM & PM with a handful midday.

And we let her out all day long, no real set walking schedule.

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

We have a 5 year old Rottie who is about 125lbs. He gets 1 cup in the morning around 6am, goes out then gets fed one cup at 5:30pm. Its seems to be working fine.

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone. Right now, we are walking him 4x a day. First thing in the morning, then 2 cups of food. Then at noonish, no food. Then at 5pm, 2 cups of food. Then between 7 and 8.

When the fence goes up on Monday, we'll start training him to relieve himself there too. Working well so far, no pooping problems, although his farts are totally rank.

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

Ali is about 85 pounds, she's a lab mutt--she eats twice a day, once around 8am once around 5 or 6pm, depending. Typically she goes to do #1 before breakfast, eats, then #2. At night we take her pretty much whenever, but she usually goes around dinner time and then before bed.

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

Due to digestive issues with Daisy, we feed her 4 times a day (1/8 cup at a time).

She wakes at 6am. Gets to go outside to do her business.

7am - gets fed the first 1/8 cup

8am - gets a long walk around the neighborhood before we leave for work

9am - gets her other 1/8 cup food

5pm - get a long walk around the neighborhood when DH comes home from work.

5:30pm - she gets her 1/8 cup food

7pm - Gets another walk around the neighborhood

10pm - she gets her last 1/8 cup food

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

We don't really have Lilly on a specific schedule... She's an 11 pound IG and will get about 3 handfulls of food per day - usually in the mornings (even if she doesn't eat it - it stays out until the afternoon), once she finishes that, we give another handful and usually a handful after we eat our dinner. She's the type of dog that will only eat if she's hungry and not over-eat just because it's there. Some days she eats it all, some days she barely touches it.

As for walking - she goes in the backyard to do her business - when we wake up in the morning around 6:00(we have to literally d r a g her our of bed ) - before DH leaves for work and puts her in the crate(8:00) - when I get home from work (4:00) - around 7:30 and again right before bed (usually around 10:30. Sometimes she has to go more than this schedule, so we take her out based on her cues, but this is the usual schedule she's on.

We go for a long walk most afternoons between 5-6 - she'll mark up a storm and occassionally do #2

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

Shea gets fed twice a day ... once in the morning and at dinner time...

then after dinner we take her for a nice LONG walk... she is usually so tired when we get home.. she goes to sleep!

Re: Dog owners: what is your feeding & walking schedule like?

I have Pit Mix Maggie 65 pounds, I feed her in the morning 2 cups she doesn't eat it till i come home at night usually she won't eat unless i sit with her.