How many meals a day?

[Lloyd90]

Does anyone notice much difference between feeding say 1 meal a day, or 2 or 3 or whatever?

I have intentionally not given Ted breakfast the last 2 days and just fed a larger meal in the evening... my GF commented to me this morning how he is much more attention and listening to her when she lets him out the front for a pee etc.

I said perhaps it’s because he’s a bit hungry and he knows he will get a treat when he comes back in after behaving himself?

Do you find any benefit of feeding just one a day (in the evening) ... I might give it a trial and see if I get any improvement when out training this and next week ... and wondering how it will work on shoot days?

[ips]

Interesting
I feed twice a day for no particular reason, however she rarely if ever will eat before or during a shoot day in fact she wont even accept treats during a shoot day

Doesnt answer your question but just putting my two peneth in there

[newf]

I used to feed my past dogs one meal a day. The two I have presently, an 9 year old lab and a 3 year old springer are fed three times a day. Granted it is not typical but I carried on from their puppy stage. Haven’t experienced any problems at all. I enjoy seeing my dogs looking forward to their frequent meals and it provides more interaction along with training and playing. Being semi retired, I have the luxury to do these daily habits, for my dogs but really for myself.

[Lloyd90]

Interesting
I feed twice a day for no particular reason, however she rarely if ever will eat before or during a shoot day in fact she wont even accept treats during a shoot day

Doesnt answer your question but just putting my two peneth in there

How do they work being they have had no food in the morning?

[Springcopse spaniels]

Would you last all day if you had only eaten the night before

[Lloyd90]

Would you last all day if you had only eaten the night before

I could do, I have done in the past without too much issue ... but I’m not a dog so I’m not sure how relevant that is...

It seems there are people out there who do it without issue... on the flip side I have heard of dogs getting low blood sugar and collapsing ... but I think they’re often fed in the morning as my mates did so and it had been fed.

[Springcopse spaniels]

I certainly couldn't do anything if I was only fed once every 24hrs, and I wouldn't expect my dog to either.

[Judy]

I feed mine once a day in the evenings. On a shoot day they get fatty sausages, pies, whatever, during the day. They are fine but they "only" pick up of course. I did think about splitting the meal into two but I've had the odd car sick dog, fine if they don't eat that morning, messy if they do.

[ips]

Would you last all day if you had only eaten the night before

Interesting
I feed twice a day for no particular reason, however she rarely if ever will eat before or during a shoot day in fact she wont even accept treats during a shoot day

Doesnt answer your question but just putting my two peneth in there

How do they work being they have had no food in the morning?

She gets fed at 8am and 5pm ish. I put food down on shoot day but she wont have it and as i cant force her too there isnt a lot i can do about it . Incidentally there are occasions on none shoot days were she wont want anything in the morning for the record she has never shown any signs of slacking during a working day

[PRH]

Used to feed once a day, then moved to twice when we got a pup a few years back. The little cocker is being fed 4 times a day but only to increase the interaction for training purposes. She is really flying in on the recall whistle now.

As long as the dog is in good condition I don’t think it makes much difference, although labs that wolf it down can be prone to bloat, so smaller more frequent meals might be better.