# When to feed?



## Margotsmom (Jun 6, 2010)

Mine get fed at 8am and by 6:15pm right now as I need to get them out downstairs before it gets dark (after it gets dark mine are sequestered to my second floor deck). I prefer to feed them every 12 hrs as I think that would be best, but life never lets that happen. I sometimes think that if you start letting them out in the middle of the night they will get into a pattern of doing that. Mine get to go out at about 5:45 pm, then after dinner say 6:30pm, sometimes around 8:30, then last call at around 10pm. After that we are in for the night. As such I only have a dog get up in the night when there is a problem. They know that is the routine.


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## schnauzerpoodle (Apr 21, 2010)

Nickel's schedule:

745am Potty @ litter box (pee + poop)
8am Breakfast
130pm Potty @ litter box (pee; sometimes poop too) + 1 small stuffed kong
6pm 1-hr dog park crazy run (pee + poop)
7pm Dinner
1030pm Potty @ litter box (pee)
1230am Potty @ litter box (on verbal command he pees but just very little, just trying to answer to my command)

Nickel has never had an accident in the crate/playpen and has never asked for an outing after being tucked in.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Mine go out when I wake up in the morning, then get breakfast. That is usually around 8 am, give or take an hour! Supper is at 6pm, but the clocks have just changed, and their tummies haven't, so I am gradually pushing it forwards from 5 pm. I think I fell into feeding my cats at those times when I was working, and it fits our routine. It also means they are not exercising on a very full stomach - small dogs are less prone to bloat, but it has been known. They usually get an off-leash run in the morning and again in the afternoon, and go out several times in between and in the evening, including a last trip before bed. We've been having some wild, wet, windy weather, though, so I have had to practically drag them out the last few days!


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## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

Vasco has a weird schedule ... 

- out for a walk at 6 am (peeing & pooping)
- no breakfast, he stopped being interested in breakfast at about 10 months
- stuffed Kong when we leave for work (which is usually still full when I get home)
- dog walker takes him for an hour run midday (definitely peeing, probably pooping)
- dog walker leaves him another Kong I prepared in the a.m.
- I'm home by 6:30-7:00, and we go for an hour+ run in the park (peeing, sometimes pooping)
- usually do some training after his run, while he's still hungry
- we both eat dinner at about 8:30-9:00
- maybe a last pee in the garden before bed, but he has the bladder of a horse so not always


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## Purley (May 21, 2010)

I will tell you about Tyson and his pooping. He is about five years old. Every so often, when he feels like it, or when he is too lazy to wait (in my opinion) he will poop in the house. Its often by the deck doors or down by the back door.

I had a feeling that if he was shut in my bedroom - neither Sam nor Tyson have been kept in a crate since they were puppies -- he wouldn't do it. And sure enough, since I installed a dog gate in the bedroom doorway - no nighttime pooping. However, the previous night, he was standing by the dog gate barking urgently and he did go out and poop. 

Last night I took all three dogs out and then I took Tyson out by himself. I kept saying "good boy - hurry up" which is what I use to make them go. And he did. However, I think dogs must be like people - if you took a person to the bathroom and told them to poop and they didn't have to -- they couldn't!!

So I really want a feeding schedule that get them all to go during the daytime. I don't feel good in the morning if I have been out of bed twice to let a dog go out to poop, but if they REALLY have to go and I refuse to let them out - then surely they will poop in the house won't they??


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## curlysmama (Oct 31, 2010)

7 am , wake up, pee & poop, eat breakfast
10 am, pee
12 noon, snack
5 pm, pee & poop, dinner
7 pm walk, pee
10 pm, pee, bed

Only once (at 4 am) he woke me up to go out. I dont know if he peed or pooped.


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## jazzi480 (Sep 19, 2010)

Jazzi and Ella go out as soon as DH gets up 5AM and pee , I get up around 6:30 and they go out Pee. I give them their breakfast and they immeadiatly go out and poo after. Their dinner is around 6PM and then they go out and poo. We have doggy door for daytime trips, very rarly do they poo in the day, seem to only go after meals. Last trip out is around 8PM they sleep with us and stay put for the night. 
Before we switched them to grain free they pooped much more often, with out the grain they seem to go less often. We do add goodies to the PM meal but still no grains, only meat, vegies, or grain free canned and always yogurt.
Hope you come up with a workable schedule for your babies and can get some sleep!


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## cavon (Aug 10, 2010)

Finnegan & I get up at 6am during the week, 8am or so on the weekend.
- pee right away then breakfast
- 1/2 hr walk before I go to work around 7:15amto (pee and poop) 1 - 1.5 hr walk on the weekend
- out to pee when I get home around 5 - 5:30
- 1 hr walk as soon as I change from work clothes
- dinner 1/2 hr after we are home from our walk
- potty break about every 1.5 hrs until bed time at 10:30
- one final potty break and that is it until the morning.

The only times he has woken me up during the night is when he had to poop badly, so when he wakes me up I get up and take him out right away because I know he is desperate.


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## Purley (May 21, 2010)

Yes, I think Tyson was desperate!!

However, I am going to move their lunch to dinner time, but I am going to do it gradually. Today I will feed them at 2 pm and then do that for a couple of days and see if it throws their pooping schedule off.

Tyson and Sam only get half a cup of Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Salmon plus two spoonfuls of doggy pumpkin from a can. It has added stuff than that from the grocery store, but its a lot more expenisve. 
They all get one teaspoon of Missing Link a day too.

Tyson is about 3 lbs overweight.

Lucy gets a cup of the same food a day because she needs to gain a few pounds.

Then they get raw on the weekends only. This time they have Urban Carnivore chicken dinner. I didn't like how their breath smelled with the beef dinner so I am trying the chicken.

I appreciate all the suggestions. Its useful to know what works for other people.


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## pap2labc (Jun 25, 2010)

Thanks to my first border collie who wouldn't eat if there was ANYTHING else going on in the house, my pack eats when I go to bed. This is anywhere from 9:30 to 11:00. If I get stuck reading or watching tv and it's past 11 they surround me and poke me with their noses. My wee dogs follow the same schedule and eat once a day. Sooo.....daily schedule is: up between 6:30 and 7:30 and out to pee and poop, back in the house, out around noon to pee, back in the house, out again at 4:30 to pee and poop, walking and training done in the afternoon/evenings, out again right before dinner, dinner 9:30-11:00, and then bed. It's a bit unorthodox but works for us.

Puppies eat 3 times a day, then 2, and then go to one. With my under 8 lb. dogs I've offered 2 meals a day but they didn't enjoy it. Oliver the 6 lb. senior seems to truly enjoy a late night dinner. If I had a dog that needed a different schedule I'd certainly adjust it, but for now it works.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

I feed both of my dogs breakfast when I wake up - 6:30 am weekdays/9 am weekends - and dinner between 5 and 7 pm. Sometimes I break one of Henry's meals into two meals. 

Simple as can be


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## Olie (Oct 10, 2009)

I would feed as you were. My dogs will on a rare occasion get one of us up and it may happen again but I try to get them to go lay down, if they really have to go they are persistent. Again its rare and never lasts.

Sometime I feed once in the AM 6:30-7am and if I am feeding twice a day its between 5-7pm. 

I notice some dogs poop a lot! Wow I do not miss that.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

My dog's poop once daily! In the morning.

When Millie was on Euk. - when I first got her - she pooped 3-4 times daily...then in Innova it was about 2 times. Now on raw/Acana only once! WOOHOO!


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## Olie (Oct 10, 2009)

ChocolateMillie said:


> My dog's poop once daily! In the morning.
> 
> When Millie was on Euk. - when I first got her - she pooped 3-4 times daily...then in Innova it was about 2 times. Now on raw/Acana only once! WOOHOO!


Oh so true! I stayed on Euk for about 2 weeks bleh


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## Curlydogs (Jun 28, 2010)

Our schedule changes dramatically from weekdays to weekends, so Cosmo goes with the flow. Luckily he seems to enjoy sleeping in and having a late breakfast/brunch on weekends as much as we do. He eats 2 times a day - breakfast is at 8:30 am on weekdays and 10:00 am or later on weekends; dinner is generally around 8 pm). He generally poops once in the morning (if not in the morning, then definitely on the next walk). 

He has never woken us up at night to pee, and he has only woken us up to poop or had an accident in the house when he was desperate and not feeling well (loose stool or diarrhea). Since we switched to a part kibble (Fromm) and part raw diet we have 1 poop per day and no accidents due to tummy trouble.


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## bluespoomommy (Feb 25, 2010)

i notice my dog poops a lot more when i feed her dry food. probably because of the fillers like rice that don't get digested. when i feed her meat only (cooked) with no rice, she poops only once a day. perhaps switch to a higher protein formula or raw only if you prefer uncooked? 

i only feed once a day which is dinner time around 6:30pm. even then, she still poops like 2-3 times a day, but she usually gets it all out before dinner time even comes.


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## grab (Jun 1, 2010)

my dogs eat in the morning before work and at night before bed. The puppy gets a lunchtime meal thrown in. I've never had nighttime poop issues with any of them..even the puppy


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## georgiapeach (Oct 9, 2009)

Our dogs are fed right after going outside at 5:30 a.m., so as to give their systems time to digest their food and go to the bathroom again before we go to work. They get fed again around 6 p.m. They tend to poo after each meal, and often a 3rd time after we get home from work, before their dinner.


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## Purley (May 21, 2010)

Nothing to do with food, but I notice in your photo of your small Mini that his legs are about half the length of Lucy's!!! She is mostly leg!! I just measured her and she is 15 inches tall - but she doesn't seem to have gained any weight.


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## Bella's Momma (Jul 26, 2009)

I also worried about feeding to late and having to get up in the night. If we don't get Bella fed by 8 she skips dinner. 

Generally she wakes up around 6:30 with some short "I want out!" barks (she sleeps in her puppy pen). Then eats breakfast around 7 am, lunch 12-2 (depends on my schedule that day) and then dinner around 6 pm. Bedtime around 10 pm. 

She goes out all day long so I'm not sure of her schedule in that regard.


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