Free Feeding Your Dog
Nothing in Life is Free
We believe in this concept, meaning your dog works to earn his meals, when it comes to food. Of course this is primarily a behavioral explanation of why there are no free bowls of food, but it also has a health reason associated with free feeding.
What Is Free Feeding?
In short, it means leaving a bowl of food down for your dog to eat at all times. Some people have different approaches:
Some put the daily portion in the bowl and forget about it until the next day, at which point they refill.
Some fill the bowl every time they see it empty
I have a couple of concerns with either of those approaches and it’s about knowing when and how much your dog is eating. Changes in eating patterns are a clue to your dog’s health and well-being.
Digestive Health and Free Feeding
My primary reason for not wanting you to free feed your dog has to do with digestive health. Your dog is meant to have time off the clock from digesting food. Yes, we talk about dogs in the proverbial wild who would feast on something and then maybe not eat for a couple of days. Our domesticated dogs don’t do that. We feed them every day.
If they take in food multiple times throughout the day, the digestive system will have food going through different stages of digestion at virtually all times. This means the digestive system never stops working. That’s a hard cycle for something that is meant to have rest and follow the circadian clock.
Weight and Free Feeding
Dogs who are lean are generally healthier and live longer. Of course, not every dog that has constant food in the bowl overeats, but it’s easy for dogs to gain weight on this style of feeding. We know that fasting offers benefits to weight management — free feeding doesn’t offer those some benefits.
Convenience and Free Freeding
If your are worried about being home to feed your dog on schedule — don’t! It would be better for your to feed your dog once per day and ensure they eat it, than to keep food out all day long for grazing.
The Better Alternative To Free Feeding:
Simple. The food bowl goes down with the meal’s portion in it. Your dog is given 15 minutes to eat it ~ or not. At the end of 15 minutes it’s gone until the next scheduled feeding time.
With the NILF (nothing in life is free) way of training — they earn portions of their meal by doing some training activity or skill that you ask for. Most people require at least a sit/stay, watch-me, and release word to take the portion.
I know this triggers a lot of questions — jump in my FB group and let’s talk about them.