We have always put food out for 20 to 30 min. If any of it was left we would put up. Does anyone leave it down & just let them eat whenever. Just wondering which way is best.

I personally with all the dogs ive had even my husky keep it down from breakfest i only give her half a bowl if she still has some by dinner time i usually just top it up back to half if she doesnt eat it two hours befor bed (still potty traning) we put it up it seems to work and she doesnt scorff it down she nibbles all day because she knows its there

I do not like free feeding. Some people do free feeding and it works in their household, but I would never do it. If my dogs don't eat within 10 minutes, I take the food away. I have only had that problem ONCE, and it was because the food they were eating was pretty gross.

I don't like free feeding because; you don't know how much food your dog is eating if you just keep filling up the bowl when it's empty, you don't know if your dog is eating the usual amount of food, so you can't tell if your pup is sick or not. I also feel like free feeding takes out a bonding experience. My pack KNOWS I am the giver of food and they respect me for it.

In the end, do what you feel is necessary, but I would stick to what you are doing already IMO.

Agree. I don't agree with free feeding as well. I do the same, my pack knows who give them their food. If they bark or make the smallest noise for me to hurry it up they wait longer. Micole learned that very quickly. They have to do something for me to for them to get there food. I make them sit, lay down or sit pretty and then they get it.

We do have/have had some members who free feed and it works for some, not so much for others. There are so many benefits to scheduled feeding that I would never free feed but to each his own. People have to do what works best for them.

We have a 4y old Lab and 2 huskies, 4 months and 8 weeks. They all get fed separately so I know how much they've all eaten and there won't be any arguments.

If the food hasn't gone in 10-15 minutes I take it away, the Lab NEVER leaves food but Sky (4m) doesn't always eat all hers and Phoenix has only been here a day so we'll see

They get fed at set times, it's helped loads with Sky's potty training, so I know roughly when they're going to need to go and we don't get accidents. They also have to work for their dinner and are more eager perform when they know dinner is at the end of it.

I don't mind free feeding if it's just one dog, because I can keep track. But with two dogs, I won't do it. One, because they get different food (puppy/adult) and two, because I can't keep track of who is eating what.

When we just had Nunya we free-fed but if there is food down Snoopy will eat it and keep eating. I had to convince my mom to only feed them two cups of food each a day because she was filling the bowls more than five times a day with two-cup scoops and Snoopy was eating ALL but the two cups Nunya ate. He was eating more than 18 cups of food a day and I have no idea how his stomach didn't tell him to stop but he started to get very fat and we're working him back down.

sierra was free feed for the first month we had her, but i never refilled the bowl if she emptied it before the end of the day. once we got jack they were feed in open cages and if they did not eat in 5 min the food got put up till dinner. sierra would eat ANYTHING, jack is the one that will skip meals often. i like keeping them on a time for food. it works for us.

Bella and Jasper get started out free fed just because I was trying to get weight on them when they first came home, but I had to switch to set feeding times because Bella lost a lot of weight when I switched foods so I'm sticking with a sceduled feeding. We have always free fed our other dogs but with having weight lose problems and snarkiness when feeding the two thays whats working best for me now. I know they both eat their 3cups per day and if its not finished then its given again for the next meal. I think it depends on the dog and the situation.

I would say that I am not a true "free feeder" lol but I do leave the bowl down for the full day. I give Cally her two scoops in the morning and then leave it down for the full day. If she hasn't eaten all of it by that night I leave it down throughout the night. It is usually gone by morning and then I give her two cups again. On the rare occasion where she eats it all and wants more, I will give her a quarter of a cup

I use to put a cup and half down in the morning and a cup at dinner time if Loki felt like it he would eat it then but sometimes wouldn't. If he didn't eat his dinner from the night before I would add half a cup and there is breakfast. Now that we have a foster I put bowls down and if not eaten in 20 minutes they go up. I can't leave food down with Glory she will eat and eat and eat. Most times she will finish hers then go check Loki's bowl and if he left a few crumbs she will eat them.

I leave food down all day for Selena. My vet is actually the one who told me to do so. Mostly because she seems to be a picky eater and only like to eats a couple nibbles at a time and some times likes to skip meals all together. Leaving it down all days seems to work a lot better, otherwise she wasn't eating at all in the 20-30 minutes I left it down. Just my opinion

Our GSP will always eat his bowl of food, so in the morning we put their bowls down and put a cup in. Wyatt eats all his and if Danzig hasn't finished by the time I leave the house, we put it up. Wyatt will end up eating that too and he had some weight gain last year. So I guess, no we don't free feed.

Everyone here gets fed at the same time each day, (Loki gets an extra feeding at around noon since he is still young) I do not free feed and never have with any dog. I like to know exactly how much my dogs eat. Right now I have to tie Loki to a door to feed him because he will run over and push the other two out of the bowls to eat theirs lol. And they let him! He is going to be my alpha lol. So he gets tied to the kitchen door and therefore can't bug the others. The other two don't do this, they eat their own.

I free feed Kaia. I have since she was a puppy. She is an only dog. I fill her bowl with the amount she is supposed to eat in a day (two cups) and leave it down, I don't refill it. She very rarely eats in the morning/during the day, she eats early evening. She also tends to eat better after exercise as I believe she is hungrier. She's also kind of weird...she prefers to eat with someone in the room, if her food is in the kitchen she won't eat but if I move it to the living room where I am she will eat (she's weird!). I just recently switched to 4health whitefish food and its the frat time ie actually seen her excited to eat and eat a whole bowl when I put it down. But she will only eat until she is full no over eating. She's also pretty picky so I'm glad she like this new food!

I don't free feed necessarily. Karli gets 3/4 of a cup in the morning and depending on if I work or not, its either in her cage with her all morning or she eats it when I eat my breakfast if I don't work that morning. In the evening she gets another cup of food. I have to measure how much she eats otherwise my hubby would overfeed her and I'd have a chubby puppy on my hands.

I like being able to keep an eye on exactly how much she eats AND I like knowing roughly when she'll need to poop since she's home while I work.

Stryker used to free feed but I would only put 2 cups in the morning and 2 cups at night...he just doesn't like to eat it all in one sitting and would graze throughout the day. We've had to break that habit though because London is on raw and will try to sneak some of his food throughout the day