When is the best time to feed, before or after exercise. We walk every morning. I have always given her food as soon as we were up about 5:00 am. Then gone for our walk about 6:00. Then I read an article that says not to feed for 2 hours before exercise or 30 min after. As it is bad for there digestive system. Great Mom I am.

I feed my boy after exercise. I've always heard that feeding before exercise and not giving enough time for the food to digest can increase the chance of bloat.

Think about how willing you are to run on the treadmill after downing a large meal- it's really no different for a dog. With the added risk of bloat. Its best to wait 30-60min post workout to let their bodies settle from working before feeding. Also if you soak your food (in water works just fine) the risk of bloat drops significantly-

They way I see it is if a dog was in the wild, he would expel a lot of energy working to get their food. After they would catch the food I do not see them sitting around for 30-60 minutes to wait to eat it.

1) dogs are not 'wild'
2) wild animals do not hunt kibble, which expands and digests (gasses) differently than raw meat
3) bloat is a very real killer of medium/large deep chested breeds

I'm just gonna put my dilemma here since it has to do with feeding…
Recently my girlfriend has been accusing me of underfeeding our boy and thats why he's so small.
I've been feeding Mylo- Dr. Tim's Kinesis half a cup twice a day (morning and evening) and a snack in between and also kibble as treats or actual treats throughout the day too. I've tried explaining to her that this is good kibble and half a cup is a good amount compared to the cheaper caliber kibble.
So my question is…have I been underfeeding him?
She keeps showing me pictures of other 6 month old huskies and how they are so big already and ours looks like he's stuck on 3-4months old. I'm like wait, hang on…theres plenty of time still for growth!

Wellll, son got Archer at 4 mos of age and somewhere around 27 pounds - he started on Blue Wilderness, 3 cups daily, divided. He transitioned to TOTW, still eating 3 cups, minimum, daily, now probably ways a little over 50 pounds. When he is with us, he is highly active and gets treats with our breakfast and dinner (for instance, this morning we had omelets and potato cakes - I made and extra, 1-egg omelet with a teaspoon of parmesan cheese for the dogs - Ami was outside, I gave 3/4 of it to Archer. Or rather, Wayne spoon fed it to him, piece by piece ) Last night he had an extra 1/2 cup of kibble 'cause he was acting starved. That was in addition to bits of salmon, tuna, mashed potatoes and lima beans from our dinner (he did NOT eat the brussels sprouts )

Archer is a typical thin, feel all the bones, leggy husky (mix that he is.) So, maybe, just maybe, you are underfeeding.

David, excellent food from what I understand, have never used, nor seen, but have heard of it. With that said, it is possible that you may be underfeeding, but if so, I would say you are not underfeeding by much. What does the bag recommend? A good guideline for most quality foods is that huskies will eat approximately 20-25% less than what is recommended on bag. Now I will say , that I feed my adult female, Miya, 1 to 2 cups a day, not Dr Tims, but a quality kibble, she also gets a couple of treats a day. When she was under a year she would have at least the 1 cup and more typically 2 cups and sometimes even more, dependent on her activity level for the day. The bag recommendations for her food says somewhere around 3 cups a day, my girl is on the larger end of a husky, weighing somewhere around 60-65 pounds, and I still feed 1-2 cups a day, again dependent on how much we do. I wouldn't be surprised on you needing to up his allotment for the day, however, I am not so sure that Mylo's small stature has everything to do with how much you feed him. Many of the dogs here on the forum, most are girls, are very small, and I know that for the most part they feed quality kibble and feed the right portions, and their dogs are still small. Not all dogs will be large, just like people. Again, I will emphasis 2 things to you, one he may be a slow grower and two he may be a small male husky, with breed standard of 45 pounds, and he may not get to that weight until he is around 3 years of age. Huskies are a medium sized breed, not all will top out at the 60 pounds for the large end of breed standard for males.

Omg so it kinda is my fault why he's 25 pounds…my boy wasn't active up until about 4 months of age since we had him confined in the room because of his parvo. That's why I also stuck to the half cup twice a day with snacks in between and thats also what the bag said for the particular weight. With all the stuff in between maybe it totals to almost 2 cups of food? We have started to feed him more now at 6 months. Maybe if I had fed him more there could've been a real difference on his 5 month weight to 6. I'm feeling guilty now.

@MiyasMomma
Thanks for replying at all my posts! You're good, I really appreciate it
I know huskies are medium sized pups.
So if anything he's been getting 1 cup total a day of exact divided portions and then extras throughout the day.
And yeah I also doubt that his stature has anything to do with the feeding..but my girl thinks otherwise she's kinda bummed since it seems he won't be big so far. I'm loving it! He's happy and heathy.

*Here's the analysis of Dr. Tim's Kineses if it's of anyone wants to see*
http://drtims.com/kinesis/

David, don't feel guilty, at all. He looks to be in good shape, and healthy, healthy coat and eyes, plays a huge role in overall health. Personally a slow grower, will have far fewer problems as he ages. Hip Dysplasia(spelling?) is common in huskies, and some of that has to do with genetics, extensive exercising at a young age, and growing (as in bones and joints) too fast. Relax, and enjoy the fact that he is small, he will grow, and he may benefit as he ages because of how slow he is growing. Again, many huskies will not be at their max height, length and weight until 3 years of age. Btw, does your girlfriend read the posts here and/or read any of the threads? This may help her, in relaxing too. As far as bag recommendations, feed 25% less of his end weight of 45-50 pounds, or if they have a puppy feeding guideline, you might want to feed at what the next level up in weight is, and see how he does. If he starts getting pudding poo, then you need to back off on how much you are feeding.

No problem happy to help!! So thank you for adding the info, gradually increase his food to the max of the 1.75 cups a day. Again if he gets pudding poo back off. Increase/decrease at 1/8 cup at a time, to no more than 1/4 cup. I would also feed him puppy levels until he is about 18 months old, since he is growing slower. Generally speaking, I probably would not feed more than 2 cups after he reaches maturity. But as he grows, and as long as his poos are good, increasing to over 2 cups will be ok, on a high active day. After maturity, I would not feed more than 2 cups in any particular day. A lot of this will be trial and error, but at least now you know you can increase his food levels, also watch to make sure he doesn't pack on the weight, and not match his height.

My Ichigo was smaller when I got him at 4-5 months and then he didn't grow much as he was sick.  He had a flea infestation and hookworms they treated in rescue, but then for a number of weeks he had infections we had to treat.  A few weeks (or months) after getting better, he grew a lot.  He is now about 70lbs.  I think in your pups case, the lack of growth could have more to do with being sick then food.  Gradually increase his food and see what happens. Also check with your vet. With my Ichigo, my vet indicated to provide him what he could eat each day without restriction when he was smaller.  

Also, the best judge of a puppies size is the parents.  If you know they were larger, it may just take him time to get there.

We go to the park every day and if we can't we do some off leash recall on my fil driveway back and forth haha our park time is 35mins max with about 10 mins overall running. His stool has always been perfect unless he ate something weird and stuff. I should increase to two cups a day now then for sure. My girl never gets on here but I do show her stuff from here time to time. But yeah I would personally love it if Mylo stays small!

@techigirl
Yeah that's been a thought about the sick thing, like I've said before he got attacked with parvo at 8 weeks and was on meds at home for over a week. And I only remember Mylos momma, she wasn't a big husky but I don't remember how the sire was I only ever saw him from far and he was always laying down. Oh and Mylo was also slightly smaller than his litter mates.

And sorry if I'm being annoying about the size of my boy..I know I've been mentioning this for a while a already.

I feed mine early afternoon and we hike late afternoon to early evening but I have problems with grazers. I know everyone says just pick the bowl up after a certain time and they'll learn to eat it immediately. Along with the often stated fact that dogs will not starve themselves like cats will. Mine didn't read the instruction book. My akita has failed to eat for more than a week numerous times this was tested and lost enough weight for it to be concerning before she had her current excess weight to lose. The others are also nearly as stubborn about it but even if they could be convinced to eat meals better I'd have to keep them all separated for the akita to get enough food or spend the money feeding her all raw so she'd eat it immediately. I haven't seen any signs their habits are causing them problems when exercising and my akita is 8years old now.