Hello!!! This is my first post here I had been searching the net for this issue when I found this forum and thought this would be the perfect place to ask!

We got Indiana at 8 weeks old, and he is now 10.5 weeks. I have heard of Husky's being "self regulators" with their food and I think that is Indy's problem. We feed him twice a day 1.5 cups each time. When we put the bowl down he will literally take one bite then run off... come back for another bite or two and run off. If we leave the bowl down while we are at work (he lives in the master bathroom behind a gate at the moment) it is always empty when we come home so at least I know he's getting his food down eventually.

The problem with this is that we have another adult dog who has free range of the house. She is half Husky and half pitbull Black Hole. She will eat any and everything she can put in her mouth within a half mile radius. We can see this becoming an issue eventually and we would like to train Indy to eat at meal time and then be done. Does anyone have any suggestions for this? Right now we are leaving his food down as we are afraid of him not getting enough food for a growing boy without it!

Thanks all!

What kind of food are you feeding? The higher quality or higher protein of food you feed the less he will actually need to eat, but 3 cups isn't out of the range of some foods. That aside though if he is eating when you aren't around it sounds like he is just nervous or too excited to eat around you. He's still fairly new to you and his new place and it will take a little bit for him to acclimate to the fact that this is now home. Try hand feeding him his kibble some to get him more used to eating with you near.

You might also stop letting him have open time to eat. Put the food down for a half hour, then take it up for an hour, then put it back down for another half hour. If he doesn't eat it, then pick it up, wait a while then reoffer it later. I used to let my girl free eat before we got our second dog. My other dog will eat her food if she doesn't eat it on time so I started picking it up. After a while she realized that she was going to have to eat when it was offered or she wasn't going to get it at all. Now she eats when offered and the other dog doesn't get to be a hog and eat for two.

Welcome to the forum and we really love to see pictures here. Oooing and awing over puppies is one of our favorite pass times.

Welcome to the forum, and you pup is gorgeous.

Jenn is right on. In addition to her suggestion, and I will reiterate, the food is the thing in question, what are you feeding? I would try and break up the meals a little, twice a day is a little rough for such a young pup. Until my Sofie turned 4 months old I fed her 4 times a day, and now she is down to 3 times a day at a little over 5 months old. With that much food at one time, may be creating a grazer. So without knowing what you are feeding, we are limited in being able to give you 100% accurate advice.

And yes we love pics here!

Thanks for the advice! We are currently feeding Blue Buffalo puppy formula. We might switch to BBWilderness soon. The hand feeding is a good idea. He noms it quickly when training so that might help for regular feeding as well.

I am definitely wanting to stop the open feeding but we were just worried he wouldn't eat enough for this daily needs. I'm going to try and take the advice to just leave it out for a few and take it up. If he gets hungry enough I'm sure he will indulge. I might put some kibble in a Kong too so he will get food along with his normal peanut buttery treat

Also... here are a few pictures for everyone to swoon over He's a sweetie but a handful at the same time. The white and black dog is Pandora... our Husky/Pit mix who is about 7.5 years. I have no idea why the first one came in sideways... but you get the idea

Renee you mention more feedings per day. Currently our work schedule makes this a pain. We feed at 6am when he wakes us up and at 5pm. Do you think it would work to feed him a second meal at 4pm when I get home and a third meal around 8ish or so?

Thanks all!

Depends on how well he can hold his poo, lol. It may work out just fine, a lot of the time it is trial and error with puppies. Does anyone come and take him out at mid day, or is he alone for the whole day? If someone comes home, maybe feed him at noon time? Also, my older girl Miya, she is my picky eater, can go days without eating. When she was a pup she was worse, it was because at the time I fed a grain inclusive food. So what kind of kibble are you feeding, he may indeed not like it, it may bother him, and he only eats it because he is hungry, not because he actually likes it.

Blue Buffalo is a decent food (though they have had some questionable practices lately) and should be grain free in most formulas (if they are being truthful) check the bag and see if the formula you feed is grain free. He is adorable and doesn't look to be wasting away or anything so I wouldn't worry too much about him not getting enough food. Keeping puppies lean is actually better for their growing joints. If he gets to seeming too thin with the amount he is eating then I would be more concerned. What was he being fed by the breeder? Were they feeding Blue as well? If not how did your transition go to Blue? cold turkey or slow transition? Changing food can also take them a bit to get used to, especially if they went from a crappy food that is often doctored with extreme flavors to lure them in that higher quality brands don't use.

Sorry didn't see the post that you are feeding Blue. Yes it is a good food. But....I did put a post up a few days ago, that they were using corn in at least some of their foods, even though the package says they do not. I hate saying something bad about a food, so I will let it go as Blue has some questionable practices. Some huskies do great with Blue, some do not. If he is not having tummy issues, and I agree he looks quite robust and healthy, I would still try as Jenn suggested and allow a certain amount of time to eat, and my suggestion of trying to split up to 3 meals a day.

He is a handsome pup.

We are feeding Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula. The one in the blue and yellowish bag (I can't post outside links to the forums yet or I'd link it.)

It is not grain free. Would most here recommend grain free for huskies? Or even a different brand now that there has been some "drama" with Blue?

He was being fed a mixture of all sorts of things from the people that had him. Because they were being fed such a mixture of different foods (some puppy food, and some adult food from their other dog bowls from around the house) we couldn't really match what they had him on. We had to basically go cold turkey. He also had coccidia when we got him but has his last dewormer yesterday. His bowels seem to be working good now. We started mixing some wet food in with the dry to enhance the flavor and smell... that worked for one feeding then he didn't care anymore. Same goes for a try at some chicken broth added to it.

He wasn't from a breeder. He came from irresponsible owners that allowed their two purebred dogs (brother and sister non-the-less) to breed. I am a staunch advocate of rescuing and I hate "backyard breeders" types but the deed was done by the time we found out and the puppies needed homes. We got him for basically free. Luckily, we (and others) have managed to get the owner of the mom and dad to at least neuter the father. We are still pressuring them hard to spay the mother.

Sounds like the time limit is going to be the way to go. We shall start that tonight Perhaps we can also feed him once in the morning, once when I get home from work, and again at normal dinner time to help spread it around a bit more.

It seems to be the consensus here that most huskies do not do well on grain inclusive foods. You could stick to Blue and try their Freedom line, I think that was a grain free, or try another brand that is 100% grain free. Corn seems to wreck most huskies.

My Miya is from a similar background, and my biggest issue with her has always been feeding her. I swear they are so smart that they smell the grain. Miya would only eat if she was so hungry and that was all I gave her. Then it dawned on me to try a grain free, she still doesn't have the greatest of appetites, but she does do far better on grain free, and she will, generally speaking, eat what I give her.