Three Ways To Feed A Puppy

Puppies have a need for food to help them grow up strong and develop. Without a proper diet a puppy can and will tend to over eat if you do not set a meal schedule. There are three ways to feed your puppy, which includes, free feeding, portion control and meal feedings.

Meal Feeding

Meal feeding is supplying a breakfast, lunch and dinner feeding. This is also a sure way to take the edge off of housebreaking. It is usually done with a bit canned food and dry food mixed together. Some owners do a four meal a day program with smaller portions spread out into four settings. Either way is good as long as you are there to feed the puppy on the schedule you start.

The most important thing to remember is that no matter if you do three or four feeding a day, you have to do it when there is still enough time before bed to go outdoors to the bathroom.

You can drop down to two meals a day after the puppy reaches six months old, but up until then you need to spread the meals out for either every six hours with four meals or every eight hours with three meals.

Portion Control

This method of feeding is done by owners who need to work and be gone during the day. Portion feeding requires measuring the right amount of food the puppy will need while you are gone. This is placed in the food dish and the puppy can eat as they want and need to during the day when you are not around. The amount that you give your dog is going to depend on how long you are gone and what meal times it is covering. The size and breed of the dog will also determine the amount of food you feed them on a portion control feeding.

Manu puppies and dogs can limit themselves and make their food last for the entire time. They normally only eat small portions and wait until later to eat the rest. Puppies do not tend to over eat and do slow down their eating habits as they age. The downfall to portion feeding is that housebreaking can suffer.

Free Feeding

This form of feeding is having a food supply available all day and all night. This is a simple way to feed your dog. Many vets and breeders do not recommend this type of feeding because the dog can eat whenever they want to and you do not control their food intake. It also makes housetraining near impossible since you never know when the dog is eating.

Article by Kelly Perry of
Oh My Dog Supplies