I’ve been reviewing, in my mind, feeding, and all the specifics that people may tell you to do with it. The typical is; schedule feed, for puppies, three times a day, for adult dogs, once or twice a day. Never free feed. Stick your hand in the bowl while they’re eating (please DON’T DO THIS), pick up food after dinner hour, make your dog sit before the bowl goes down, withhold meals if they won’t work for their kibble (don’t do this either) etc. etc.
I’ve scheduled fed dogs for years. But I’ve also done the taboo thing, heaven forbid, some dogs get free fed. Many trainers will give you a fail on that, but I just want you to hear my experiences, and you can make the decision for yourself. Both ways are fine, and it truly comes down to preference. I have two free fed dogs and one scheduled.
So here is the details to what I have been thinking about lately. My newest dog, the insane one, and I say that with love, has been free fed since she arrived. Or mostly free fed, we’ll say. When she was very tiny, I tried to schedule meals in hopes of anticipating bathroom breaks, but it wasn’t overly useful. I did A LOT of hand feeding.
Now I believe some people, when they hear HAND FEEDING, picture someone sitting on the floor, and feeding a dog or puppy piece by piece, like you would a baby in a high chair. This shouldn’t be what hand feeding encompasses. Hand feeding, when done right, offers us the opportunity to take time to train our dogs with their meals – everyone has 5 minutes at meal time to work with their dogs. It allows us to set aside portions of their meals to use throughout the day for reward. It allows us bonding time. It allows us time to get reps in. It allows us to show the dog that good things come to them through us.
So, anyway, we did a lot of hand feeding and then leftovers were put into the bowl to sit on the floor and never get picked up during the day. Maybe we did too much, as she started to prefer to work for her meal from my hands than eat it out of the bowl. Bowl food was boring. Hand food was exciting, even if we used the exact same food that was in the bowl. We used meals on walks, food throughout the day for rewarding good behaviour, we played with food, we trained with food. I ended up building a dog that was crazy for any food that came out of my hand, no matter how low value or boring it was. And then she would graze the rest of her meals throughout the day.
With this, I did not limit food, I did not withhold food, there was always a full bowl of food on the floor for her (there still is) to choose to eat it when she wanted. And also with this, I found, that free feeding did NOT decrease her drive for food out of my hand. I can pull food that she’s left all day in the bowl, out of said bowl, start to train with it, and she’s all in. I will note, she has HIGH food drive – just not when it’s in the bowl. She has good self regulation on her bowl kibble. She is in excellent shape. She is not overweight. Though I call her insane, she is calm in the house, doesn’t demand anything except to sit on my lap in the morning while I drink tea, so that she can look out the window. She sleeps well, and would never dream to go to the bathroom inside. She is on point with obedience, regardless of if food is involved … in most circumstances. She is a terrier after all.
I’m kind of rambling, as I do, but you get the picture of how this dog is as an example of a hand fed dog. I find people are hesitant to hand feed for some reason. I believe maybe they think that they will always have to rely on food for obedience, or maybe that they feel using food is bribery, or, I hear this one a lot, their dog always expects food. What ever the reason, I truly wish more people would start their new dogs and puppies off with hand feeding. It offers such a great reward without having to stuff your dog full of extra calorie treats (though sometimes treats are necessary, I get it, and it’s ok). It practically eliminates any chance of food bowl guarding. It teaches your dog that engagement with you is awesome. It allows you to capture those moments throughout the day that your dog is behaving and doing things that you like. And once again, allows you bonding time through training.
So after all these words, what I’m really trying to say is give hand feeding a try. Measure out your dogs daily meal, and set most aside for training and to have with you throughout the day. Hand feed a bit with training before you decide to set the bowl down. Capture calm moments with food reward. Create new habits without constantly scrabbling for extra treats. Take food on walks and reward the loose leash and practice a rewarding recall. Get reps of simple (or complex, if you like) obedience in wherever you feel like it. Once you’ve developed some excellent habits with hand feeding, you can start to require certain obedience behaviours with other types of follow through.
I want to add to this, and maybe you will not like to hear it, but most dogs aren’t working for you for the sole fact that they are a dog and this is what is expected of them. Dogs are not preprogrammed to work perfectly with us. Some breeds are more apt to work for you for the sheer joy of it because they have a high pack drive. Many, many dogs need more incentive … much more. Your incentive to start, and the easiest one to use, is food. Later the incentive can be shifted to toys, play, touch and verbal reinforcement, but a good portion of dogs aren’t working with you just to hear “good boy”. They need more. And hand feeding allows you the ability to offer that more without adding in too many treats. Training with food, contrary to popular belief, does not make a fat dog, a lazy dog, a dog who only works for food, or a dog that expects food all the time, if you do it right. Personally, I think it’s only fair to pay our dogs for a job well done. You don’t work for free, do you? I certainly don’t.
Happy training!
Smart Dogs Canine Training Milton 