Not wanting to hijack another thread, but one has got me thinking.

What feeding routine or ritual do you have with your dogs?  (if any) 

With ours, they have to sit by the front porch door in the living room and WAIT while I put their food bowls down.   Then I go to them and they are 'released' one by one to run through the living room for their dinner in the kitchen.  They used to all run together, but since having the pup it got too noisy and exiting (bedlam actually ;) ) so I've introduced the one at a time approach.  Each day they go in a different order ;)   the pup has joined in with this of her own accord - I used to hold her until the others had gone- and also WAITS her turn - Bless! 

Not one of them ever goes to the wrong bowl - they all have a particular one in the same place ;) 

As I've kept pup on 3 meals so far, she has to sit and wait nicely for her brekkie and supper or if it's bad weather she gets her meal in a treat ball to give her something to do.  If the weather's  really bad and they won't go out, they all get food in the treat ball one at a time.  

All this makes dinner a very exciting time in our house LOL   Visitors think we're bonkers :-D :-D

What do you do?

Our routine is very simple. The food is put in the bowls with the dogs atsnding waiting. Then Beattie's bowl is put down by the larder door. At this point Piglet dashes to the utility room while Harry walks beside me to where I put his bowl down, then I carry on and put Piglet's bowl down by him and shut the door so that he can eat in peace and not have to race. When they've all finished they all check each other's bowls for leftovers (as if!) then go outin the garden for a wee.

The dinner queue starts forming around 4pm with the greedy one always in poll position....then they usually get into 'greediness' order. Dinner at 5pm.
My 'non-eater' goes of to sleep on the sofa with his face pointing the other way as he can't bear to watch them eat.
I always say " Dude (greediest) step forward" and food is put in front of Dude repeated with each one stepping forward to get theirs. No swapping allowed and only Miss greedy-guts checks all the bowls at the end.
The cavs then usually skoot their faces along the carpet at 30mph to clean their chops, which incidently, many claim is a symptom of Syringomyelia, luckily mine have their certificates!
Then it's siesta time.
Pups have breakfast at 7am alone, 'Podge' separated from the other for obvious reasons!

Mine are not fed at set times but roughly around the same time morning and evening.  They are fed in any room away from the greedy Leo pup (my sisters) as she steals all the other dogs food lol.  The Rottie and Staffie eat in the same place, they sit and wait while the bowls are put down and then when told they go and eat....although they are fed raw so it sometimes gets dragged around.  Loki my Akita eats in a room by herself as she is just a tad food possessive and she also takes ages to eat her meals.

The 7 big dogs are fed in the kitchen, each have their own spot. Each bowl is put in front of the dogs, always in the same order, not a word spoken, but the dogs sit and wait. When all the bowls are down I wait a few seconds then say "okay" and everyone stats eating. They are then let outside, and much the same routine is repeated with the little dogs but in the hall. At the moment the two pups I have are fed in the utility room as they can't be trusted to not steal everyone else's food yet, as all the adults just step away and let them.

Oh dear, guess who has who wrapped around their paws.  Mine tell me when it is dinner time by either giving me the hypnotic stare or the paw on the knee :-(  They won't finish it all in one go as it is a dry kibble, but they certainly don't leave it lying for long - they get fed 2 times a day in the Utility room (which is more of a cupboard actually).

Summers bowl is placed just inside the stables door, well away from Ollie.. Ollie has his by the kitchen door

Wish, Emma, Tia, McGhie and Beanie are in the utillity room.. bowls go down in that order, gobble their own food and then go around each one to check for leftovers (like JG's house.. as if!)  Hunter, Wallace and McKenzie are fed in the shed , which has just recently been enclosed as a run (began this when girls came into season to keep boys seperate, and it worked well ,, so continued)

Brogue (19weeks) and Nora (13weeks) are both fed in their crates

8am and 5pm give or take.  These are quiet times in our house so less distractions for the dogs.  My youngest boy waits patiently for the kids to leave for the bus as that's his cue for for breakfast :)

The dogs will usually sit and wait, or stand and watch, whilst dinner is served then assume positions for feeding - same places every time.  They eat in the utility room next to their beds.

One will stand and wait, the other sits and waits until released.  Neither will start until I say so.

When the puppy arrived I would stay in the room and open one of the crate doors to create a barrier between feeding places.   Over time I realised that this was no longer needed but I tend to stay around to check all is ok.  At breakfast time it's a good opportunity to load the dishwasher without them shoving their heads in to inspect the plumbing!!

My lot are fed around 7.30am, and 4pm, the Danes and the Rottie are fed outside on there stands, and the terriers are fed in the kitchen, they all wait till they get a command to start, my Rottie usually starts dancing about while I'm making the feeds up, then after 2 second there finnished and having a pee!!

Mine are fed around 6:30am and 5:00pm but the evening feed depends on whether it is an agility or obedience evening and then time changes to 4:00pm.

Both dogs sit and drool whilst I am putting the food into the bowls, move into their rightful positions when I pick the bowls up, sit and stare whilst the bowls are put down in their individual places and then go to their food when told. Neither dog will touch the other's food without permission, Harley teleports his food so is always finished first so he then stands back from his bowl waiting to see if Cooper wants to eat all his food that day. If Cooper leaves any food Harley will finish it if I have given him permission to do so - could be waiting for 15 minutes whilst Coops makes up his mind. Cooper always has to wipe his muzzle on the back door mat once he has finished eating and then both dogs will check each other's bowls and then go out into the garden to see if the fox has left any "pudding" for them.

Unritualistic around here. Breakfast is anytime between 6:30 and 10:30 but is around 10 most days. Dinner between 5:30-7 but usually around 6:30. Dogs stand in the kitchen quietly waiting for grub - if I'm a bit slow I get an indoor jacuzzi from drool-boy. Milo's bowl goes down first, sometimes there's a subtle little tap dance with the front paws. Caoimhe's bowl is further down the kitchen so goes down second. Both dogs are very polite, no jumping, pushing barking or competition so I don't make them wait. Caoimhe is old enough now that I just walk out and leave them to it. When she was a pup I had to play piggy in the middle or she would have eaten all of Milo's food (he is capable of growling, I've heard him in his sleep - but has never growled at a dog when awake). Milo finishes and if I'm still in the kitchen cooking our dinner often comes to say thanks, goes back to licking his bowl and hopes it somehow refills itself. Otherwise he wanders out. Greedy guts attempts to take a mm or two of the stainless steel off the bottom of the pan before she finally gives in and admits defeat - her magic bowl didn't refill itself either.

Now fox poo for pudding! Dogs will be right over harley. :)

I've only got the one dog now, Buster gets 2 meals a day, 10am and 9 pm  (ish) .

He'll appear in the kitchen as he hears me getting his food ready, he'll lay waiting while his kibble soaks & the tripe defrosts, when it's ready he sits & waits while the bowl is placed down & he'll eat once I've said 'go on'.
Sometomes I get him to do a few tricks before his bowl gets put down, especially if I'm teaching him a new trick - as he's always extra eager to get it right if it's a whole meal for the reward :)
After he's stuffed his face, he has a drink, gets his face wiped (covered in slobber & food!) and out in the garden for the loo.

It's really interesting how many of you also have some kind of work for dinner - even just sitting quietly can be difficult to do if a youngster is excited about dinner :-D

I'd forgotten about the cleaning of the food bowls :-D  each bowl when finished with is checked by the other dogs, they can dream :-D  youngest is also very thorough in shining them up for the next meal :-D

Main Dinner time between 6pm and 8 pm quite random as my first Bedlington used to have a set time and became quite demanding about it, trying to get us to give it earlier and earlier ;)  Pups brekkie between 8am and 10am and last meal between 10-12pm :-D  the others get a piece of cheese or a biccy then.

One thing that fascinates me is that any food scraps put in the bowls between meals can be eaten by any dog without any growling, sometimes two dogs to a bowl   This never happens with DINNER! 

No barking allowed, anydog who barks (middle one usually) has to wait till last ;) otherwise it really would be bedlam, for such a small dog they have very loud barks :-D

Okay, here is our "ritual".

Morning;  6.30am Nellie gets her coat on and goes to work in car with hubby.  Anywhere between 8am and 12pm, hubby will put a handful of top quality complete dry biscuits in her bowl for her in the greenhouse, which she will a) studiously ignore, b) take a couple and then studiously ignore, or c) ignore altogether and vacate the greenhouse for one of 4 other dogs to come and eat them for her.

Lunchtime; Sometime between 12pm - 4pm Nellie will strut up to the main house on the estate and bat her long eyelashes at the housekeeper/chauffeur/chef etc, who invite her in and give her Schmackos and fresh chicken treats.  Usually without hubby's knowledge.

Evening; 5.35pm Nellie arrives home, has her coat removed, jumps all over me with delight then collapses exhausted into her bed.  I put a scoop of her food into her bowl and warm it with a little water, placing it on its usual spot on the hearth to tempt her from her bed with delicious smells.  After an hour or so, she will languidly roll out of bed, sniff the bowl, look at us in disgust and go back to bed.

There.  :)

My 3 are fed twice a day and I try to feed them at the same time every day. They are fed in the utility room where they sleep - they all stand watching with their tails wagging as I measure out the different quantities of food (I have 3 dogs of different sizes!) I always feed them in the same order - Samoui the Mal first, Megan the Samoyed second and Gypsy the cavalier third.

We call it "din dins" in our household - the very mention of the word brings great excitement !! :-D 

If you ask Rory "are you hungry?", I am sure he sucks everything in to make himself look starved lol!

tio has to sit and wait then i put down his bowl, i get him to pay attention to me then he gets to eat his dinner.

8AM and 5PM for my girls

molly and emma wait quietly for their brekkie to arrive...emma very gently eats hers taking her time by the sink unit.

molly spins 2 circles when i put hers down and eats it like its her last meal,then carries her bowl into the other room with her tail up..
she is very obsessive with food,so dont allow her to go near emma while feeding.

Then 5pm we do it all again.

> If you ask Rory "are you hungry?", I am sure he sucks everything in to make himself look starved lol!

Still laughing!

We say "Any body fancy some dinner?" and they run like crazy and go and sit by their bowls.

If I should forget to ask, then Dallie sits with his chin on the edge of his bowl sighing. Pointer licks in, around and under his bowl, he bangs it a bit, and then he brings it to me. I feed the cats first and the boys sit and wait until I say "Ok dinner time then" and they go for it... They always have to check each others bowls out after  just in case the other has  left any...as if !!!!

If for any reason Mr P thinks he has not got enough he sits and glares at me until I add one more kibble !!!!

Our feeding ritual always starts with us saying the words 'who wants breakfast/tea?' and they reply with their husky howling and running to their bowls. Whilst putting the food in their bowls they sit at our feet then they get the command 'bed' and they both run off to sit on their beds (Zak is so excited he twirls in circles on the way to his bed!). They know they can only start eating when they hear the command 'get it' and once theyve finished they check out each others bowls just incase the other has left any (they never do!) and then both run out into the garden for a wee. :)

Our routine is simple ... they're fed morning and night (no definite time as my daily routine can't match an exact time day in and day out and I do not want a dog telling me, if I'm home, at 5pm it's time for dinner) and they all go to their cage and wait for bowl to be popped in.  They have their own cage and they've just got into the habit of that's where they're fed, so as soon as food bowls start being clanked around they rush off and wait patiently inside their own cages, saying "hurry up, we're ready for our nosh", well, that's what I imagine they're saying.  I don't make them sit, wait, do any tricks ... I wouldn't appreciate it if I had to do that before being given my grub, so I don't make them do it!  They're fed in age order, oldest first, that's not necessarily their pecking order though.

Twice a day in our house. Morning about 10.30 after a walk and tea about 7pm after we have eaten. They all get fed in the conservatory on thier box's. I have a worktop in there and they sit next to thier box's waiting patientlly. I always walk with my friend in the mornings and we come home and have breakfast together, as soon as we have finished they start looking for breakfst. At night as soon as I get up to put the dishes in the kitchen they gather round to see what scraps may be drifting into their bowls...lots of yummy veg they hope. they are not food possesive and can be left to get on with it, not that it takes them long!!! Pepsi is always convinced I have short changed her though. Then they go round and round cleaning each others dishes till not a trace of DNA is left ;-);-);-).

Mine get fed twice a day, about 8.00am and around 7.00pm although it's not a strict routine. They all have to wait at the kitchen door whilst the food is put out and all the bowls are in a row from the smallest to the largest.  I tell them when it's ok to come in which usually causes some sort of stampede and everyone knows their own position.

My Dobe is like a 3 second hoover and sucks her food up without pause for breath, the 2 pugs are like pigs in troughs and my chows chew with dignity.  There is never any arguing and one chow and one pug check all the bowls afterwards, several times, until I shoo them out so I can cook my own tea.

twice day here from 7 to 8 am then 7 pm

I have 5 dogs which get fed after their morning walking walk around 9.30 - 10am. usually give them 15 mins before feeding to clean their paws (one of mine wont eat unless she's had a breather from the walk first). They are quiet expcept one who continuously barks and only stops for a few seconds if i look cross and say 'quiet'. All the bowls get put down in a certain order and the 'barker gets hers last as she eats it in seconds. All fed together in the utility room where they sleep. I do have to hang around otherwise greedy will eat anything thats left and her wasitline cant afford it!!!

Evening meal is 6.30 and starts with 'who wants their dinner' miss barky has already let me know what the time is. The poor eater will then pretend to be asleep at the other end of the kitchen and slowly mooches over when the bowl goes down.

after both meals my terriers rub and wipe thier beards on what ever they can find - normally my slippers if i'm in the kitchen!

My boys get breakfast anytime between 6.30 -9am and dinner between 4.30-7pm.  Both of them follow me around the kitchen until I start to put their food in their bowls, then one goes over to the fridge where he gets fed, immediatley the other runs to the utility door where he eats.  They both check to see if either has left anything and then run outside.

If I am a little late with their food I have a very vocal golden who will give low groaning barks increasing into loud quick yaps -until I remember :)

Hi
Our 11 month old mini Dachshund still has 3 small meals a day rather than 2 larger ones,
as he will gulp down everything even if it makes him sick.
Are we likely to cause any problems by doing this.
Any advice would be appreciated as this is our first dog and we are feeling our way.

hey if it suits you then it should be ok. as long as hes getting his full daily food ration split into the three meals.
only thing that would put me off is the fact that shouldnt exercise for an hour before or 2 hours after feeding to reduce the risk of bloat, dachshund is the small breed it is apparently most prevelant in, so it restricts a lot of your day. i moved my boy to two meals a day at about 7 months.
you could maybe try feeding him out of a kong or similar to slow him down, i still do this with my boy who is a year old for his breakfast, gives me time to get ready for work and keeps him occupied.

> shouldnt exercise for an hour before or 2 hours after feeding to reduce the risk of bloat

I thought it was no feeding 1 hour before, or 1 hour after exercise?

it varies i think, depends on how strenous the exercise. my boy is a total nutter off lead, charges around at full speed, jumps around, rolls in mud etc so i like to err on the side of caution and wait 2 hours before taking him out. if its a walk on lead or similar an hour is fine.

> it varies i think, depends on how strenous the exercise

that makes sense :)
I stick to the 1 hour as my dog doesn't no the meaning of the word 'strenuous', LOL.

awww bless. wish my boy was a bit more like that. when i let him off lead hes like a rocket! just starts running, regardless of where we are (hence never near a road!) then stops, looks around, and charges off again.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/31164799@N02/3036289542/   this is 30 seconds off lead lol. no wonder hes always knackered in the house.