[DukesMom]

My dog Duke is a 7 y.o. Great Dane mix whom I have always free-fed. He regulates himself and only eats when he is hungry. I know...I suppose this isn't the ideal option, but it works for him. He gets regular walks, is very healthy and active, goes to daycare 1x/week and is a perfect weight.

He is currently alternating between California Natural Lamb/Rice and the Sweet Potato/Herring dry kibble.

Problem is this: I recently combined households and we now live with another dog, Coco, who is a purebred Chocolate Lab. Coco WAY overeats and I can see that free-feeding him is not an option.

I really want to try placing Duke and Coco on one of the grain-free foods like EVO or Orijens...but at the rate Coco is eating, he will literally eat me out of house and home! He is not officially overweight...yet...but any more pounds added and he will soon qualify as chubby.

Does anyone have experience turning a "free eater" into a "2x per day eater"? Also, if I put them both on a "weight maintenance" diet, will Duke still be getting all of the fats and nutrition he needs?

Thanks much!

[ZerotheHero3]

Originally Posted by DukesMom

Does anyone have experience turning a "free eater" into a "2x per day eater"?

Put the bowl down for 15 minutes then take it up. Even if they don't eat at first. Don't worry, dogs can go days without eating. Do this once in the morning and once at night. It shouldn't take more than a few days for them to realize that they must eat it when you put it down otherwise your taking it away. Good luck!

[AmStaffsMum]

When I was feeding kibble, and I only had two dogs...wow...that seems so long ago! I fed them both free....they were both very active and did well with it. But, similar situation, I brought in a new dog who was food aggressive (with other dogs), so we switched to feeding in crates, twice a day. The new dog did fine with it, but the original two took about a week to adjust. I'd give them their food, wait about 20 min and take it out....sometimes they'd eat, and sometimes they wouldn't. But by the end of the week, they were fine with the change.

[Labsnothers]

Yeah, the 15 minute thing may work as well as anything. Labs and Great Danes typically are on the opposite ends of eating habits.

I think I would feed just a regular food to both. Likely the Great Dane will need all he will eat and the Lab will need careful monitoring of his body condition.