"KellyC" wrote in message
...
We have recently added a third dog to our family. Origianlly a 4 year old
lab (male), and a 9 year old shepherd mix(male), we have added a 10 week
old
lhasa poo (female). We start puppy school in 2 weeks, but I find myself a
little curious about her eating/potty habits. I dont want to have to break
a
bad habit in puppy school if I am on the wrong track. My lab and shepherd
are good eaters...They eat at the same time every day, and did so as
puppies, which made it easier to figure out when to take them out to
potty.
Zoe, our Lhasa Poo on the otherhand is a nibbler. In fact she will go grab
a
bite, and race back into the den, just to make sure she hasnt missed
anything before settling down to eat her food. So I am finding that its a
bit tougher to judge when to take her out to potty. This morning I took
her
food out of her crate when I left for work and will feed her at lunch time
and see if that helps...Am I in the right direction? Can I teach her to
eat
all her food at one time instead of nibbling.

Its probable that its a personality trait but you won't know for sure until
you give it a while longer. My Min. Dachshund waits by her bowl and hoovers
down her food as its coming from the scoop. My Boxer is a snacker/nibbler.
The *only* way to get her to eat all her food at one time is to drench it in
something irresistable like gravy. Otherwise she picks at it throughout the
day. I am not a free-feeder in general but had to adjust my ways to suit
her needs. If I took up the food after dinnertime, she'd literally go
without, same with the next day. Its really an individual trait rather than
an age or breed trait. A good rule of thumb for you right now, considering
that Zoe is a baby, is to just take her out within 30 minutes of eating,
once an hour otherwise until she's older and develops bowel & bladder
control.

--
Tara

"KellyC" wrote in message
...
We have recently added a third dog to our family. Origianlly a 4 year old
lab (male), and a 9 year old shepherd mix(male), we have added a 10 week
old
lhasa poo (female). We start puppy school in 2 weeks, but I find myself a
little curious about her eating/potty habits. I dont want to have to break
a
bad habit in puppy school if I am on the wrong track. My lab and shepherd
are good eaters...They eat at the same time every day, and did so as
puppies, which made it easier to figure out when to take them out to
potty.
Zoe, our Lhasa Poo on the otherhand is a nibbler. In fact she will go grab
a
bite, and race back into the den, just to make sure she hasnt missed
anything before settling down to eat her food. So I am finding that its a
bit tougher to judge when to take her out to potty. This morning I took
her
food out of her crate when I left for work and will feed her at lunch time
and see if that helps...Am I in the right direction? Can I teach her to
eat
all her food at one time instead of nibbling.

Its probable that its a personality trait but you won't know for sure until
you give it a while longer. My Min. Dachshund waits by her bowl and hoovers
down her food as its coming from the scoop. My Boxer is a snacker/nibbler.
The *only* way to get her to eat all her food at one time is to drench it in
something irresistable like gravy. Otherwise she picks at it throughout the
day. I am not a free-feeder in general but had to adjust my ways to suit
her needs. If I took up the food after dinnertime, she'd literally go
without, same with the next day. Its really an individual trait rather than
an age or breed trait. A good rule of thumb for you right now, considering
that Zoe is a baby, is to just take her out within 30 minutes of eating,
once an hour otherwise until she's older and develops bowel & bladder
control.

--
Tara

"KellyC" wrote in news:bh80mq$nie$1
@blackhelicopter.databasix.com:

Can I teach her to eat
all her food at one time instead of nibbling.


A bunch of people did an informal survey of this a while back. Check google
(advanced groups search) for the thread started with this message:Message-
ID:
I think it was called big vs little dogs.

Personally, Moogli is somewhere between a gobbler and a grazer, so I tend
to free-feed.

--
*******************************************
Marcel Beaudoin & Moogli

*******************************************
'90% of being smart is knowing what
you're dumb at.'
*******************************************

"KellyC" wrote in news:bh80mq$nie$1
@blackhelicopter.databasix.com:

Can I teach her to eat
all her food at one time instead of nibbling.


A bunch of people did an informal survey of this a while back. Check google
(advanced groups search) for the thread started with this message:Message-
ID:
I think it was called big vs little dogs.

Personally, Moogli is somewhere between a gobbler and a grazer, so I tend
to free-feed.

--
*******************************************
Marcel Beaudoin & Moogli

*******************************************
'90% of being smart is knowing what
you're dumb at.'
*******************************************

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003, KellyC wrote:

Can I teach her to eat all her food at one time instead of
nibbling.

yes, you can teach her to eat all her food at once. at
mealtimes, give her her ration of food. if she doesn't eat it
all in a reasonable amount of time (5-10 minutes), take the
remainder up. if you are consistent, she will soon get the
idea that she needs to eat her food when it's given to her.

i used to free-feed. when i switched my dogs to a more
nutritionally dense food, i decided to try set feedings so
that i could monitor how much each dog was eating and adjust
feeding amounts according to weight loss/gain. one of the
side benefits of set feedings is that you will know very
quickly when a dog is off its food. i like the peace of mind
i get, knowing that i have an extra tool to use in gaging my
dogs' health.

--
shelly (foul wench) and elliott and harriet
http://home.bluemarble.net/~scouvrette

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003, KellyC wrote:

Can I teach her to eat all her food at one time instead of
nibbling.

yes, you can teach her to eat all her food at once. at
mealtimes, give her her ration of food. if she doesn't eat it
all in a reasonable amount of time (5-10 minutes), take the
remainder up. if you are consistent, she will soon get the
idea that she needs to eat her food when it's given to her.

i used to free-feed. when i switched my dogs to a more
nutritionally dense food, i decided to try set feedings so
that i could monitor how much each dog was eating and adjust
feeding amounts according to weight loss/gain. one of the
side benefits of set feedings is that you will know very
quickly when a dog is off its food. i like the peace of mind
i get, knowing that i have an extra tool to use in gaging my
dogs' health.

--
shelly (foul wench) and elliott and harriet
http://home.bluemarble.net/~scouvrette