The best time to feed your dog is consistently twice a day, morning and evening (e.g., 7-8 AM and 5-6 PM), spaced about 8-10 hours apart, aligning with your schedule for stability and digestion. Puppies need more frequent, smaller meals (3-4 times daily). Consistency is key for training and security, but the exact times can shift slightly based on your routine, avoiding late-night feedings for adults.
Dogs have a simple stomach anatomy, just like humans.
After 8 to 10 hours, an empty stomach begins to send signals to the brain that stimulate a hunger response. For this reason, at least two meals per day are best for your dog.
Most dogs take about 12 hours to digest their food, so by providing their evening meal around 8 or 9 pm, you can align their natural digestion process with your bedtime routine. This adjustment can greatly reduce the chances of accidents during the night!
Most experts recommend feeding adult dogs at least an hour or two before bedtime. This allows sufficient time for digestion and reduces the chances of your dog needing to go out in the middle of the night.
Let me introduce you to the 10 , 10, 10 rule of potty training. That's cycles of 10 minutes in the yard, 10 feet of potty area in the yard, 10 minutes of supervision. It all adds up to potty training with minimal errors, even for harder to train dogs who may be struggling with other methods.
Symptoms of Overfeeding Your Dog
The numbers stand for percentages referring to meat, organ and bony material. The diet is composed of 80% (usually by volume, but can be by weight) muscle meat. 10% organ meat, usually the solid organs like liver and kidney. 10% bone is then added for minerals, teeth cleaning and bulk.
Look at your dog if their waist is extremely exaggerated instead of a gradual slope your dog might be underfed. If you can see or feel the ribs and they don't seem to have any fat on them your dog is probably underfed. If your dog is losing patches of hair there may be an issue with the nutrition.
Feeding schedules impact nighttime toilet habits. Give dinner at least three hours before bed and remove their water bowl an hour before lights out.
Your puppy's last meal should be earlier in the evening. As a tiny puppy eating more frequently, their last evening meal should be around 7PM. As you switch to fewer meals a day, your pup should be eating at 5PM or 6PM at the latest.
While you eat breakfast, your dog should be eating, too. He or she needs that nutrition in the morning to provide energy throughout the day. As with humans, breakfast is the most important meal as it kick-starts the metabolism and fills up an empty stomach.
Dr. Kirk notes that dogs have been described as “bolt-feeders,” which means that they tend to wolf down their food so quickly that they bypass the signals that tell their body they've eaten enough.
Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs. It is estimated that 1 in 3 domestic dogs will develop cancer, which is the same incidence of cancer among humans. Dogs can develop a variety of cancers and most are very similar to those found in humans.
Young puppies require more frequent bathroom trips, as do some senior dogs . A healthy dog over the age of 9ish months should have no problem with 10pm as last and 8am as first.
The best dog food brands are those with research-backed formulas developed with veterinary nutritionists that meet AAFCO nutritional guidelines for dogs of different life stage and health needs. Top picks include Hill's Science Diet, Purina Pro Plan, and Royal Canin.
The Most Difficult Commands to Teach Dogs
A healthy adult dog can typically go 8 to 10 hours without urinating—but that doesn't mean they should. Holding it in for too long isn't ideal. In fact, consistently waiting that long can lead to discomfort and increase the risk of urinary tract issues.
As a rule of thumb, remove the food and water bowls about two to three hours before bedtime. So, if your lights-out time is at 11 p.m., a puppy should have no food or water after about 8 p.m. This gives you a chance to take them out for one last potty break before settling in for the night.