When to reduce number of meals?

[rachzilla]

Hello, my little Bertie is going to be 6months on the 26th of feb and I am wondering what age would everyone recommend reducing feeding to two meals a day and also when to move up from puppy formula kibble to an adult blend?

MIL who is always home with the dog when myself and OH are in work may be actually going back to work (after 2 years of being sat at home doing nothing) very soon and my hours in work are moving about, so no fixed shifts anymore, could be working 9-6 or 4 hour shifts each day and im worried about someone not being home to feed him at lunch and take him out etc.
So I thought finding out when people feel is best to change his schedule around would be a very good idea.

Due to go back to Wales to spend some time with my family in mid february for 2 weeks so if I am best to start changing it around soon, would it be wise to start doing it before going away as his routine will be messed up anyway or waiting till we get there?

[gimpydimp]

We went to 2 meals at 6 months but didn't go to adult food until a year, unless we had a ravenous fatty pug. They are pretty well grown at 9 months but need to fill out quite a bit and that can take until 18mos to 2 years in our experience. However, "filling out" is done on adult food.

[Hellas]

It usually says on the bag at what age the maker recommends switching to adult food.

We didn't go to 2 meals until 8 months, but I'm sure it's ok to do it at 6 months. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Personally, I would never recommend leaving any dog alone for an entire 8 hour work day. At best, the dog is bored. At worst, it can cause anxiety and all sorts of behaviour problems, such as indoor peeing, barking and destructive behaviour. I'd arrange for some doggie daycare if I were you (depending on what happens with your work schedule of course). At the very least, you'll need somebody to take him out to pee and poop at noon.

[rachzilla]

There would be someone home by about 3, but as OH & his sister work shifts then there is a chance that most days he wouldnt be left at all, but would rather be prepared for it than drop it on him at the last minute! Would rather try and build him up slowly so that he won't be too upset about being left on his own for a few hours for if we do need to leave him. Hopefully in april when work starts a new year I can try and just work mornings (being in management I do have to be flexible but I can at least attempt to stay on them until holiday needs covering...)

The bag said at a year but I have had a few people with different breeds say they have switched earlier but I honesty can't remember the reasons why.
Should I also be looking at dropping lunchtime down slowly, taking out maybe 10g and giving him an extra 5 with breakfast and tea and just slowly decrease how much he is being fed at lunch until theres nothing or is it best to just completely drop it and split it evenly between his two meals?

[Snifter]

I switched to adult kibble at about 6 months and went to 2 meals a day at that point. No gradual reduction of lunch size.

[Hellas]

There would be someone home by about 3, but as OH & his sister work shifts then there is a chance that most days he wouldnt be left at all, but would rather be prepared for it than drop it on him at the last minute! Would rather try and build him up slowly so that he won't be too upset about being left on his own for a few hours for if we do need to leave him. Hopefully in april when work starts a new year I can try and just work mornings (being in management I do have to be flexible but I can at least attempt to stay on them until holiday needs covering...)

The bag said at a year but I have had a few people with different breeds say they have switched earlier but I honesty can't remember the reasons why.
Should I also be looking at dropping lunchtime down slowly, taking out maybe 10g and giving him an extra 5 with breakfast and tea and just slowly decrease how much he is being fed at lunch until theres nothing or is it best to just completely drop it and split it evenly between his two meals?

That sounds great! I completely agree that gradually training the pup to be alone is the thing to do. Is he already used to being alone at all? We did it very slowly and it seems to have worked. Our dogs don't neccessarily enjoy being alone but they don't have a problem with it either. We started by gating some areas in the house where the dog couldn't go. That meant that he was sometimes left in a room but could hear us. We went in and out of the room where he was, very casually, so often that he stopped paying much attention to it. Gradually, we'd leave the house for very short periods of time - just a few minutes to start with. No fuss when leaving and no big greeting ceremony upon returning. I felt that was key, just going in and out the door perhaps 10-20 times in an hour, without making a big deal about it. That way, it didn't become a great thing in the dog's mind.

I'd probably go with the recommendation on the bag, or at least wait until the puppy is about 10 months. He's still growing a lot and growing pups have different nutritional needs than adult dogs.

We just went directly from 3 meals in a day to 2, but I see nothing wrong in doing as you suggest and switch him over gradually to 2 meals. Perhaps it's easier for him to gradually eat more morning and night, rather then just getting a bigger portion suddenly.

[rachzilla]

Thanks :) He isn't really used to being alone as there has literally always been someone at home since we got him in november. At the moment he has a crate with a pen attached to it in the dining room which he goes in at night, dining room and living room are attached but I wouldnt be happy leaving him in that if we were out for a few hours so we are planning to gut the dining room (as we never use it) and just let him have the room to use instead if he is going to be left for more than say an hour.
He is pretty bad for scratching the carpet and trying to chew on everything in sight so we couldnt just leave him in the living room as there is far too much chaos he could cause.
Definitely going to start leaving him soon, think the most he has been left alone for is maybe 15 minutes and he was not happy about it (but luckily very happy to see me when I came back) so will probably try and get everyone to leave the house for maybe 20 minutes tomorrow, and up it by 5 minutes a day.

So Hellas you would recommend leaving him for a little while a few times a day then?



That was him taking the OH for a walk with lots of other doggies earlier today :)