By eating meals before walks, your dog has a greater chance of an upset stomach or even "bloat", which is also called GDV. Generally speaking, whether you feed your dog before or after walks, ideally you should wait at least 30 minutes before or after the physical activity.
They advise that you should wait at least two hours after your dog has eaten a meal before walking them. That's because walking your dog straight after a meal can cause your dog to bloat, or even lead to gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV).
As a general rule of thumb, it's best to walk your dog first thing in the morning and then wait an hour or so before feeding, then again in the evening a couple of hours after their evening meal.
Morning. If your fur-baby is a puppy or older dog, you might want to schedule your walks first thing in the morning. Puppies have smaller bladders and need to stay on a strict potty schedule to maintain their potty training progress.
"While there is no best time, with most dogs that eat twice a day, it is best to feed them in the morning as soon as you get up and then again when you get home from work in the afternoon," says Dr. Sara Ochoa, veterinary consultant for doglab.com who practices in Texas.
Your dog should have a meal in the morning to break the evening fast and one in the evening shortly before bed. Feedings are anywhere from eight to twelve hours apart, which means if you feed your dog at 7 AM while you brew your coffee, you should feed your dog at 7 PM.
During the hot summer months, take your dog out before 8am or after 8pm when temperatures cool down. Offer them plenty of fresh water and choose shaded areas if you can.
Taking your dog out in the morning before breakfast is a good habit to have, especially during the summer, as temperatures at that time are still mild and there being no need to worry about sunstroke. The morning walk should last half-an-hour to an hour and should be the longest of the day.
Dogs need exercise, even when it's hot. We recommend walking your dog in the morning or evening when it's cooler to reduce the risk of heatstroke and burning their paws on the pavement.
Trying to train your dog when he has a full stomach is futile and at worse is downright dangerous. A dog running around with a tummy full of food is at risk of twisting a gut, a condition that can be fatal. That's why they are inclined to sleep after eating-dogs are not stupid.
7 am – 7:30 am
Wake up and go for a brisk walk with the opportunity to urinate and defecate. If you have 10 minutes for a little playtime, that would be great. Fetch or something interactive is a welcome game. Spend about 10 minutes of quality time just talking and petting your dog.
Feeding Schedule for Adult Dogs
Dogs are smart, so you'll notice that Fido will quickly catch on to when their mealtimes are and will expect you to stay consistent with those times. Adult dogs have a much simpler schedule since housetraining is no longer a concern. Here's an example: 8:00 a.m. – Breakfast (first meal)
Remember GDV usually occurs within the first two hours of eating, so make sure to leave at least thirty minutes after exercise before feeding your dog! Two smaller feeds are much better for your dog than one big meal.
That can be all at once, but most people break it up into two or three walks per day. There's no perfect formula to determine how long to walk your dog, but half an hour at a time is a good rule of thumb. Start with a gentle 30-minute walk in the morning, and another before dinner.
Generally, dogs need to relieve themselves 8–12 hours after digesting their previous meal. Dogs often (but not always) poop shortly after waking or roughly half an hour after eating. If you're feeding your dog two meals a day, they may defecate twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening.
Consider the Time of Day
These times typically have lower temperatures and a reduced risk of pavement burns. Avoid walking during the warmest hours, usually between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., as the pavement can become extremely hot and uncomfortable for your dog and their sensitive paws.
Temperatures above 24 degrees can be high-risk for dogs who are large, obese, flat-faced, or very young, while 28°C is dangerous for all, and potentially life-threatening for the aforementioned categories. Once you surpass 32°C, heat stroke is a major risk.
In Summer months, very early, 5:30am-7:30pm at the latest, before it gets too hot for them. Fall 7am-9am, the weather just makes you wanna go for a long walk. Winter, 8am-9am, Spring , 6am to 9am.
When it is too hot to walk your dog during the day, change your routine to go for a walk in the early morning or late evening, when it's cooler. The best times are usually before 8am and after 8pm, however there may be days where it is still too hot at these times, in which case, it is best not to go for a walk.
It is generally recommended that you wait at least 30 minutes to an hour after your dog has eaten before taking them out for a walk. This is so the food can be properly digested before physical activity begins.
If your dog won't eat in the morning but will eat later in the day, it could be due to many factors. It may be the bustle of a busy house in the mornings makes your dog anxious or simply that there's too much going to focus on food. Free-feeding is often a cause of dogs turning up their nose to their morning meal.
The most common feeding frequency is feeding your dog twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Dogs have a stomach structure that means they'll get hungry between 8-10 hours after their last meal, so a breakfast/dinner schedule is better than breakfast/lunch or lunch/dinner or feeding them once a day.
Adult dogs should poop one to three times a day, though puppies poop more often (up to five times a day or more), and senior dogs may poop once a day.