availability of food bowl for the dog

Hi tarek and crazycrayonmom;

I don't want to recommend free feeding (leaving food all the time) not only for the health reason that crazycrayonmom explained but also from a training point of view:

If food is available to Rolf all the time, he would take it for granted and the value of food diminishes. This can affect his motivation to work hard to get rewards (treats) when you want to train him.

I would take the food away after 15-20 mins. He will be fine if he misses one or two meals. He will soon learn that he needs to eat whenever the food is offered and he will be looking forward to his next meal time.

I think dogs living in more structured life (i.e., meal times, walk times, training times, play times, etc.) will be more curious about their owner's routine and typically more alert to what their owner is going to do next. This will be very helpful to get your dog's attention.

Tarek,

I give my dogs an AM and PM feeding. Although Rolf is a good weight right now, I am glad to see you are taking him off the self-feeding plan; that can lead to overeating, if only when bored. If you do feed twice a day, find out how much he should be eating and give him half at each feeding.
Once you have Rolf used to eating at set times, you may have to adjust how much you feed him, depending on whether he changes weight or not.

kjd