Bella is now 5 1/2 months old, and I am wondering when
to stop the mid day meal. Cant remember what I did with
my other dogs............. thanks !

Luna is the 4th puppy we've had in our lives. We typically plan to cut out the mid-day meal (going down to a breakfast and dinner) at 6 months. Our past 3 dogs showed less interest in the 2nd meal of the day on their own somewhere around that general time frame. So, we just started giving less mid-day (adding more to breakfast and dinner) until the change over was made over the course of a week. However Luna, our 1st lab, is such a chow hound that I doubt she will voluntarily give up the mid-day meal. She is 14 weeks old right now. We'll probably have to be the ones to make the change happen.

Cara was about six months. Bella had never been given 3 meals, so we just kept her on two when we adopted her.

You should be fine doing this now. I know many people suggest to wait until the pup looses interest in the midday meal, but I don't think any of mine ever did. If you could ask them, I am certain they would always reply that they are starving, regardless of when they last ate! ;)

If it makes you feel better, wean the pup from the midday meal as was previously suggested.

I have never really fed 3 meals, except to two different litters of rescue pups I had. However they were only 4 and 5 weeks old when I took them in..When I got Emmi and buster they were both about 8 weeks old, and they were started off with 2 meals a day. They were then switched to RAW..I did start my GSD pup off with 3 meals, but within maybe 3 weeks he was down to 2 x a day..

Jen

I wean off the mid day meal at around 6 months when I switch to adult food.

Toby was fed twice a day starting at 6 months old. He also was switched to adult food at the same time.

Sam is 5 months old and still on 3x per day. I think that, when I try to wean him off that third meal, he'll attempt to dial the phone to report me to the Humane Society. He just LOVES food.

I kept reading that the pup will lose interest in the midday meal. Well cooper never has. So in fact he still gets 3 meals a day. And his internal body clock only works for the midday meal. he can have breakfast or dinner at any time but lunch he asks for within a half hour of the same time every day.

It's funny how you forget. When we got Grace 2 years ago, I couldn't remember a thing...how to train, when to get rid of that middle meal...

We weaned her off it around 5 months....

I keep mine on three meals a day. It keeps them from being so hungry and I think it's easier on their digestive system.

thanks all !

My boys are 5 and 6 years old and I still feed 3 meals a day. They act like they are dying about an hour before each of their 3 meals so it would just be mean to not let them have the one in the middle. Plus they would drive me crazy begging for it.