Making Sure Your Dog Gets His Food When Eating Outside

While my dogs are all "indoor dogs," they do love to be outside to sniff, run around, chase each other, lay in the sun, and do other doggie outdoorsy things. Sometimes, they will want to spend the entire day out of the house, and not even a treat can entice them to come in. When this happens, we end up just putting their food out with them, so they can eat and continue on playing. I haven't ever given thought to how we put their food outside until I recently received one of those cute email chains. The email started off touting the two greatest qualities in life as patience and wisdom and ended with this cute picture of a skunk eating dog food out of a poor dog's bowl. It was just one of those things that makes you laugh when you put the words with the image. However, after laughing, I realized the poor dog wouldn't need patience and wisdom if his owner didn't put out a regular dog bowl for his dinner! That thought trailed to my wondering how much my pups get to eat when we put their food outside, and that's where this blog post begins.

For a dog who eats outdoors, there is a lot of competition for that one bowl of food. I know my pup nibbles and grazes all day long when he is inside. He can self-regulate, so we leave his food out for him all the time. However, I bet that nibbling behavior changes when his food is placed outside. If he were to nibble a bite, go run around the house,  and come back expecting to grab another piece to go, he would be in for a shock. If I were to put his food out way before he was ready to eat, he would be in for a big disappointment when his tummy growled. Between squirrels, birds, deer, even outdoor cats, and other animals, his food would be gone the minute his tail disappeared around the corner of the house or I shut the door. He must either gulp everything down quickly or else wait to go inside for more food.  He's pretty lucky, since he has the option to be fed again. What happens if a dog is fed outdoors without the option of coming in to get more?

I was not the only one to have this thought, because there are a few products on the market that address the issue of your dog getting his food in a timely manner, no pun intended. Electronic portion control feeders or automatic timed feeders are the solution to any dog feeding problems you might find. These products weren't made just for the outdoors - they address any time that you need to feed your dog but  your dog isn't ready to eat or you may be away when he's ready to eat. For outdoor use, it's a great gadget because you can put your dog's food outside, and your dog can either hear the food dispensing or else get to know what time of day his food is available. For indoor use, you can fill your dog's bowl in the morning before work and have the food become available at the time your dog should eat. It's especially useful if your dog's time to eat is before you can get home. Another great application is if people are pet-sitting for you - they just need to make sure the auto feeder is full, and the feeder will keep your dog on his eating schedule. Since not all dogs can self-regulate their eating, auto feeders are a great option for providing the right amount of food at the right time.

PetSolutions has two great options, the PetSafe 2 Meal Pet Feeder, which allows your dog to have two meals within a 48 hour period, and the Electronic Portion Control LeBistro Feeder (pictured above), which dispenses food up to 3 times per day. Both options make sure your pup has a chance to eat his food outside, since his food is in a sealed container until the scheduled dispensing time. Did I mention these are both great feeding options if you happen to own cats, too?

So, if you are trying to figure out how to make sure your dog gets to eat his food when he is outside, or if you need to feed your dog when you aren't able to be around, hopefully these two handy products will solve your problems. While these automatic feeders won't cure my habitual nibbler, they will at least give the pup a chance to eat his food before the squirrels or skunks come around!