One of the thousand feeding questions

Question
Hey there.  I have a Sibe pup and she's 5months old.  I just noticed in your last reply you said a puppy will peak at about 6months of age for feeding.  I feed her similarly to you (super premium kibble and suppliment with some raw meat; usually beef, and sometimes a little teaspoon of some blended veggie/fruits).  

Anyway she definitely let's us know when she's hungry.  And we do typically feed her 3 times a day currently but there's times she definitely wants food more than we give her.  But I know it's easy to over feed a pup.  Should we just follow the recommended amount on the kibble bag or should we be feeding her when she's hungry at this age and generally decreasing it after 6months of age?

Answer
The recommendation on the bag is often too much, so I would suggest staying away from that.  Females are known for hording food, so you may have to regulate her too.  The best things to do are:

1) Make sure she's not gaining weight too fast (check for the ribs and waist line, etc)

2) Make sure she is gaining weight (5 month old pup should be seeing a relatively steady increase in weight)

3) Feed her whatever she'll eat in a few minutes

4) Don't feed her so much that her stools soften.

You can see that it really is a balancing act, but generally, if the dog is acting hungry, you might try increasing her food a little.  With that though, you still have to keep an eye on everything else.  The stools are good indicator.  While not uncommon for a puppy to occasionally have loose or soft stools, it shouldn't be consistent.  If it is, it's a sign that there is too much food in the digestive system and it's not being properly processed.

And yes, generally around 6 months you will start a slow decrease, but each dog is different, so just keep an eye on her weight, her overall size, how she eats, etc., and that will tell you the most.