Weight and Diet

Question
Before I met my dog my sisters and mom had already gotten her on a habit of eating twice a day. My dog is a half corgie, half shar-pei mix. She is more corgie than sharpei, she has short legs, big ears, is very energetic at times, however she is overweight, and seems to constantly be in search of food (sniffing around the kitchen for crumbs). If we don't feed her at the time when she expects she becomes quite an annoyance, even after we feed her she will still act as if she hasn't been fed. There are times that out of confusion we have fed her in the morning twice, because we couldn't tell by her mannerisms whether or not she had eaten. My question is how can we adjust her diet so we can get her weight down without her nagging us for her scheduled feedings? Or so at least have her be satiated so she is not constantly searching for food.

Answer
Hi,
I am right in the middle of moving and am very pressed for time. Sorry I didn't get back to you soon. Could you please tell me WHAT you are feed your little Corgie mix and how many times a day you feed her? How much exercise does she get? Has she been vet checked? Most dogs are scavengers and will eat at any time but you seem concerned about this dog being hungry all of the time. She may or may not be. It may be a bad habit that was rewarded by food with your Mom...is that possible?

Feeding a dog twice a day IS GOOD. For an overweight dog three times is even better but two is fine. You simply give smaller amounts. Obviously you do not give full meals when you feel twice a day. It is much healthier for dogs to eat twice or three times a day by the way. Your dog could be bored too. Does someone play with her, keep her busy some of the time, take her for long walks? THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF OVERWEIGHT DOGS IS NOT MEALTIME BUT SNACKTIME. PEOPLE OVERLOAD THEIR DOGS WITH SNACKS AND TREATS AND SOMEHOW DO NOT COUNT THESE WHEN THEY TELL YOU HOW HOW MUCH THE DOG IS EATING!!! So cut out all snacks unless it it carrots or fruit or something like that.

I really would like to know what you are feeding her so I can respond in a bit more detail though. Give her chew toys inbetween, a kong filled with carrot bits or veggie bits etc. And also, remember that some dogs will always be on a food hunt..and if the owner continually believes that the dog is hungry and continues to throw snacks or food at the dog, then the dog has learned to search for crumbs etc. in the hopes that more food will come her way.

Let me know if this helped or not. Bye now, Sue