Although this may seem like a no brainer, I find that most people make great mistakes on this topic. Let me address some points of proper feeding here.
** first off I will stress that any idiot who feeds a dog and then sticks his hand into the food bowl to test for dog aggression, deserves to be bit. When the food goes down, leave it down and don’t bother your dog.
One of the strongest drives for a dog is his food drive. In nature it is the quintessential drive that keeps him alive. Dogs eat in pack order, that means the alpha / leader eats first and when he is finished the rest of the pack eats. To properly mimic this I often teach people to eat before feeding their dogs. This will also help in begging at the table. If you never feed your dog from the table and feed him when you finish, he will, more than likely understand that his reward will be his food. Also, you may ask your dog to sit and wait while you put the bowl down and then give him an ok command to eat. Dogs are not permitted to jump up to the food bowl as it is put down. I’ll stress again here, do NOT put the bowl down and then pick it back up. You are doing something that is out of the nature of the dog and is very unfair to the dog.
Food stays down for 15 minutes whether or not the dog has eaten or finished the food. If he has not touched it, pick it up and put it back down at the next feeding. Once the dog walks away from the food, you may assume he is done.
I recommend feeding your dog 2-3 times a day. Feeding once a day is generally not a good habit and may lead to weight problems. Morning and evenings are best, morning, afternoons and evenings are best. Dogs do not eat before or during human meal times, dogs eat after human are done eating. Also, I do not allow dogs to beg at the table. If your dog begs at the table he has either not been trained or has been poorly trained. If a dog begs at the table he is ignored. If you start giving in you will forever have a poorly trained dog. Eat, then feed your dog. IF…. and this is a big if, your dog is perfectly trained, the dogs food may be put down once you start to eat. However, I would stress for the most part to avoid this unless you know 100% that your dog understands good behavior. Your dog will NOT see you as being mean or unfair if you eat in front of him and he has to wait. This is a human emotion and goes against every instinct in your dogs body. If you eat and your dog waits, he will be absolutely fine with it.
For feeding I recommend you research carefully what you will be feeding him. I don’t make any recommendations, but will tell you not to listen to the guy who works at the local pet store or the vet. Most of these people are getting bonuses or commissions on the foods they sell. Research and do your homework. I feed my dog raw food and “regular human food.” That is food I buy at the grocery store when I buy my food. There are some pet food companies taht make a decent kibble or RAW food, but nothing is as good as the food we buy for ourselves. Please read my article on RAW feeding. I also feed my dog natural raw marrow bones. I do NOT cook them, as when you cook them you change the structure and the bone can splinter and kill / choke your dog. Dogs in the wild do NOT cook their food and rarely die of a bone splinter.
If you give your dog treats, I recommend that you carefully research what it is you are feeding him. If it comes from someplace you don’t know, or includes ingredients that you don’t know, I would not feed it to my dog. You are your dogs only link to proper nutrition, take this responsibility seriously. Proper nutrition will be the best way to ensure your dogs health and longevity.