# How much do your dogs eat?



## mama24 (Jun 14, 2013)

I got a 1.5 year old Karakachan great Pyrenees mix earlier this week. He's a big baby and I love him, but I'm a little worried that he isn't eating. I try to feed him twice a day, but he eats a few bites and lets the goats or chickens finish the rest. I started adding goat milk or canned dog food to at least discourage the stupid goats, but nothing deters the chickens. How much should he be eating? I'm not sure how much he weighs. Somewhere around 100 lbs, maybe a little less would be my guess. I don't think he's eaten more than 1-2 cups of dog food in a day since we got him. He's still a little unsure, but getting comfortable. I can already tell he loves me and my children and today, he came to visit with us when we went out in the pasture, but after a few minutes went on to find a shady spot where he could watch the people and the goats both. He's a good one.


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## Fluffygal (Jun 14, 2013)

My Pyrenees puppy gets 1 cup of Puppy Chow in the morning before I go to work and she gets 1 cup in the evening. She just turned 10 weeks. 
What ever she does not eat is given to the chickies.  This is maybe a bite left cus she pretty much cleans up. 

Mine is still growing so I expect to adjust her amount as needed. I go by the 30 minute rule, which is they will normally eat their fill in 30 mins after that the extra food is just that extra that they did not need. I like spliting up the feeding times. If I was home I would divide her feedings into 3 meals until she was a bit older as puppies need their nutrition for growing.


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## Southern by choice (Jun 14, 2013)

Mature LGD's do not usually eat a lot of food and often skip days. Much like their ancestors. Dogs at one time ate only what they could catch so they didn't eat everyday. We are in NC, in the heat our dogs eat far less than they do in winter. They do not need the fat and to put on weight. Summer, dogs naturally get thinner because of the reduced feed intake. 

LGD's are a strange group... I have heard of some people whose dogs woof down their food, that really is the exception. Many LGD's will eat what they want and then walk away. Goats and chickens seem to like kibble and will often finish off the food. Other LGD's are highly possessive of food. 

Since your new boy is still adjusting it may take a few days to figure out his feed.

We feed kibble and raw diet. Our raw consists of chicken, turkey, goat, deer. Whatever we have excess of. They do not get raw everyday... more like they would in the wild... every few days, with kibble everyday. My 130 lb 1.5 yr pyr is only eating 3 cups a day right now with the heat. My F pyr didn't even eat her raw chicken the other night, neither did our GSD or farmdog.

I can tell they will eat a lot in the morning though, as tonight there is great activity out there. Lots of barking and going nuts. All 4 lgd's , the GSD, and the farmdog are going nuts tonight. They will use alot of energy and the temps will go down to 59, cool. They will be hungry. We have fresh slaughtered chicken for them. WOOHOO!


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## woodsie (Jun 14, 2013)

My female is Pyr is probably around 85-90 lbs and eats about 2-3 cups a day but in the heat they really slow down and then the appetite decreases too. She is fairly active because she is goofing around with my male Pyr but I can see her only eating 2 cups a day if she was by herself and lounging around the pasture. The stress of a new home also would make a difference and decrease appetite...my male Pyr refused to eat when I put his buddy in the other pen, started eating again as soon as I reunited the two lovebirds. You will also probably find he will eat more in the cooler weather.

Give him a week or two to settle in and adjust before getting too concerned. I would just make sure he isn't losing too much weight or going off food altogether.

Oh and where's the pics? You know we need to see pics of all new LGD additions...well, pretty much any new additions.


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## mama24 (Jun 15, 2013)

Thanks! You've made me feel much better! I'll post pics as soon as I get on t the computer. Can't do it from my phone. I have to fight a pack of wolves to get computer access these days. Lol


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## Southern by choice (Jun 15, 2013)

Oh Boy do I get that... we wait in line! 

I just saw you are in the Piedmont Region. Me too! 

Don't you have Kiko's?


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## mama24 (Jun 15, 2013)

Yes! My does are dairy mixes, except for 1 75% Kiko. I take my girls except for her to get bred by my friend's Kiko buck every fall. Kikos are pretty awesome.  I'm just outside of Greensboro near Pleasant Garden.


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## mama24 (Jun 16, 2013)




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## Southern by choice (Jun 16, 2013)

you aren't to far from us! 

.... hate to bring this up... but you did promise us pics. 

could tell you had human kids... yes it says so in your signature, but the Momo kitty gave it away completely!


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## Southern by choice (Jun 16, 2013)

Ha. You were putting up the pics while I was posting!

He looks great!!!!!!!!!!

Love that face! teeth are gorgeous!

What on earth was he snarling about?


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## mama24 (Jun 16, 2013)

We must have been posting at the same time! Where are you from originally? (I assume you're not from here by your username) I'm from the mountains in SW PA. Just outside of Johnstown.


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## mama24 (Jun 16, 2013)

He's not snarling! That's what he does when he gets excited! He wags his tail like crazy, does a little dance and has that big scary grin the whole time! I have a good friend here who has a purebred Karakachan about the same age, and he does the same thing, so I was thankfully used to the snarl-like grin before I got him. It would have terrified me otherwise! Rofl. He's still a big puppy, so he gets really excited when the people come to see him and wants to play for a few minutes.


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## mama24 (Jun 16, 2013)

Here's my husband's St Francis picture. lol


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## Pearce Pastures (Jun 16, 2013)

LOL, my dog does that too.  Scares the heck out of strangers for sure but we know she is just smiling.


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## Southern by choice (Jun 16, 2013)

So funny! "D" doesn't do that... he squints his eyes, smiles, and shrivles up his nose.
Badger is all about the tail. Callie always looks "happy"
Amy.. in the lap... strangers... take your dog's smile... but hers isn't a smile.... she is snarling 

I'll pm ya...


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## bcnewe2 (Jun 16, 2013)

OMG does that bring back memories! I had a full pyr down in AR, he used to smile like that to everyone he met. To bad hardly anyone but us knew it was a smile!  
I once took a new born lamb away from him that he stole from momma (yes she had to then be a bottle baby) and he had one side of his mouth actually snarling and the other side was smiling. One confused dog at that moment!

I just love these dogs! It's something so deep it's hard to express except to say love which doesn't even start to cover the feelings they evoke!

Forgot to add that my 7 month old Anatolian eats about 3 1/2 cups a day give or take. If I add more she doesn't eat it, if I add less she wants more!  But she's not a food hound at the moment!  She always checks the grain out too.  nibbling a bit but not lots.


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## Southern by choice (Jun 16, 2013)

Forgot to add, my LGD's do eat the hay..with the goats, and pinebark and pinecones.... like the goats. 

BCnewe- I so get you... these dogs are just something incredibly special. I simply enjoy everything about them.


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## secuono (Jun 16, 2013)

Mine's a year and a couple months, eats 2 liter soda bottle full a day, she could and probably should eat more than that though. She's thin, small, not what I was expecting from what I've read what her 2 breeds grow to. Oh well.


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## Stubbornhillfarm (Jun 17, 2013)

Our Karakachan X Great Pyrenese 14 months old eat 6.5 cups of food each per day and they eat it all.  They are not overweight.  The male weighs about 120 and the female about 104.  They get a mixture of dry kibble, rice, raw egg and if we have extra meat, they get that as part of their food.  

He is handsome and he looks very similar to one of the pups that was a brother to ours.  They are very close in age.  We tried to keep in contact with all of the other owners but it didn't work out so well.  Do you know the history of this guy?  I am wondering if he is a brother to ours?  That would be pretty cool!


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## mama24 (Jun 17, 2013)

He ate everything I gave him last night and this morning. I fed him twice this evening b/c I found out that he won't eat while I'm watching him and he let the goats have his dinner. I was back in the house and looked out and saw that as soon as I went in, he went back to his bowl, so I went back out and refilled it and didn't look back till I was in the house. 

I don't really know his history. I bought him from a woman named Anne in Virginia. His date of birth on his vet paperwork says 1/12/12

Oh, and also, he is buddies with the younger kids now, the ones that are less than a month old. Any older than that and they are very wary. But he was playing chase with the little babies and it was so sweet how gentle he was. They would run up to him, then run away, then he would chase and gentle paw at then before turning and running from them. So sweet! Might also be why he's actually eating today. He's getting some exercise. He barks a little at night once in a while, and twice now he's barked at hawks while we were outside. He's a good dog! I'm already completely in love with him! And he l oves me. Or at least pretend to since I'm the one that feeds him. Lol


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## Southern by choice (Jun 17, 2013)

Uh oh... another one...head over heals already...how many days has it been!  

Yes, they steal your heart don't they! 

Welcome to the wonderful world of LGD's!   :bun


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## woodsie (Jun 17, 2013)

Stubbornhillfarm said:
			
		

> Our Karakachan X Great Pyrenese 14 months old eat 6.5 cups of food each per day and they eat it all.  They are not overweight.  The male weighs about 120 and the female about 104.  They get a mixture of dry kibble, rice, raw egg and if we have extra meat, they get that as part of their food.
> 
> He is handsome and he looks very similar to one of the pups that was a brother to ours.  They are very close in age.  We tried to keep in contact with all of the other owners but it didn't work out so well.  Do you know the history of this guy?  I am wondering if he is a brother to ours?  That would be pretty cool!


6.5 cups each!!! Wowza!  that's a lot of kibble!


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## Stubbornhillfarm (Jun 18, 2013)

*Wowza!  that's a lot of kibble!*


Out of that, only 4 cups each a day is kibble, the other 2.5 is rice and eggs or meat.  But then our Black Lab eats 2 cups of kibble a day.  So we do go through our fair share.  

mama24, sounds like you have a great LGD there.  Oh well I was hoping that maybe you had one of the long lost siblings to ours, but hard telling not knowing.    Either way, he is handsome and I know how quickly they steal your heart!


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