Beekissed
Herd Master
That's something I have found out as well. Just like people have different metabolisms, dogs do as well. My Lab/GP mix dog liked to nibble around at her food all day and wasn't a particularly hungry acting dog. 2 c. of feed a day kept her optimal...anything over that and she got fat. She was around 5-6 yrs old when we got her, so likely due to being an older dog and she had had no competition for food where she lived before and for the first several years with us.
Then along comes Jake. Couldn't put weight on Jake, no matter how much he ate...vet checked him out all over and said some dogs are just like that. That went on for a couple of years but he finally evened out and stays fit on 2-2.5 c. a day...anything more than that and he gets fat. He's got a very high metabolism, though, and moves constantly, whereas Lucy, the GP/Lab, was not a high energy dog and only moved often or fast if she were actively guarding/protecting..mostly at night.
Jake will eat anything and everything still, no matter how much he's had to eat, so I have to limit his feed even with his activity levels. He won't gulp a squirrel, though, but carries it around until it rots, so maybe he's slowing down in his old age of 10.
Now there's Ben...even when he was eating scads of deer meat, offal, and all my eggs on top of his daily ration, he never got fat on it but did grow well...and was still hungry acting. When he arrived as a pup I had a hard time getting him to eat much until I wormed him, then he seemed to snap out of it and started competing for food.
Sometimes I think that hungry acting is a lot about competition. Lucy was a picker until Jake came along, then she became a gulper because Jake was eating fast and hovering over her, waiting to eat her food if she left it. She learned not to leave it behind, but instead ate it quickly. She never did that before Jake came along. After that, she was another dog that could eat any time, any place, no matter how much or often.
Then Ben arrived and found that he couldn't pick at his food either, or Jake would snatch it, so Ben became a gulper also. Don't know if was due to needing wormed or if he was naturally a picker up until then, but considering how Lucy changed, I'm willing to bet Ben did the same thing. Survival of the quickest, in other words.
We'll see how he goes along. It reminds me of my boys...two big, one more slender. The more slender one constantly grazes and eats more than the other two put together, eats a way worse diet, doesn't put on the weight, but isn't exactly very active...takes weight off fast too. The other two don't eat as much as you would think guys that big would eat, are much more active, but can't take off that weight. Bigger person/dog doesn't necessarily mean they need more calories to maintain a large frame and big bones, just means they are genetically programmed to be bigger on the same amount or less feed than smaller people/dogs.
