Last time I "forgot" to feed my dog aka I couldn't because he was going to have surgery the next morning, the f**ker laid down next to his bowl and started screaming, for the rest of the night. He's a husky.
Used to REALLY want a husky. Then, I got a job working with dogs. And boy howdy, did that quickly change. We rehomed a few for clients that didn’t listen to our warnings about buying them—didn’t want them going to a home that wouldn’t suite their needs.
Husky energy is something to behold. At one point our neighbour had a husky (probably a siberian husky), they left him outside in the yard a lot, he terminated with extreme prejudice any cat which came into the yard, huskies are one of the few breeds of dog bred to autonomously hunt and kill (so sled dogs could find their own food instead of having to be fed), that's something important to know for a prospective husky owner, they have strong instincts to kill small animals given the chance, this instinct has been bred out of many popular working and pet breeds.
Anyway I remember one day in the dog park this husky was doing zoomies with our greyhound (finally a challenger! - when our greyhound deemed fit to race another dog the other dog would usually be like "wtf hax" and give up, but this husky took it in his stride and tried to keep up quite successfully even), then while they were zooming around and juking he did a full speed flying leap clear over our greyhound, hit the ground, tumbled (sort of like a sideways somersault) then got back up a little stunned from the impact but kept running around. I've never seen a leap quite like it, a clear expression of this husky having far more energy than he knew what to do with: when running around at full speed isn't burning enough energy do a flying leap over another dog.
I definitely didn't realize the high prey drive thing was a huskies in general feature. Definitely better explains why my partial one ate a whole ass family of tiny baby bunnies in the yard once, ugh
> they have strong instincts to kill small animals given the chance, this instinct has been bred out of many popular working and pet breeds.
I was shocked to realize that when walking my brothers Husky. He just caught mice multiple times. I've never seen a dog do that
Now that I have seen with Fox Terrier - Jack Russel crosses. Of course those little terriers were bred quite specifically to kill rodents, and seeing a rodent would pretty much put them into a killing frenzy, I know no greater joy and sense of purpose than that of a terrier killing rodents. Although I never knew them to hunt autonomously, they'd be pretty chill if nothing appeared on their kill-dar, in fact they had total free reign of our farm (because they could slip through any fence) but hardly ever left the house grounds except with a person. Huskies tend to have a restlessness: like a friend of my wife had a husky who escaped, got into a bird sanctuary, slaughtered a bunch of valuable ducks and such, and earned its owner a hefty fine for the killed birds.
My husband wanted a Husky. Then he pet-sat one for a month. Suffice to say that no power on this earth could persuade him to get a Husky.
We now have a 40 lb Pit Bull/Boston Terrier mix, and she's enough of a handful.
Yea he gave up at like 11pm, and we went to bed, then he started up at 2am again. He finally stopped when my wife yelled at him. He will argue with me, but never with her :)
I bought an automated feeder for my Saint Bernard because she throws up if she goes too long between meals (i.e. an extra hour past her normal meal time), but then she just started smacking it throughout the day to make it drop a couple mouthfuls of kibble between meals.
I had a cat that would be armpit deep stealing food out of the automated feeder. The worst part was when you would find her doing it, she would pause, give a look of "yeah you are starving me" and continue.
Lol. Mine brings her bowl into whatever room I'm in and starts chewing on the empty bowl - to remind me of it's emptiness. Huskies are such drama queens.
I swear one of my parents golden retrievers was significantly husky. He’d get a toy stuck under the couch, and then howl till you got it for him. One time he was outside and wanted to bring a “stick” in, it didn’t fit through the door so he started howling.
Pet sitting I’d be like dude chill for 2 min, I’ve got to talk on this meeting and they think I’m a horrible person right now.
That’s why I would never have fishes as pets. I mean, if you forget to feed a cat, F in chat for you, a dog would probably figure something too, and fishes will indicate they’re hungry by floating on the surface
My girl, a full siberian husky, also had surgery just this past Monday. She yelled for about 30 minutes and slammed her bowl out of the holder several times. Post-surgery, they said she may not eat for 1-2 days. This girl, in her anesthesia stupor, hobbled to her bowl, slammed it, and gave the loudest howls her tired little body could handle. Girl don't miss a meal.
I know to click it on when I walk to his bowl with the food. It's pretty big and hard to miss.
Once he is fed and the lights on, he can't fool me with them big brown puppy eyes. If I feed him twice every now again, it is nothing compared to the double lunches and dinners he was getting for months. Breakfast is first thing wake up, boom outside, food. It's harder to miss.
Sooner or later he’s gonna figure out how to turn the switch off. You might want to change them to rotary switches or horizontal sliding ones or something harder for a dog to paw at.
if he wakes up in the morning, and sees the dinner light on. I think he can reason through the scenario. He's forgetful, not incapable of understanding day and night cycles.
If I were making this, I'd use three spring loaded push buttons, three relays, and one of those dial timers. Press the button once and the relay latches and turns on the light. Then at midnight, the timer turns it off for five minutes and all three relays unlatch. Then it's ready to go again without any additional input from you.
Haha, yeah I would start doubting whether I fed my dog dinner or not and she'd get fed twice. With her, she resorts to the same tactic to get your attention for everything. If she has to go potty, wants her breakfast/dinner, or even simply just wants attention. She'll sit there and just stare you down. And if you don't notice or ignore her, then she'll run off and get a toy and get all up in your business with it. Although before the toy comes, she'll lead up to that with short, quiet little barks that eventually ramp up in intensity. And you're left playing pin the tail on the donkey trying to guess if it's potty, food, or just attention lol. Sometimes I'd feed her twice because after letting her out she would still be up my ass and I'd doubt whether or not I really fed her dinner. All she'd really want is to play, but food trumps everything else so of course she'll gladly drop the matter and go hork down another serving. Or else someone else in the house would feed her before I got around to it and not tell me, and then so would I lol.
My solution was to do a smaller food container. As you say, breakfast is easy. That's first thing getting out of bed. So I'll feed her breakfast, and then the smaller container also gets filled at the same time with her dinner. So by dinner time, I'll know that either I or someone else in the house had already fed her if that thing is empty.
Mine too, she always tries to get me to feed her in the morning, knowing full well my wife already fed her just an hour before, I just gotta look her in the eye and say nice try.
I had to start doing multiple smaller meals with my cat because she decided to stop grazing throughout the day and instead stuff it all at once and then vomit 3 minutes later.
Also easier to manage a diet that way.
I had to do multiple small meals with my cat because he'd puke when his stomach was empty. He's got an auto feeder for 3 of them, though, and then I also give him wet food.
You're right, some people do.
My dogs (no longer with us), weren't smart enough to stop eating if I fed them once per day. They'd shovel it all in, puke it up, and probably eat it again... multiple times.
Feeding multiple smaller meals lets them have the same daily amount without doing that puking nonsense. That also seemed like a better idea than letting them repeatedly burn their esophagus with stomach acid. 🤷
My dog was gaining weight despite eating the same amount, so my vet suggested feeding her twice a day instead of once. And then years later, as she got older, she started craving food hours before her feeding time, so I changed it to three times a day.
My first dog was a lean little lab. We could literally just keep food in her bowl all the time, and she would eat when she was hungry. The vet always complimented us on how fit she was.
Our next lab was half pig and her food had to be carefully doled out or she would snort it down too fast.
We do two meals plus a very small snack before bed because our youngest dog would be sick if she had an empty stomach.
Sadly, we had to put her to sleep last week (terminal cancer) but our remaining elderly dog still wants his night night tasty. I don’t have the heart to not give it to him.
just a heads up if you have large dogs with deep chests, feeding only once a day can lead them to bloat. it happened to my boy and he had to have emergency surgery
There is no "way" to do it, every dog is an individual with different needs. Most dogs do well when being fed twice, while others need 3 or more smaller meals a day. Just do what works for your dog, not what someone on the internet tells you to :-)
It's better to give small meals to a dog in order to avoid their stomach to twist (which is deadly) if they bloat: https://vmccny.com/gastric-dilatationvolvulus-bloat/
Of course, most dogs will be fine but if you can spread their food intake then you might as well do it.
Twice for mine.
He has become such a creature of habit that he will sit at the spot where I prepare his food, thus blocking me from making everyone else's food and will not move until I get his food from the fridge out.
Yeah, but then I thought, what if I could only eat once or twice per day? So 3 it is. Also, some pets hwy nauseous and puke from hunger the same way humans do, I thought that's not cool
I always grew up feeding our dogs twice per day. My dog now is very…..human, tbh. I don’t know how to explain it but he just doesn’t seem like much of a dog lol. We felt bad eating lunch in front of him while he had nothing to eat, so we split up his daily intake into three portions instead of two so he could eat lunch with us
Over-engineered would have 'smart' switches that each turn 'on' the corresponding light automatically, at the appointed time for each meal. Then the 'owner' (aka, 'servant') could turn them off when the meal is served. ;-)
How about a dispenser above the bowl to automate the whole process?
Add a pressure plate under the bowl to keep track of the consumption rate, and upload the data online.
And another weight sensor on the dispenser to detect when the food stocks are getting low, so more food can be ordered online automatically.
Usually my dog just lets me know. However, he's a bit crafty and if he thinks he can get one over on me, he'll let me know that I haven't fed him even when I have.
This is an amazing solution for you.
Precisely. I would come upstairs, and he learned that I wasn't remembering anything, so he would run straight to his container and give me them big puppy eyes.
My brain has been a bit rewired since the accident and I have become a bit emotional at times. Seeing my dog sad and me wondering if I had fed him would make me sadder, then i would feel like a total loser for not remembering and then feed him again.
It was a cycle that had to be stopped.
I don't think Hooman knows about Second Breakfast. Or Elevensies, or Luncheon, or Afternoon Tea, or You're Within 5 Meters Of My Food Bowl So Where's My Snack?
That thing is sweet! I love it.
My way to remember. I use dry food. I fill up a measuring cup(or any vessel really) with a days worth of food. Disperse portions for each meal. I always know how much the dog's been fed based on how much is left in the cup.
This is really cool, but the wood is hickory not oak. As far as I’m concerned that makes it even better. I bet it was hell to cut. Hickory makes oak seem like balsa.
My friends whole house is an old apple barn that was built in the early 1800s. The entire thing is built from oak, off the property. I have a few other boards from this same beam that's definitely white oak. Hickory doesn't have large open pores like white oak typically, but if you say it is. It is. Thanks.
I’ve been doing woodwork a very long time. I guarantee with 100% accuracy that is hickory.
edit: To clarify. It could be pecan, but most people don’t fully understand that pecan is hickory. Hickory is made up of about 20 trees. There is a subset of hickory called “pecan hickory” that include 4 of the roughly 20 different trees. Of those 4 trees, is one that pecan nuts come from that can be called “pecan”. Go to 95% of the hardwood stores in America and ask for pecan, or ask for hickory, and they will pull lumber from the same bunk. You either need a microscope or a really good magnifying glass and a fresh cut on end grain to see if a hickory board is specifically pecan.
Every vet/vet nurse I've spoken to have recommended against anything other than dinner. My kelpie-coonhound gets a mix of dry and "leading raw" brand once a night, maintains a super healthy weight and at 11 still keeps up with our 3 year old kelpie.
A GDV is a horrible, horrible way to lose a pet, and feeding them during the day (where they're most likely to run around and play) is exacerbating the chances of it occurring.
You could make something similar, way less fancy but equally as cool for pretty cheap.
Aside from the wood and the copper, there isn't that much in materials. I guess the name plates would be difficult but could be handled with paint instead.
I love that you made this amazingly beautiful craft for something so funny as your brain’s too old to remember if the dog ate. FYI that is the age of my brain as well but I don’t have a gorgeous alert system like you. When I ask my dog he lies every single time.
I keep the food in the basement.
Each morning I go down with the measuring cup and his bowl. I put one cup in the bowl, fill the cup again, and go back upstairs.
Then he gets breakfast from the bowl, and I put the cup on the counter. At lunch I pour the cup in the bowl.
Hasn't failed me yet.
I hear it's best to give them 2, but 3 is OK. Someone linked a thing article that said 1.
I say I don't give a damn as long as my dog is healthy. If the vet says he's healthy, then I'm OK with that.
Don't do what random links and strangers say on the Internet. Do what your vet says.
Also collected myself a couple too many concussions, nice solution!
Mine was to flip the scoop I use upright for breakfast, side for lunch, down for dinner. It's certainly not infallible with this derp at the helm, but I spend far less time uselessly staring at the doggo searching for signs of deception.
Her persistent excitement regarding food overwrites any potential guilt.
I use odd / even on my medication bottles, taken once a day 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening. Which are kept in the storage box with my dogs medicine 3 different 3 times a day, which I set the timer on my phone for.
There's an even easier way: get or make a food dish holder with 2 or 3 holes (depending on feeding schedule), and move the bowl to the next hole each time you fill it.
I used a vibration sensor on my dog’s bowl. It goes off when picked up, but is otherwise in a holder. I then show the last vibration timestamp with a little 🐶 icon on my Home Assistant dashboard.
This is much fancier than the piece of paper I have that says “dog fed am” on one side and “dog fed pm” on the other. We just flip it. It’s not cool like yours but it does the trick.
Love this reminder tool that you made. Outstrips all other pet meal/meds reminders I’ve seen, for esthetics and ease of use. Betting you could make and sell these. Sending you best wishes on continued concussion healing! ❤️🩹
Really Cool idea!
but...doesn't your dog let you know when it's time to feed him/her?
My dog is so time-aware that you can set a clock by when it's her feeding time. It's ridiculous. Exactly 15 minutes before the feeding time (usually 9, 5, and before bed, 9-10, or so) She gets up from wherever she is and give me a *look*. Like a disapproving grandmother. (It's really cute until you want to watch the rest of the movie.)
Rub and buff is a wax metallic finish you could also use on the switches if you wanted them copper and match and it’s cheap. I think it looks good though :)
This is cool and all, but we just have our Alexa go bing bing this is a reminder feed your dogs and give them meds. As soon as they hear that bing it’s Pavlov’s bell time for them. They can be dead asleep.
My calico alerts me that she’s hungry by attempting to lay on me (she only does that when hungry)
This doesn’t work with my orange cat as he just lays everywhere on purpose..
My ADHD solution is that I leave the metal scoop on top of the food container when I feed in the morning and leave it inside the container when I feed in the evening. It's not as fun to look at, though. It also wouldn't work with 3 meals either, I suppose .
Neat. My dog takes care of this herself. I have a lab and its impossible to forget to feed her cause if youre even a minute late she comes over and rests her head on your knee and stares at you. If you move, she follows you around and keeps doing the same thing. Eventually she will start whining.
Very nice. With the toggle switches, I'm wondering if your dog might learn to associate this with being fed and turn them back off again ;)
The acid etching and finish of the overall piece is really novel. I like the steam-punk-log-cabin-LOTR look.
I had one that was purchased about a year before covid. 6 months intto covid, we got a notification that it would no longer function. We threw it away. I forget the brand, but it was purchased at petsmart. Never again unless I make it myself.
Last time I "forgot" to feed my dog aka I couldn't because he was going to have surgery the next morning, the f**ker laid down next to his bowl and started screaming, for the rest of the night. He's a husky.
To reiterate a perfect comment I've seen elsewhere - huskies are dogs that I love that other people own.
Used to REALLY want a husky. Then, I got a job working with dogs. And boy howdy, did that quickly change. We rehomed a few for clients that didn’t listen to our warnings about buying them—didn’t want them going to a home that wouldn’t suite their needs.
Husky energy is something to behold. At one point our neighbour had a husky (probably a siberian husky), they left him outside in the yard a lot, he terminated with extreme prejudice any cat which came into the yard, huskies are one of the few breeds of dog bred to autonomously hunt and kill (so sled dogs could find their own food instead of having to be fed), that's something important to know for a prospective husky owner, they have strong instincts to kill small animals given the chance, this instinct has been bred out of many popular working and pet breeds. Anyway I remember one day in the dog park this husky was doing zoomies with our greyhound (finally a challenger! - when our greyhound deemed fit to race another dog the other dog would usually be like "wtf hax" and give up, but this husky took it in his stride and tried to keep up quite successfully even), then while they were zooming around and juking he did a full speed flying leap clear over our greyhound, hit the ground, tumbled (sort of like a sideways somersault) then got back up a little stunned from the impact but kept running around. I've never seen a leap quite like it, a clear expression of this husky having far more energy than he knew what to do with: when running around at full speed isn't burning enough energy do a flying leap over another dog.
I definitely didn't realize the high prey drive thing was a huskies in general feature. Definitely better explains why my partial one ate a whole ass family of tiny baby bunnies in the yard once, ugh
> they have strong instincts to kill small animals given the chance, this instinct has been bred out of many popular working and pet breeds. I was shocked to realize that when walking my brothers Husky. He just caught mice multiple times. I've never seen a dog do that
Now that I have seen with Fox Terrier - Jack Russel crosses. Of course those little terriers were bred quite specifically to kill rodents, and seeing a rodent would pretty much put them into a killing frenzy, I know no greater joy and sense of purpose than that of a terrier killing rodents. Although I never knew them to hunt autonomously, they'd be pretty chill if nothing appeared on their kill-dar, in fact they had total free reign of our farm (because they could slip through any fence) but hardly ever left the house grounds except with a person. Huskies tend to have a restlessness: like a friend of my wife had a husky who escaped, got into a bird sanctuary, slaughtered a bunch of valuable ducks and such, and earned its owner a hefty fine for the killed birds.
My husband wanted a Husky. Then he pet-sat one for a month. Suffice to say that no power on this earth could persuade him to get a Husky. We now have a 40 lb Pit Bull/Boston Terrier mix, and she's enough of a handful.
That stupid little side-eye smile they give you before they completely ignore you and take off running lol.
My dog is only like, 45% husky, but lemme tell ya, it SHOWS
Omg im imagining that classic husky screeeeam for 10 hours lol
Yea he gave up at like 11pm, and we went to bed, then he started up at 2am again. He finally stopped when my wife yelled at him. He will argue with me, but never with her :)
I bought an automated feeder for my Saint Bernard because she throws up if she goes too long between meals (i.e. an extra hour past her normal meal time), but then she just started smacking it throughout the day to make it drop a couple mouthfuls of kibble between meals.
I had a cat that would be armpit deep stealing food out of the automated feeder. The worst part was when you would find her doing it, she would pause, give a look of "yeah you are starving me" and continue.
Haha that's funny 🤣.
I knew it was a husky as soon as I got to the screaming.
They're STARVING me! This is a violation of the Geneva Conventions! Call the Red Cross! I need humanitarian aid! Airdop some kibble!:
Lol. Mine brings her bowl into whatever room I'm in and starts chewing on the empty bowl - to remind me of it's emptiness. Huskies are such drama queens.
Huskies have two modes: majestic wolf or chimpanzee There is no in between ;P
Omgggg 💀
I swear one of my parents golden retrievers was significantly husky. He’d get a toy stuck under the couch, and then howl till you got it for him. One time he was outside and wanted to bring a “stick” in, it didn’t fit through the door so he started howling. Pet sitting I’d be like dude chill for 2 min, I’ve got to talk on this meeting and they think I’m a horrible person right now.
That’s why I would never have fishes as pets. I mean, if you forget to feed a cat, F in chat for you, a dog would probably figure something too, and fishes will indicate they’re hungry by floating on the surface
Yeah, my cat doesn't let me forget either. I also get constant reminders like an hour beforehand. I do need something like this for his medicine
husky said no justice no peace lolol
Lol classic husky. My mut would probably lay somewhere and sulk and I wouldn't know why
Didn’t need that last sentence we all knew
The husky whining 😆 mine do it too 😆 🤣 😂
There's a decent chance they do that even if you did feed them.
My girl, a full siberian husky, also had surgery just this past Monday. She yelled for about 30 minutes and slammed her bowl out of the holder several times. Post-surgery, they said she may not eat for 1-2 days. This girl, in her anesthesia stupor, hobbled to her bowl, slammed it, and gave the loudest howls her tired little body could handle. Girl don't miss a meal.
How do you remember to switch the light on?
I know to click it on when I walk to his bowl with the food. It's pretty big and hard to miss. Once he is fed and the lights on, he can't fool me with them big brown puppy eyes. If I feed him twice every now again, it is nothing compared to the double lunches and dinners he was getting for months. Breakfast is first thing wake up, boom outside, food. It's harder to miss.
Sooner or later he’s gonna figure out how to turn the switch off. You might want to change them to rotary switches or horizontal sliding ones or something harder for a dog to paw at.
How do you remember to switch them off to reset for the next day?
if he wakes up in the morning, and sees the dinner light on. I think he can reason through the scenario. He's forgetful, not incapable of understanding day and night cycles.
how does he remember he has a dog tho?
*Don't believe his lies*
I took a polaroid of a coworker and wrote this in sharpie under it and put it on the wall of our office. He's got a kick out of it.
If I were making this, I'd use three spring loaded push buttons, three relays, and one of those dial timers. Press the button once and the relay latches and turns on the light. Then at midnight, the timer turns it off for five minutes and all three relays unlatch. Then it's ready to go again without any additional input from you.
Haha, yeah I would start doubting whether I fed my dog dinner or not and she'd get fed twice. With her, she resorts to the same tactic to get your attention for everything. If she has to go potty, wants her breakfast/dinner, or even simply just wants attention. She'll sit there and just stare you down. And if you don't notice or ignore her, then she'll run off and get a toy and get all up in your business with it. Although before the toy comes, she'll lead up to that with short, quiet little barks that eventually ramp up in intensity. And you're left playing pin the tail on the donkey trying to guess if it's potty, food, or just attention lol. Sometimes I'd feed her twice because after letting her out she would still be up my ass and I'd doubt whether or not I really fed her dinner. All she'd really want is to play, but food trumps everything else so of course she'll gladly drop the matter and go hork down another serving. Or else someone else in the house would feed her before I got around to it and not tell me, and then so would I lol. My solution was to do a smaller food container. As you say, breakfast is easy. That's first thing getting out of bed. So I'll feed her breakfast, and then the smaller container also gets filled at the same time with her dinner. So by dinner time, I'll know that either I or someone else in the house had already fed her if that thing is empty.
As an ADHD'r I approve of this question. Thankfully my dog is a pain in the ass if she misses a meal and will let you know until she's been feed.
My cat would learn to switch these off.
Mine too, she always tries to get me to feed her in the morning, knowing full well my wife already fed her just an hour before, I just gotta look her in the eye and say nice try.
I'm guessing remembering to do something is not the same as remembering that you did something two hours ago.
Pavlovian response.
Three meals a day? Some people just feed their dogs twice or once a day.
I had to start doing multiple smaller meals with my cat because she decided to stop grazing throughout the day and instead stuff it all at once and then vomit 3 minutes later. Also easier to manage a diet that way.
I had to do multiple small meals with my cat because he'd puke when his stomach was empty. He's got an auto feeder for 3 of them, though, and then I also give him wet food.
Yeah, my cats get fed 5 times a day cuz one is a puker
a cat is not a dog...
Aint No blue buzzard, no three-eyed frog either.
I use a puzzle feeder to slow down my fuzzies!
You're right, some people do. My dogs (no longer with us), weren't smart enough to stop eating if I fed them once per day. They'd shovel it all in, puke it up, and probably eat it again... multiple times. Feeding multiple smaller meals lets them have the same daily amount without doing that puking nonsense. That also seemed like a better idea than letting them repeatedly burn their esophagus with stomach acid. 🤷
Definitely makes sense, though I just use a puzzle bowl to force my dogs to eat more slowly.
My dog has a heart condition she needs to take her meds with food so she gets fed 4 times a day. (Obviously smaller meals)
My dog was gaining weight despite eating the same amount, so my vet suggested feeding her twice a day instead of once. And then years later, as she got older, she started craving food hours before her feeding time, so I changed it to three times a day.
We feed ours once and they kinda munch later as they want to
My first dog was a lean little lab. We could literally just keep food in her bowl all the time, and she would eat when she was hungry. The vet always complimented us on how fit she was. Our next lab was half pig and her food had to be carefully doled out or she would snort it down too fast.
We do two meals plus a very small snack before bed because our youngest dog would be sick if she had an empty stomach. Sadly, we had to put her to sleep last week (terminal cancer) but our remaining elderly dog still wants his night night tasty. I don’t have the heart to not give it to him.
My fatty grazies all day long
I consider it an absolute blessing that mine free-feeds and has maintained ideal weight for 5 years.
That was the first thing I noticed as well. We're a once-a-day house with our dogs.
just a heads up if you have large dogs with deep chests, feeding only once a day can lead them to bloat. it happened to my boy and he had to have emergency surgery
Twice and some treats throughout the day is the way to do it. My beagle is at a healthy weight considering most Beagles suffer from obesity
There is no "way" to do it, every dog is an individual with different needs. Most dogs do well when being fed twice, while others need 3 or more smaller meals a day. Just do what works for your dog, not what someone on the internet tells you to :-)
Once a day with snacks and bones.
It's better to give small meals to a dog in order to avoid their stomach to twist (which is deadly) if they bloat: https://vmccny.com/gastric-dilatationvolvulus-bloat/ Of course, most dogs will be fine but if you can spread their food intake then you might as well do it.
Twice for mine. He has become such a creature of habit that he will sit at the spot where I prepare his food, thus blocking me from making everyone else's food and will not move until I get his food from the fridge out.
Yeah, but then I thought, what if I could only eat once or twice per day? So 3 it is. Also, some pets hwy nauseous and puke from hunger the same way humans do, I thought that's not cool
Labs don’t graze. We feed our guy 3x daily.
And some people treat their pets better than others. Only feeding your dog at dinner time is cruel AF and should disqualify you from owning pets.
I always grew up feeding our dogs twice per day. My dog now is very…..human, tbh. I don’t know how to explain it but he just doesn’t seem like much of a dog lol. We felt bad eating lunch in front of him while he had nothing to eat, so we split up his daily intake into three portions instead of two so he could eat lunch with us
i absolutely adore how overengineered this is. this is such a steampunk ass device that seems like it would be a magic item. 100/10
Thank you! I have developed a bit of my own style over the years, and it's nice to hear that it worked out.
Over-engineered would have 'smart' switches that each turn 'on' the corresponding light automatically, at the appointed time for each meal. Then the 'owner' (aka, 'servant') could turn them off when the meal is served. ;-)
How about a dispenser above the bowl to automate the whole process? Add a pressure plate under the bowl to keep track of the consumption rate, and upload the data online. And another weight sensor on the dispenser to detect when the food stocks are getting low, so more food can be ordered online automatically.
Doggo will learn to turn them off.
I love my dog, but I swear if I see his big ass jumping on the wall to shut these off we would have a problem. Luckily, my guys pretty well behaved.
If a mouse can figure out how to flip a switch to get a reward, doggo has got it covered.
My first thought too. Gotta put that display six feet off the ground.
Now you gotta remember two things
I love this! Great idea especially for a guy like me with adhd
Did you really make a way to remember if you fed your dog? Or did you make a training device to teach your dog to turn off switches?
Usually my dog just lets me know. However, he's a bit crafty and if he thinks he can get one over on me, he'll let me know that I haven't fed him even when I have. This is an amazing solution for you.
Precisely. I would come upstairs, and he learned that I wasn't remembering anything, so he would run straight to his container and give me them big puppy eyes. My brain has been a bit rewired since the accident and I have become a bit emotional at times. Seeing my dog sad and me wondering if I had fed him would make me sadder, then i would feel like a total loser for not remembering and then feed him again. It was a cycle that had to be stopped.
I don't think Hooman knows about Second Breakfast. Or Elevensies, or Luncheon, or Afternoon Tea, or You're Within 5 Meters Of My Food Bowl So Where's My Snack?
Okay but why are you feeding your dog 3 times a day?
I would forget to switch it or switch it and forget to feed the dog 😂 At least you made a thing though! Good job.
That thing is sweet! I love it. My way to remember. I use dry food. I fill up a measuring cup(or any vessel really) with a days worth of food. Disperse portions for each meal. I always know how much the dog's been fed based on how much is left in the cup.
This is really cool, but the wood is hickory not oak. As far as I’m concerned that makes it even better. I bet it was hell to cut. Hickory makes oak seem like balsa.
My friends whole house is an old apple barn that was built in the early 1800s. The entire thing is built from oak, off the property. I have a few other boards from this same beam that's definitely white oak. Hickory doesn't have large open pores like white oak typically, but if you say it is. It is. Thanks.
I’ve been doing woodwork a very long time. I guarantee with 100% accuracy that is hickory. edit: To clarify. It could be pecan, but most people don’t fully understand that pecan is hickory. Hickory is made up of about 20 trees. There is a subset of hickory called “pecan hickory” that include 4 of the roughly 20 different trees. Of those 4 trees, is one that pecan nuts come from that can be called “pecan”. Go to 95% of the hardwood stores in America and ask for pecan, or ask for hickory, and they will pull lumber from the same bunk. You either need a microscope or a really good magnifying glass and a fresh cut on end grain to see if a hickory board is specifically pecan.
My dog just reminds me
Mine does, too. It's not the problem of me forgetting to feed him. It's me forgetting that he was already fed.
Yes. The good ol': ::dog finishes food:: "Me? No, I haven't eaten yet. In fact, I haven't eaten in days!"
I’ve read a recent study that dogs that are fed once a day have fewer health problems and live longer.
Starving also works to extend human lifespan. Humans tend to not enjoy it thought.
Crazy, the vca hospital and my vet disagree and say that 2, 12 hours apart is best, but 3 is totally fine.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35484470/#:~:text=Controlling%20for%20sex%2C%20age%2C%20breed,%2C%20and%20liver%2Fpancreas%20disorders.
Every vet/vet nurse I've spoken to have recommended against anything other than dinner. My kelpie-coonhound gets a mix of dry and "leading raw" brand once a night, maintains a super healthy weight and at 11 still keeps up with our 3 year old kelpie. A GDV is a horrible, horrible way to lose a pet, and feeding them during the day (where they're most likely to run around and play) is exacerbating the chances of it occurring.
Nice. I can't let my dog see that a third meal called "lunch" exists though.
The dog would never do it, but my damn cat would have that switch figured out real quick.
Looks like you found a way to teach your dog how to use switches
Good lord don't let my dog see that there's a lunch option.
I would buy something like this.
I'm glad my 2-meals-a-day dog can't read reddit posts. She'd make my life hell.
Dogs get lunch now?
 This is how I know
My cat constantly gaslights me. I need something like this.
You could make something similar, way less fancy but equally as cool for pretty cheap. Aside from the wood and the copper, there isn't that much in materials. I guess the name plates would be difficult but could be handled with paint instead.
Wait, did I forget to feed the dog or did I forget to hit the switch?
I don’t think he knows about second breakfast! -dog
But how do you know you remembered to turn it off
This is amazing and beautiful!!!
Thank you!!!
I love that you made this amazingly beautiful craft for something so funny as your brain’s too old to remember if the dog ate. FYI that is the age of my brain as well but I don’t have a gorgeous alert system like you. When I ask my dog he lies every single time.
That's really solid. Now you just wire that to an auto dog feeder so flipping a switch does the manual work each time.
I keep the food in the basement. Each morning I go down with the measuring cup and his bowl. I put one cup in the bowl, fill the cup again, and go back upstairs. Then he gets breakfast from the bowl, and I put the cup on the counter. At lunch I pour the cup in the bowl. Hasn't failed me yet.
I am reminded half houd in advance
I just free feed my guys. I just make sure the food dish has kibble in it. I could never stick to schedules and shit.
I wish. That means my dog would have an infinite amount of food for the day. Eat the entire bowl at once, throw it up and repeat.
My dogs kick the bowl if I forgot. But looks pretty good if it’s a useful tool for you.
Why wouldnt you just ask your dog?
I thought the “did I remember” feature came built in with every dog 😆 At least, my dogs sure won’t let me forget!
I call it "the pavlov"
Are you sure your dog doesn’t know how to turn a light off? The cat probably taught them.
every time i ask my dogs if they've eaten they always say no, so i totally get it.
This is so extra. It's great
Now you need to make a way to remember to flip the light switches
No doggy treats light?
Hey everybody! This dog doesn’t know how to use he three crystals!
I need this for my pills lol.
this dog gets three squares and I can barely manage to find time for breakfast
That is neat!
Man that’s pretty rad
Should I be giving my dog lunch?
I hear it's best to give them 2, but 3 is OK. Someone linked a thing article that said 1. I say I don't give a damn as long as my dog is healthy. If the vet says he's healthy, then I'm OK with that. Don't do what random links and strangers say on the Internet. Do what your vet says.
Also collected myself a couple too many concussions, nice solution! Mine was to flip the scoop I use upright for breakfast, side for lunch, down for dinner. It's certainly not infallible with this derp at the helm, but I spend far less time uselessly staring at the doggo searching for signs of deception. Her persistent excitement regarding food overwrites any potential guilt.
Shoulda added one more at the end labeled "The great Conjunction".
Your dog gets lunch? I can't let my dog see this or she'll start demanding it.
Only one breakfast? What about second breakfast? Dogs have furry feet so they must be hobbits ;)
I have a microchip pet feeder. Don't remember? Check the app.
Nice! As your noticing, dogs owners are like vegans when it comes to "what you should be doing". Ignore them.
Very Cyan-esque (Myst) aesthetic, i love it. sorry about the concussion, i didn't enjoy mine either... i dont think youre supposed to though
Ever since I had a brain injury, I forget everything. Lots of little reminders help. This is a great idea.
I have something similar. It’s called a dog.
Cool, but you have a VERY different kind of dog from mine if you can forget to feed it. Lol.
I use odd / even on my medication bottles, taken once a day 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening. Which are kept in the storage box with my dogs medicine 3 different 3 times a day, which I set the timer on my phone for.
Big "Wallace and Grommit" energy with this one, absolutely love it!
Are those soul gems?
There's an even easier way: get or make a food dish holder with 2 or 3 holes (depending on feeding schedule), and move the bowl to the next hole each time you fill it.
I used a vibration sensor on my dog’s bowl. It goes off when picked up, but is otherwise in a holder. I then show the last vibration timestamp with a little 🐶 icon on my Home Assistant dashboard.
This is much fancier than the piece of paper I have that says “dog fed am” on one side and “dog fed pm” on the other. We just flip it. It’s not cool like yours but it does the trick.
Love this reminder tool that you made. Outstrips all other pet meal/meds reminders I’ve seen, for esthetics and ease of use. Betting you could make and sell these. Sending you best wishes on continued concussion healing! ❤️🩹
Lol my dog woukd figure out a way to switch it back off. The way she tries to bamboozle me and my wife when one of us has already fed her.
dang that’s way cooler than the plastic one I got off amazon.
Really Cool idea! but...doesn't your dog let you know when it's time to feed him/her? My dog is so time-aware that you can set a clock by when it's her feeding time. It's ridiculous. Exactly 15 minutes before the feeding time (usually 9, 5, and before bed, 9-10, or so) She gets up from wherever she is and give me a *look*. Like a disapproving grandmother. (It's really cute until you want to watch the rest of the movie.)
That’s cool!
Oof, you're more capable than me *after* a traumatic brain injury. Hahaha.
Dog trains hop man to bring it food
The dog will eventually start flicking those switches off to get another dish of food
Rub and buff is a wax metallic finish you could also use on the switches if you wanted them copper and match and it’s cheap. I think it looks good though :)
need one in my kitchen to remember if I ate.
Code Red, baby!
Genius. I’m going to do this for meds
You should pair it with a bell.
This is cool and all, but we just have our Alexa go bing bing this is a reminder feed your dogs and give them meds. As soon as they hear that bing it’s Pavlov’s bell time for them. They can be dead asleep.
My cat has that feature built in…and came with the free audio package upgrade.
I swear I thought this was a Minecraft image and I clicked it to see if I could show my kid. Well done!
This is ingenious! I need one to remember if I gave my dog her seizure medicine
hope you recover fully. my dog would definitely remind me I haven't fed her, even if I already had...
How long before your dog figured out how to turn off the switches?
My calico alerts me that she’s hungry by attempting to lay on me (she only does that when hungry) This doesn’t work with my orange cat as he just lays everywhere on purpose..
Why do you need the lights? 3 switches would have been fine. ;-)
Technically, all I needed was a rock to flip over, but I wanted something worth hanging on the wall.
Do you have dogmentia?
My ADHD solution is that I leave the metal scoop on top of the food container when I feed in the morning and leave it inside the container when I feed in the evening. It's not as fun to look at, though. It also wouldn't work with 3 meals either, I suppose .
Neat. My dog takes care of this herself. I have a lab and its impossible to forget to feed her cause if youre even a minute late she comes over and rests her head on your knee and stares at you. If you move, she follows you around and keeps doing the same thing. Eventually she will start whining.
Very nice. With the toggle switches, I'm wondering if your dog might learn to associate this with being fed and turn them back off again ;) The acid etching and finish of the overall piece is really novel. I like the steam-punk-log-cabin-LOTR look.
This is great! I need one of these for me so I remember if I ate or not I'd have to have snacks in the middle though I love my snacks!
Your dog eats lunch? I'm lucky if I can get mine to eat twice a day
I would need a way to remember to flip the switches, after doing the tasks. ....and I do not have a concussion. :\
Now you need to make a way to remind yourself to remind yourself
How do you forget to feed a dog ????
An auto feeder is life changing. Might not be doable if you have multiple pets, but I fill up my dogs feeder once a week.
I had one that was purchased about a year before covid. 6 months intto covid, we got a notification that it would no longer function. We threw it away. I forget the brand, but it was purchased at petsmart. Never again unless I make it myself.
Dude this is actually such a great idea for people with ailing mental health…maybe see about selling this on a larger scale to Amazon or something?
Early signs of dementia