Feeding routines and portions in practice
Most feeding advice stops at the back of the bag. The harder part is fitting that into a real household: when people leave for work, when the dog gets walked, who eats first when there are three dogs in the house, and what happens to the daily ration once training rewards are counted.
Reviewed by Lucinda Woodford
Contributing reviewer, practical feeding and owner experienceIndependent scoringUpdated August 2026Not veterinary advice
Nutrition and health claims on this page, meaning the note on body condition under the pack feeding guide and the list of what belongs with a vet, including puppies, older dogs and veterinary diets, are reviewed by Dr Chris Wolmarans BVSc.
This guide covers the practical side of routine and portioning. The health-related content in it has been reviewed by our veterinary reviewer, Dr Chris Wolmarans BVSc. It is general information only: it is not veterinary advice.
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The shape of the day
One meal a day, or two
What usually decides it is the shape of the household rather than the food.
Some households feed twice, morning and evening, and others feed once a day. We have not measured how common either pattern is in Australia. What tends to decide it in a given house is work hours, school runs, and when the dog actually gets walked.
Dry food makes either pattern easy, because a large bag such as Black Hawk Adult Chicken & Rice 20kg can be divided any way that suits. Fresh subscription food works differently. Lyka portions its bowls to each dog after an onboarding questionnaire, so the daily amount is largely set before the box arrives.
Puppies, older dogs and dogs on a veterinary diet are a separate matter, and how often they eat is a question for a vet rather than a routine borrowed from another household. For everyone else, consistency does more work than the exact number of meals: feeding at roughly the same times, in the same place, using the same measure, makes it much easier to notice when a dog goes off its food or starts leaving some of the bowl.
“The number of meals is the household’s decision. How often a particular dog should eat is the vet’s.”
Routine, not rule
Feeding around walks and exercise
This is the part of a feeding routine that this guide deliberately does not answer.
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How feeding fits around exercise is a question for a vet, so the practical part here is only the routine: many households walk first and feed once the dog has settled, simply because it fits the shape of the day. Whether the timing matters more for hard, fast work than for a slow amble is a question for a vet rather than something this guide can settle for any particular dog.
Activity levels change across a year, and so can appetite. Rather than adjusting the bowl on a hunch each week, it is steadier to keep the measure consistent, write down what is actually going in, and raise weight and body condition with the vet at the next visit.
Reading the panel
The pack guideline is a starting point, not an answer
Feeding panels are built around weight bands and averages, not around one dog.
Two 15kg dogs can differ considerably in age, desexing status, activity level and metabolism, and the panel on the bag knows none of that. It also assumes the food is the entire diet, which it rarely is once treats and chews are counted. Guidelines are a sensible place to begin and a poor place to stop.
Grams are also not comparable across formats. Our price index estimates a cost per day for each product at the brand's own feeding guide for a roughly 15kg adult dog, which is what makes the figures comparable between brands rather than a recommendation for any individual dog. It also makes the format gap obvious: a 1kg bag of ZIWI Peak Air-Dried Lamb 1kg is fed in far smaller quantities than a 20kg bag of kibble and is priced accordingly. The formats are compared in more detail at fresh vs kibble.
The habit worth keeping
- Measure the same way every time, with scales or a dedicated scoop rather than whichever cup is nearest
- Know what the dog is actually getting each day, treats included
- Write it down, so a vet has something concrete to work from
The other half of the ration
Treats and training rewards are part of the day's food
The point is not to ban treats, it is to count them.
Treats are food. Training rewards, dental chews, the biscuit at the door and whatever comes out of a pocket on a walk all sit inside the day's intake, and on a heavy training day the reward pile adds up quickly. Our index prices and scores complete foods, so none of that appears in any figure we publish.
The workable approach is to set aside part of the daily ration for rewards where the format allows it. Dry food travels well in a pocket, and shelf-stable air-dried products such as ZIWI Peak and Frontier Pets break into small pieces without needing a freezer.
Rolls, including the Prime100 SLR Single Protein Roll Kangaroo 2kg in our index, and fresh bowls do not handle that way, so households feeding those generally need a separate plan for rewards.
Which formats work as a reward
- Dry and air-dried
- Portable, breakable into small pieces, and part of the ration can simply be set aside.
- Rolls and fresh bowls
- Portioned and stored differently, so rewards usually need their own plan alongside the meal.
How much any individual dog should be getting overall is a question for a vet, not something to work out from a bowl. A fussy dog is a related problem, and what to try with a fussy dog starts with the same audit.
More than one dog
Multi-dog households
In a multi-dog home, the routine is often where the difficulty sits rather than the food.
Dogs often eat at different speeds, and in some homes a faster eater will move on to another dog's bowl if they are not fed apart. Separate bowls in separate spots, or separate rooms, resolves most of it. Guarding behaviour around food is a behaviour question rather than a diet question, and it is worth raising early with a vet or a qualified behaviour professional instead of managing around it indefinitely.
Buying for several dogs raises a second question. One recipe for the household is simpler to buy and store, and a number of products in our index are labelled for all life stages, which suits mixed-age homes.
Scratch, for instance, lists its Grain-Free Turkey & Beef recipe as formulated for all life stages including large-breed puppies, while its Pasture-Raised Lamb with Ancient Grains and Sensitive Kangaroo Grain-Free recipes are not suited to large-breed puppies.
Per-dog subscriptions run the other way: Lyka, Scratch and Petzyo deliver direct on repeat, so each dog's plan is set separately. The shortlists at best dog food in Australia and the filters in the dog food finder are a reasonable place to start narrowing.
Two dogs, two problems
- Feeding them apart
- Different spots, or different rooms, so a fast eater cannot finish someone else's bowl.
- Buying for both
- One all-life-stages recipe is simpler to store; per-dog subscriptions set each plan separately.
Where this guide stops
Changing food, and what belongs with a vet
A routine is an owner's decision. What the routine is feeding is not always one.
Changing food
Most brands publish their own transition instructions on the pack or on their site. How quickly any particular dog should be changed over, including a dog with a sensitive stomach, is a question for a vet. It also helps to plan a switch for a settled week rather than during a move, a stay in boarding, or a run of long days.
The mechanics are set out in switching your dog to a new food.
What belongs with a vet
Weight, body condition, appetite changes, refusing food, ongoing digestive upset, and anything involving puppies, pregnancy, older dogs or a veterinary diet all belong with a vet. Our index does list veterinary diets, including Royal Canin Gastrointestinal, and those are chosen with a vet rather than off a shelf.
The health-related content on this page has been reviewed by our veterinary reviewer, Dr Chris Wolmarans BVSc. The rest is general information: it is not veterinary advice.
Routine and portion FAQs
4 questions
Both patterns are used, and for a healthy adult dog the choice usually comes down to the household routine rather than the food. How often a particular dog should eat is a question for a vet. Consistent timing is easier to keep track of than a schedule that moves around.
Feeding timing around exercise is a question for a vet, and this guide does not set a rule for it. Walking first and feeding once the dog has settled is one routine households use, and anything specific to a dog's build, breed or digestive history should be discussed with a vet.
It is a starting point calculated from weight bands and averages, not a figure worked out for one dog. It cannot account for age, activity, metabolism or desexing status, and it assumes the food is the whole diet. Use it as a beginning, measure consistently, and take questions about weight and body condition to a vet.
Treats, chews and training rewards all carry calories, so counting them is sensible, and setting part of the day's ration aside for rewards works well with dry and air-dried formats. Rolls and fresh bowls generally need a separate treat plan. How much any individual dog should be getting overall is a question for a vet.
Who wrote this
This guide is by Lucinda Woodford, a contributing reviewer on practical feeding and owner experience. She is a dog walker, so she spends a very large amount of time with dogs of different ages, energy levels, temperaments and routines, from high-energy dogs that need hard exercise to slower walks with older dogs. She holds no veterinary or nutrition qualification. It is general information only: it is not veterinary advice.