How to stop double feeding your dog
Double feeding happens when two people each think the dog hasn’t eaten yet. The fix is one shared record that everyone checks before feeding and updates straight after: a chart on the fridge, a message in the family group chat, or a shared app. Agreeing who feeds each meal helps too.
Why it matters
An extra dinner now and then adds up. The PDSA warns that overfeeding “can lead to weight gain, cause serious diseases and long-term illnesses”, and Dogs Trust says obesity increases a dog’s risk of arthritis, diabetes and heart disease.
Ways to stop it
1. Agree who feeds which meal
Decide who does breakfast and who does dinner, and say so out loud when plans change. It costs nothing and works well in a small, settled household. It breaks down on the days when the usual person is late home or away, which is exactly when a second dinner happens.
2. A chart or whiteboard on the fridge
Tick each meal the moment it’s fed, and check before you feed. Everyone at home can see it, and nobody needs a phone. It only works if everyone remembers to check and to tick, and you can’t see it when you’re out. Our free printable dog feeding chart has a row for each day, with space for who fed the dog and when.
3. Weigh out the day’s food
The PDSA suggests weighing your dog’s portion each day. Some households weigh the whole day’s food into a tub each morning, so an empty tub means the dog has had everything.
4. A message in the family group chat
Post “Fed the dog” as soon as you’ve done it. Most families already have a group chat, and you can check it from anywhere. The message is easy to miss among everything else in the chat, and nobody is reminded when a meal is due and hasn’t been done.
5. A shared dog feeding app
An app gives the household one feeding record on everyone’s phone. In Wolfed, whoever feeds the dog taps Mark fed and the whole household sees who did it. When a meal is due and nobody has marked it, everyone gets a reminder, and once it’s marked, that meal’s reminder never goes out. Wolfed is free, works on Android and iPhone, and there’s no account: people join with a six-character code.
Everyone who feeds the dog needs the app on their own phone, and a household tracks one dog. There are other apps too: see our comparison of dog feeding tracker apps.
Which to choose
Whatever you use, the rule is the same: check before you feed, and record it straight after. If everyone is usually at home, a chart on the fridge may be all you need. If people come and go, or you want a reminder when a meal is missed, a shared app helps. And if you’re not sure how many meals your dog should have, see our dog feeding schedule.
