I'm curiouse because of another thread about food/weight. I was truely amazaded at the amount of food being feed to some dogs. I'm not flaming,I'm just curiouse. Some were as muchs a 5 to 6 cups of food. Have I been lucky with easy "keepers" because even at my dogs highest growth rate, she never had more then 4 cups a day. Right now she is on 2 1/2 cups a day, split into 2 feedings. And she is very active, 1 acre of land to run, she canoes with me and camps. Plays the whole time she is outside, weither anyone is playing with her or not. She is on Royal Canin, is very fit with little excess weight. Even my old mutt (13 years old now) has only ever got 2 cups a day and half the time he was on weight control They do get some treats, but not in excess. So how much does your dog need?

I guess it all depends on what you're feeding and the dog. I'm always tweaking the amounts each individual dog. My 3-year-old female routinely gets a total of 2 cups per day (split up 1 cup morning and evening). Anything more than that and she gets too heavy. My 8-month-old boy is getting a total of 3 cups per day (1 1/2 cups morning and evening) and my 10-month old female is getting 3 cups per day (1 1/2 cups morning and evening). With the pups, I'm always tweaking the amounts depending on how they are looking to me.

I'm assuming that those who are feeding a lot more are probably feeding a food with less calories.

With some of my dogs I'm always tweaking, others seem to maintain weight on the same amount per day.

12, 9 and 8 year olds - 1 cup twice a day
4 year old - 1 1/2 cups twice a day (she's an energetic one)
10 month old - 2 cups twice a day
cocker (22 lb) - 1/2 cup twice a day
havanese and bolonkas (average 10 lb) - 1/3 cup twice a day

They are all getting a high protein food (Proplan performance or Raw Instinct). I don't feed any gimmick foods - weight management, large breed, small breed, yada yada.

I feed my bunch 2-3 cups a day (split into two feedings). The younger one, who is extremely active, is getting 4 cups. The second most active one(he's a big boy) is the one getting 3 cups. When he was growing I did have to up his food to about 5-6 cups a day but that was just for a couple of months.

My male gets 5 cups of Diamond a day (4c if I can get ahold of the performance stuff, but it's hard enough to find Diamond as it is around here.) plus 1/2c of mashed potato mix. I'm happy with his condition on it, but I would like to put just a few pounds on him for showing him and he won't gain the weight.

My two old dogs get 2c each of Diamond a day and are doing very, very well on it.

Puppy (8 mos.) gets 5 cups a day of Euk LB Puppy and is doing well on it, but she's at the point where I need to get a bigger bowl because I need to up it again.

Client pup (4 mos.) is getting 2c twice daily of Iams Puppy. We'll see how that does--she's field bred and is twiggy to begin with.

I have the luxury of everybody (8 dogs) eating the same amount; 2 cups per day. Our sleddogs get the same as the labs and they all look great. We are feeding a regular adult food, snow in central Ontario has been the pits so no need for Performance kibble in the last year:(

Our 3 get the same, as well....2 cups a day (split between AM and PM). Between their different sizes and activity levels, it all balances out...and we don't have to lock the cookie jar on them!

And I think it's important to remember that every dog is different, like every person. Think of a lean teenaged boy, who can eat 10 times what his pudgy grandmother eats. Different metabolic rates, different dogs, different stages of life, different foods, different exercise levels, different desired weight, (ie: for show or for working in the field.) So there will be a wide variety of amounts to feed, and not a lot of right or wrong answers. Just what's right for each person and their dogs.