There is a myth that dogs are so stupid that they will eat themselves to death if given enough food. Is this true, i mean, it sounds false but they are always begging for it.
I dunno. I think certain breeds might. I have always had mixed breeds and have been able to leave the food out for them all day w/o a problem. People do it too though to some extent.
I have never heard of a dog eating themselves to death. Ive never had a 'fat' dog. Usually I just leave a bowl full of food out. I wonder if they are conditioned to eating. Say like if you feed them once a day they will drag it out all day, knowing that the next feeding wont be till tomorrow. But if you constantly kept the bowl full they might eat till they pop.
For some reason, beagles stick out in my mind as being known to do that. I don't know how true that is. I've never had a beagle. I feed my dogs twice a day. With the third one, I realized that I couldn't leave the bowl out anymore because she would scarf it down. I think she would eat a lot if given a chance but at 50 bucks a pop for a 26 pound of food, I can't afford to test out that theory.
i have a beagle and i could definitely see her eating til she popped. i feed her one big bowl of food a day and she scarfs it down in less than 60 seconds. i felt bad when i first got her, cause i didn't think i was feeding her enough, so i started feeding her more often, but she got real fat (over 40 pounds!), and the vet said i was feeding her too much and put her on this special diet. she's slimmed down now. i don't think she's 100% beagle though. i got her from the shelter when she was four years old.
My dog has food available all day. She ignores it and waits for table scraps. If we go about two days without giving her table scraps, she might eat some dogfood.
Just described my dogs to a T. We spoil ours rotten though and Chiuauaha dogs are known to be that way (eat themselved to death) I have fed her steak till I decided I'd better stop cause she is gonna pop. But she still acts like she is in a feeding frenzy.
No, man. Horses will do that but dogs will not. Dwaine will also do that, but that's a whole other story.
I know what you mean about feeling like you are starving your dog. I feed them each a little over two cups a day and I space it out to two feedings because I feel bad only seeing them eat once a day. And they wolf the stuff down, so I always feel like a dick, but that is what the feeding guidelines are for the food. Did you have her spayed before she gained the weight? My dog went from 28 to 53 in the last two years. The vet said that she needs to lose about 7 pounds. I blame the spay and the fact that she's a little bit of a pig.
I guess it all depends on the dog, i don't think it means they are stupid..just greedy..it's not only dogs though , there's plenty of humans who have eaten themselves to death.