You set two things on a programmable dog food dispenser: the times it releases dry food and the amount in each feed. For an adult dog, the usual starting point is two feeds, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, moving to three or four if the dog is large or eats greedily. The day's serving doesn't change: it's just split across the feeds.
What do you program on an automatic dog food dispenser?
Whatever the brand, an automatic dispenser is programmed with three settings:
- What times food comes out. It's the dog's mealtime schedule, and the device repeats it on its own every day.
- How much dry food comes out each time. Some devices count it in grams or portions, and others in opening time.
- How many feeds there are a day. It depends on what the dog needs, and the maximum is set by each device's timer.
Some are programmed from a phone and others on a panel on the device itself. It makes no difference to the dog: what counts is that the schedule and the serving are set correctly.
What schedule should you set on a dog food dispenser?
One that matches the meals the dog already has. A healthy adult dog does well on two feeds; a large, deep-chested dog, or one that gulps its food, is better off with three or four smaller feeds. The reasons for splitting it up are covered in the post on how many times a day a dog should eat.
The table gives an example with a large dog that eats 600 grams of dry food a day. The times are a guide: what matters is that the feeds are spread through the day and repeated the same way every day.
| Feeds a day | Example times | Dry food per feed |
|---|---|---|
| Two feeds | 8:00 and 19:00 | 300 grams |
| Three feeds | 7:30, 13:30 and 19:30 | 300 gramos +150 gramos +150 gramos |
| Four feeds | 7:00, 11:00, 15:00 and 19:00 | 150 grams |
There are two tips that work for any schedule. First, have one of the feeds fall when someone is at home, so you can see the dog eating with appetite. Second, make sure none of them coincides with running or working time, especially for large dogs, which shouldn't eat right before or right after exertion.
In summer, a dog that lives outdoors usually does better with feeds first thing in the morning and late in the afternoon, when it's cooler.
What happens to the dispenser if the power goes off?
It depends on where it gets its power. A dispenser that only works when plugged in can't release dry food while the power is off, so the feed that falls during the outage may not come out. What matters is what happens afterwards: a timer that gets wiped with every power cut has to be programmed again, and until someone notices, the dog doesn't eat on time.
El programador de un comedero Producan guarda el horario aunque se vaya la luz , así que al volver la corriente sigue con las mismas tomas. Y donde no hay enchufe, el Producan P3 funciona con su propia batería de 12 V.
Do you need to change the time on the dispenser when the clocks change?
It's worth checking. In Europe the clocks change twice a year, on the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October, and not all timers change automatically. If yours doesn't, from that day on the dog eats an hour earlier or an hour later than you set.
The simplest thing is to look at the timer's clock after each change of the clocks and correct it if needed, just like the one on the oven or in the car.
How often do you need to refill a dog food dispenser?
When the dry food in the hopper runs out, and you can work that out in advance: divide the kilos it holds by what the dog eats a day. A 15-kilo hopper with a dog that eats 600 grams a day lasts around 25 days; at 400 grams a day, more than a month.
A small indoor dispenser empties in a few days with a large dog. How long each hopper size lasts is compared in the automatic feeder buying guide.
How do you program a Producan feeder?
En el panel del propio comedero, que queda protegido bajo la tapa superior. No hace falta móvil, ni wifi, ni app: se marcan las horas de las tomas, hasta 30 al día,indicando la hora de inicio de racion y la de final (cada minuto echa 150 gramos aproximadamente.) . Un comedero Producan suelta el pienso por tiempo de giro, así que la ración se afina la primera semana pesando lo que cae.
If you're looking for a programmable food dispenser for a dog that lives outdoors, both Producan models have a galvanised steel hopper with a 40-litre capacity, around 15 kilos of dry food, and IP65 protection against rain.
For a dog that lives in a yard or on a smallholding with power nearby, the 220 V Producan P1 is the right fit. Where there's no socket, the Producan P3 runs on an internal 12 V battery and lasts around 3 months with 4 feeds a day.