If you leave food down all of the time, they get used to it being there, and yes, they will learn to eat what they want. Free feeding is also good if you have a tiny that needs food available at all times. However, I feed twice daily at the same times. I measure out the food in a measuring cup, and feed it to my puppies. The bowl stays down for 10 minutes-they eat what they want in 10 minutes, and then the bowl gets picked up until the next feeding time. It took Emma one day to understand this (one day of going hungry
)
They eat it all up right away, but this is good for several reasons: You know exactly how much they're eating, and can monitor their food intake, they poop at the same times each day, they understand "dominance" better-that WE provide THEIR food and care for THEM, and we have the policy that "nothing is free", so they are required to "work" for their food by doing a trick or two before eating. This was recommended by our vet and by the behaviorist we were working with. This works well for us, and we can keep track of who is eating what and when. Sometimes Milli doesn't finish her food, and that's ok-we just feed it to her later on in the day.