Think about your meal schedule. You get a meal break in the middle of the day, but your poor pup is sitting home waiting until you get back, through traffic and whatever delays may come, before he gets to eat again. What if you were told you couldn't eat anything from the time you left the house, until you made your travel all the way back home from work. You may end up being a very cranky person. No surprise your pup looks desperate when you get home.

On the other side of the coin, you don't want to leave dog feeders overflowing for your dog, who is lacking self control, to gorge himself on as much food as he can get. That just leaves you with a fat dog with an upset stomach at the end of the day, which could mean quite a mess to clean up when you get home. But there is another solution.

For those who are often on the run and feel a little guilt about not feeding Fido as frequently as they would like, what about automatic dog feeders and waterers? These are feeding and watering stations that will give your pet more to eat or drink while you are away, on a time schedule you can adjust.

While automatic waterers all work generally the same, offering more water as the dog drinks up what he has. Some even have a constantly running stream of water that is run through a filter, keeping it fresher for your dog, instead of making him drink the same bowl of stagnant water.

Automatic Dog Feeders understand you want to give you dog an extra meal while you are gone, but don't want him to have an endless supply of food at his disposable, thanks to his lack of doggy self-control. Many of them have special compartments that open on a timer, to pour more food into their bowl. You will have measured out the food you want your dog to get from these automatic dog feeders, so he isn't eating too much and putting on pounds. Others are set up as a pair of individual bowls with lids that will pop open when the timer is triggered, showing your dog a new tray of food.

If you have a dog that is not a food-a-holic, you may even be able to use constant dog feeders. These dog feeders have a reservoir you can fill with food so it will always offer a little more to eat when your dog gets to the bottom of the bowl. This is a much better option than him having to stare at the empty bowl and then at the door waiting for your to return to fill it.