Should I feed my dog more food in winter in NZ?

The short answer for most NZ dogs is no, and often the opposite. The idea that dogs need more food in winter comes from dogs who genuinely live in the cold: working farm dogs, and dogs kennelled outside overnight. Those dogs burn real energy just holding their body temperature, and they do need more through June, July and August.

Most pet dogs in New Zealand aren't in that category. They sleep inside on a bed, in a house with a heat pump running, and they step outside for a few minutes at a time. Their body isn't fighting the cold long enough for it to show up in their calorie needs.

What does change is how much they move. It's dark by 5:30, it's raining, and the long weekend beach walk turns into a lap around the block. That's a genuine drop in energy burned, and the food usually stays exactly the same. That gap is where winter weight comes from.

If your dog's exercise has dropped by about a third, trimming their food by roughly 10% and watching their ribs over the next month is a sensible move. Weigh them on the first of each month so you're working off numbers instead of a hunch.