I received this product in exchange for an honest review. It took me a few times to program it in the “user-cycle” but once I got the hang of it I had no problem. I measured the food and it is accurate when dispensing.  You can customize the amount to dispense with as little as 1/8 of a cup. That is great for feeding my cat. You can schedule up to 12 meals and dispense slowly if needed. That feature might be appealing to feeding a dog. I really like the battery indicator so I can plan for vacations and not worry about it. You can purchase a plug sold separately if you would rather not rely on batteries. But with hurricane season I’m glad it runs on batteries as a backup. The settings automatically lock after a few minutes so your pet can’t change anything.