More than one dog..feeding question...

I used to feed Hammie and Addie together..no problem....WHEN HE WAS A LITTLE PUPPY. Now, I have to separate them or else Hammie wonders over to Addie's dish and wipes her out...she just lets him. Well, I can't let my little girl go hungry...so I separate them. Works well, Hammie eats...Addie eats. BUT, what if I'm gone all day or sometimes overnight???? I notice Addie may let Hammie eat everything, OR she doesn't...then dares him to come near her dish........A HUGE PROBLEM, with lots of mean sounding growling and a big fight. So, my question to those with more than one dog.......do you let them just all eat together? My neighbor just puts out food...no problem. I am going away overnight very soon..and I am worried that a big fight will break out if I just leave food out for them to share. Addie will do the same thing with the morning biscuits...my hubby always stops by the pen to give them each one, say hello....then he leaves for work. Sometimes Addie will eat hers...no problem. BUT..sometimes she buries it.......then LOOKOUT if Hammie even comes near the place it is buried. It got so bad one day, I told hubby to stop that practice.......but he likes to say good morning to our pups this way. How does it all work for you??????? with more than one dog? THANKS.

Weellllll . . .

Bimmer has his dish up on an old stool away from the girls. And woe betide anyone who looks toward his dish, although he has been known to indulge Kharma from time to time. I think she just likes the idea that she can eat out of his dish. Shiva's not allowed to because she's very thorough about getting the last bite.

For Shiva and Kharma I just put out two - or sometimes even one - dish with plenty of food and let them eat what they want. They're all good about only eating as much as they want; even Shiva's gotten the idea that she doesn't have to eat everything.

It doesn't sound like that's going to work for Hammie and Addie. Is there a friend who is going to come over and check on the dogs while you're gone? One bit of reassurance, though, is that missing one day's meal isn't going to have any noticeable ill effects on Addie if Hammie eats her grub. She'll definitely have an appetite when you get back, though.

Until you figure out what's in the woods, I wouldn't want to leave too much excess food for the dogs in their pen, though.

I should add that we've always backed Bimmer's play about his food and scolded the girls for getting into it. He's never laid a tooth on them, but he definitely has them convinced that he's The Boss!

nope, haven't figured out what's in the woods yet...BUT all has been quiet here the last couple nights. BTW...wanted to tell you that my pups have their rabies shots up to date (it's the law here). I NEVER leave food out in the open after the porcupine incident...but thought maybe I could leave some dry food in the pen.........IF THOSE DARN KIDS WOULD NOT FIGHT OVER IT. lol I have a neighbor that volunteers to come and feed them..but in my opinion..he is kinda mean sometimes. I guess he thinks he is a big time dog expert....and is being a big shot around them. Now, I know that sounds mean......but, you'd have to be here to witness it. He has even been mean to little Addie when he thinks I am not looking......yes, she jumps cause she is so excited to see him......but he is mean about it..WHEN HE THINKS I'M NOT AROUND. I will only be gone overnight........back the next day. So, I can feed them a big meal in the AM.....and at worst..they won't get fed til I'm back the next day around 7PM. They are used to eating twice a day...but I guess this once won't be such a bad deal. I fret over my dogs........can't help it. They are my life. lol THANKS RENEE!!!! I always love your response.....you know so much. I always think of your dogs..wowza..the sheer size of them and I smile. I love that they have the freedom of your farm.

I think you've got a good plan there. I know what you mean about the neighbor. We've got one who only likes the big girls; he pushes Bimmer away, or did, now Bimmer won't go near him, and the girls tend to follow his example, so they don't trust him, either. I told him one day he was making a big mistake by not being nice to Bimmer; Buffy, our first Fila, loved Bimmer and tended to follow Bimmer's example, and if Bimmer didn't like you, Buffy didn't either. I don't think Robert believed me until one day he came up to the door to tell us we had a cow out. We were gone, and Buffy was still with us. She and Bimmer were in the house and when he started to knock on the door, Buffy EXPLODED! Of course, Bimmer was egging her on, 'cause he didn't trust Robert. She scared Robert to death. Buffy's been gone for over a year now and he still talks about how badly she scared him. And I still laugh! He's a little better about being sociable to Bimmer, although Bimmer hasn't forgotten and won't let Robert touch him. Shiva, and especially Kharma, are a bit standoffish with him. Really, Kharma's downright rude! She'll stand just out of his reach and just look at him for a minute while Robert tries to get her to come to him, then turns her back on him. She's such a little drama queen.

Yeah, they've got the freedom of the farm, but guess where they've been most of the day? Right now both girls are crowded under my feet, snoozing away . . . oops! Somebody farted! They're just such DELICATE little blossoms! (rofl)

renee, all the desciptions of your dogs make me laugh so much. i think it's so cute how kharma and shiva take by bimmer's example. i've always only had one dog at a time, so it's cool to hear about their relationships with eachother.

now the multiple dog eating problem. i was taking care of my friend's zoo (that's just what we call it, 3 dogs, a cat, hampster, mouse, fish, horse) while they were out of town (the same friend that i posted the link to her website with the photos) and i noticed the dogs' eating habits. they all ate in the same place (the garage) and i just made sure that tanner (golden, the oldest) had his food first and that cricket (corgi, youngest) didn't get into his. they didn't really seem to care about sharing (have to be careful to an extent because tanner gets more than cricket and teddy) and i saw on several occasions tanner or cricket finishing up the leftovers. maybe they're so civil about it because they have never been the only dog in the house, there's always been multiple dogs so they know how to share... i dunno.

hope you figure out a solution!!

When I had three dogs, a 9 Year old Yellow Lab, a 9 year old Lab/Beagle and a 3 month old Pit Mix, I had some minor problems with this, all due to the Lab and him being the Alpha/big shot. Before the pup came, it was very orderly. The Lab, Joe, ate first, no questions, and then Blackie was allowed to eat. When she tried to eat at the same time, and this was with separate dishes, Joe would look at her and she would bail. He seemed to do this without being able to see her. The same thing happens with my present dogs, we put the bowls where they can't see each other, and King somehow "beams" to Molly the message "you don't want that!".

When I got the pup, it was tense at first, Joe would try to steal the pup's food, but we prevented it and he finally stopped. Later on, the pup and Joe were big buds, and they would both try to run Blackie off from her food, and had no problems eating out of the bowl together. Blackie ate anything and everything she could, so it wasn't the end of the world, but we stopped it 99% of the time.

Later on, After Joe was gone, Gus would let Blackie eat in peace, then come over and eat any leftovers in the dish. Gus was a much more lenient "boss" than Joe was.

My present dogs have some strange things they do, the male cares less about food than any dog I have ever seen, but he still plays power games and she can't or won't eat after he sends "the message". Last night, I had a pan of rice and ground beef that I was putting down, and they started eating out of it fine. Then, King stopped eating and Molly bailed. I stopped King and after a couple of tries, Molly came back and they finished ok. Once in a while, Molly ignores his games, and King does.....nothing. He just looks confused.

It's about the only time he ever "loses" to Molly.

Well, My hubby made this neat little covered feeding station and put it in the middle of the pen. We tried for two days with some dry food placed inside......and finally couldn't stand Addie's guarding it anymore!!! She would NOT share at all. She just stood guard over it and dared Hammie to cross some invisible line........when he did, all heck broke loose. I couldn't stand the noise. Now our idea is to make another one...place by each dog house...thinking she can only takeover one, right?? We shall see. It would seldom be an issue..I just need to be able to leave them a little food for when I have to be gone all day. GEEZ. Back to feeding them separate. Poor Hammie was a mighty hungry boy yesterday when we returned from our overnight trip....I tried to feed him big before I left the day before. Addie was quite content cause I guess she was well fed. All is back to normal routine. Last night I tried giving them both chew toys when in the house...that lasted only 10 minutes.......Addie just wanted to hoard both and be very crabby about it all. My girl just doesn't like to share.

i free feed all my dogs. i have 1 dog who can be food and bone/toy aggressive. but i don't tolerate that nonsense from any of them. the way i look at it is i am the alpha in the house and what i say goes. if a knock it off from me doesn't stop thunders garbage then i take away whatever it is that is causing the problem. when they decide to behave they get it back. didn't take him or the other two long to figure it out. i can't have a dog that is like that in my home with my son or any of his friends coming in and out. suppose one of them walked by one of my dogs while they were chewing a bone and the dog growled or even tried to bite? unacceptable in my book.

I agree that it is totally unacceptable behavior, too...which is why the chew toys were put away. I always try to stop bad behavior...yep, I like to show I'm alpha........but sometimes I can't be everywhere......and Addie likes to be alpha when she can. I read that huskys don't always socialize well unless they are puppies.......maybe Iky can help with info here. Addie doesn't want to share anything. This is a bad situation when I am not around. Like children, I find they behave quite well when I am watching........then, they do as they please when I am out of sight.

I think the separate feeding stations are a good solution.

Some dogs just aren't going to share with each other; they may share with other dogs but for some reason they just aren't willing to share with that particular dog. Bimmer will let Kharma eat out of his dish on occasion, but never, never lets Shiva. I can understand it, 'cause Bimmer and Kharma are both nibblers and eat just a bit at a time unless they are extremely hungry. Shiva, on the other hand, eats until it's all gone.

It's probably a good idea - if you don't do this already - to make sure that Addie and Hammie are both used to you taking things (food included) out of their mouths, holding it for a few seconds and then giving it back. I don't expect my dogs to let anyone but Charlie or me to take food from them, but they understand that if we want to take it they are to give it to us. They're a bit reluctant sometimes, and it's hard not to laugh when Shiva and Kharma try to hide stuff up in their jowls so we don't see it, but they comply with no quarrels or grumbling. Whining, maybe, but no grumbling. (g)