So i bet you have two dogs that you’re struggling to feed because of food aggression? It can be a tough situation to be in, but don’t worry, we’re here to help. With a little bit of patience and these five tips, you’ll have your dogs eating nicer in no time.
here’s what i found online for the 5 tips and then i did my personal 5 – mine are the ones with the lower case a.
5 tips from www and me:
1a. use separate rooms – doors open or not is your call.
1. Crate Your Dogs
This is probably the most helpful thing that you can do to ensure that everyone has a peaceful meal. Crating your dogs when you’re eating, even just for a few minutes, will help to teach them that their crate is a positive place where good things happen. As they start to associate their crate with positive experiences, they’ll start to go there voluntarily whenever they’re hungry.
2a. feed them at the same time.
2. Use Special Food Bowls
By now, you’ve probably figured out that your dogs’ food is extremely important to them. It’s a resource that they guard just as much as they guard their territories. But guard they do! Have you ever tried putting your hand in their food bowl? Yeah, that doesn’t last very long. So, instead of putting them in a crate, which may not seem very dog-friendly, try to keep them separated in special food bowls. These are usually curved so that the dogs can’t see each other, which helps to reduce aggression. If you don’t have special bowls, don’t worry, you can use anything around your house like these plastic containers or even coffee mugs. as long as it keeps the dogs apart.
3a. keep all the water bowls full at ALL times.
3. Distract Them with Toys
As we just said, your dogs’ food is something that they protect, so how do you get them to enjoy eating it? Games! Keep a bunch of dog toys next to their bowl and whenever you’re ready to eat, tell your dogs to play with them while you eat. The more they enjoy playing with their toys the less they’ll worry about guarding their bowl. As an added bonus, playing with toys will also help them work up an appetite, so when you’re ready to eat again, the whole process will be easier.
You can also try putting their food bowl in a high-value Dog Crate Pad and letting your dog win the battle of the chew toy instead.
4a. don’t let the food run out – instead of picking up the bowls i have always left food out for the dogs to eat when they wanted – this seems to foster an environment of ‘food is not an issue’ which is the biggest step you can take towards alleviating one of the main factors in the food feud.4. Feed Slowly and Wait for the Dogs to Calm Down before Putting in More Food
This one is tricky, but if you pay attention to your dogs, you’ll notice that when they’re hungry, they tend to pace, yap and watch their food bowl. When they’re less agitated, you can put in more food. The slower you feed them, the less they’ll want to guard their territory.
But as soon as they start growling or putting their ears down, stop feeding and wait it out. As long as you don’t rush, they should calm down and let you put in more food without a fight.
again, this teaches them that food is not a scarce resource.
5a. have patience it doesn’t happen overnight – i figure 6 month’ish.
5. Keep the Peace after Meals with Dog Calming Treats – after you’ve finished eating, don’t get up right away. Instead, let your dogs eat their scraps and give them some dog calming treats. This will help them relax and feel satisfied so they won’t be as motivated to guard their bowl when you eat next time.
Summing it up
At the end of the day you have a few choices that really just depend on your life style and your nature. I spend the entire day with my dogs which allows me to enforce behavior i want to encourage in a smooth and what i hope is a little constant way.
Basically I have one dog that takes food much more seriously than the other one and separate rooms and i try not to let the bowls go dry…
At the end of the day you have a few choices that really just depend on your life style and your nature. I spend the entire day with my dogs which allows me to enforce behavior i want to encourage in a smooth and what i hope is a little constant way.
Basically I have one dog that takes food much more seriously than the other one and separate rooms and i try not to let the bowls go dry…
