After meal problem

ScottinBend · Nov 20, 2009

I am having a difficult time trying to keep my two girls from fighting after they eat.

Some background.....we got our girls from a breeder at the age of 1 1/2 yrs old. They are pets, not show girls :wink2:

. They are sisters and have always gotten along very well up until about 4 months ago. They are not crated and crates are not an option for us.

What happens now is that after eating they start posturing, teeth baring, growling at each other. Shady tries to put her head over the shoulders/back of CoCo. Sometimes it would lead into a full on fight, but most times it would just be the growling and such. Their bowls are about 4 feet away from each other but in sight. Unfortunately lately it has become more common for them to start fighting. We now have to supervise both after every meal or they will almost certainly start fighting. What we have been doing is making both sit a short distance from each other for a couple of minutes until they "calm" down and no longer seem interested in fighting each other. This has worked about 90% of the time, but we are getting tired of having to chaperon after each and every meal.

Any ideas on what to do or suggestions on where to get more info?

Thanks.

danisgoat · Nov 21, 2009

When the food is done, immediately pick up the bowls and focus the dogs on something else.

Possibly use this time to work on basic obedience commands, take the dogs for a walk, or play ball. Something that gets their minds off of the food.

corbinam · Nov 21, 2009

Danisgoat has some good ideas. You might also consider feeding them in separate rooms, if you can, since you aren't crating.

mbfrench · Nov 21, 2009

danisgoat said:
When the food is done, immediately pick up the bowls and focus the dogs on something else.

Possibly use this time to work on basic obedience commands, take the dogs for a walk, or play ball. Something that gets their minds off of the food.

Yep,out of sight..out of mind~

BarbV · Nov 21, 2009

Totally agree with removing the bowls immediately. If I don't do that, one pup will go over and investigate the other bowl to see if there is a smidge left behind. And that can cause a ruckus as they can be territorial.

I also feed my dogs in separate rooms. Indy is a pig and scarfs his food in about 30 seconds (used to be 20 seconds, until I put a pause ball into this bowl!

) And then he can he hovers over Bacca and tries to move in.

Yep! Separate rooms - this way they can't taunt each other while they eat.

Fergusmom · Nov 21, 2009

The two shelties I have now are fine with eating in the same room but at opposite sides. They eat at about the same pace so both finish at approximately the same time. I did have two shelties previously that I had to feed in different rooms or there would be trouble for sure.

granite · Nov 21, 2009

My Emma is pretty food aggressive to begin with, and the pregnancy munchies just make her even more so. In feeding six we use 4 different feeding zones or there would be mayhem. Anytime food is brought around we have to be very careful of how it is presented, or Emma gets possessive about it.

I'd agree with the recommendation to feed the girls in separate rooms or as far apart as possible.

ScottinBend · Nov 22, 2009

I wish we could feed them in separate rooms, but we just don't have the room to do so. I guess we could try to get a bit "creative" with our bowl placement.

What exactly is the "pause" ball that is mentioned? Is it nothing more than a ball placed in the feed bowl?

ScottinBend · Dec 27, 2009

OK.......well unfortunately we are still having problems. In fact they got into it tonight and one has a couple of serious bites to her leg that we have to deal with now.

Thought we had it solved a couple of weeks ago as I found that by giving them their Kong toys with a treat in them it got them interested in the cookie and not each other, but that didn't last.

So........anyone have any ideas?

Please?

Aztec · Dec 28, 2009

If the dogs are getting injured you will have to step in and train them not to have reactions as such to eachother.

Are you seeing that it is one dog starting the fights? Does one of the dogs ever pick on the other, making her feel as if she has to protect her food? Is there guarding behavior with anything else or just food?

What is your reaction to the behavior? Nervousness, tension just escalate the situation.

I know...lots of questions! But questions get you answers!

Even if you have one room, please place the bowls at opposite ends of the room. Do not have them facing eachother either.