Feeding two dogs at the same time?
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| We still feed both dogs in their own crate. They eat all their food and then go outside. If one finishes first, they wait until the other is done. This has worked out great since day one of bringing Zoey home with Bentley who was older and a slower eater. He learned to eat a lot faster. Vance |
Vance wrote: We still feed both dogs in their own crate. They eat all their food and then go outside. If one finishes first, they wait until the other is done. This has worked out great since day one of bringing Zoey home with Bentley who was older and a slower eater. He learned to eat a lot faster. Vance Well, I've never used a crate for Bailey, and I wasn't planning on using one with Eevee either. So any other ideas? |
| We feed scheduled meals here and supervise. Four dogs are fed together, others are in separate rooms. Hmm... it seems impossible to do if you're free-feeding the older dog unless you supervise puppy 100% of the time. A gate or raised platform would soon be figured out by the pup as she grows. If a crate is not an option, you may need to go to scheduled feedings if the pup is cleaning out your other dog's food dish. I'm sure others have been faced with this too. Let us know if you find a solution! |
| We do scheduled feedings in our house. We watch our hound because he is over weight (due to his old seizure medication). Our wolf hybrid and sheepie perfer to eat together. Unless we feed them in seprete rooms, it is impossible to keep them out of eachothers bowls. |
| Thanks for the advice everyone. I guess we'll have to see how it goes when Eevee gets here. |
| we do scheduled feeding here--three in the mudroom and 2 in the kitchen. If you are free feeding don't really know what to suggest. Good luck and can;t wait to see more pictures |
| If you are free feeding, and the bowl stays down all day for the dog to eat whenever they want, I think it is going to be difficult when the pup comes. I free fed my first sheepie but he was the only dog in the house. This time around they eat at regular scheduled times, twice a day actually. And I feed one in one part of the room and the other in the other so one doesn't finish first and steal from the one still eating! I think free feeding might be a challenge when bringing in a new baby puppy. And be extra careful your current dog doesn't get agressive with his food with new pup...Remember, the current dog is used to eating whenever he wants...My guess is the puppy will eat his food right up in a second!  |
Ashley wrote: If you are free feeding, and the bowl stays down all day for the dog to eat whenever they want, I think it is going to be difficult when the pup comes. I free fed my first sheepie but he was the only dog in the house. This time around they eat at regular scheduled times, twice a day actually. And I feed one in one part of the room and the other in the other so one doesn't finish first and steal from the one still eating! I think free feeding might be a challenge when bringing in a new baby puppy. And be extra careful your current dog doesn't get agressive with his food with new pup...Remember, the current dog is used to eating whenever he wants...My guess is the puppy will eat his food right up in a second! We were planning on having them eat on opposite ends of the kitchen. Bailey is very laid back and has never showed any aggression, but we will be sure to keep an eye on them. I could maybe gate off the kitchen when the puppy is done eating, Bailey can jump over a gate to get in but it would be too high for a puppy. I'm hoping Bailey will start eating her food all at once or something. |
| I wouldn't want a dog with a full stomach jumping a gate... no idea whether it could bring about gastric torsion but that would be my big concern. That can quickly be fatal. Something you should run past your vet first but personally, I'd switch over to 2 scheduled feedings per day. You control when it goes in, you'll better control when it comes back out.  You can better supervise them to make sure the food allotment for each dog is actually going in the right dog. And you'll also prevent possible food guarding conflicts down the road. Each dog is taught to leave the other alone (why we supervise) until both are finished. Bowls are then immediately picked up... though our 4 in the kitchen do go to the other bowls after they're empty without incident. You'll probably feel guilty at first but I think most dogs can probably be switched over to it in just a few days. Offer the food... leave it down for maybe 15-20 minutes. What isn't eaten is picked back up. At the 2nd meal of the day you do the same thing. You do this until she understands the food is eaten when it's presented and she'll hopefully have developed a good appetite. You're vet can likely give you some better advice on this. |
6Girls wrote: I wouldn't want a dog with a full stomach jumping a gate... no idea whether it could bring about gastric torsion but that would be my big concern. That can quickly be fatal. Something you should run past your vet first but personally, I'd switch over to 2 scheduled feedings per day. You control when it goes in, you'll better control when it comes back out. You can better supervise them to make sure the food allotment for each dog is actually going in the right dog. And you'll also prevent possible food guarding conflicts down the road. Each dog is taught to leave the other alone (why we supervise) until both are finished. Bowls are then immediately picked up... though our 4 in the kitchen do go to the other bowls after they're empty without incident. You'll probably feel guilty at first but I think most dogs can probably be switched over to it in just a few days. Offer the food... leave it down for maybe 15-20 minutes. What isn't eaten is picked back up. At the 2nd meal of the day you do the same thing. You do this until she understands the food is eaten when it's presented and she'll hopefully have developed a good appetite. You're vet can likely give you some better advice on this. Oh! That's a good idea. I'll have to try that, thank you. I can start trying that with Bailey now, before the puppy gets here. Hopefully that works  |
| Good suggestion from Jaci. And this way you can also keep better track of who is eating how much in the event one of them goes off their feed & you have to take them to the vet. Helps the vet out alot if you can tell them when they ate last & how much. some of my pickiest eater show dogs that live as only dogs in show homes would eat with gusto when the food went down here in the kennels. It's like they watch what the others do & follow suit. Believe me, if they don't eat it up when the others do, Mariah tries mental telepahy to try to get the food in the other kennel to float over to her kennel Here the food goes down & what isn't eaten after 30 minutes comes back up until the next feeding. Doesn't happen very often. |
| Lol Marilyn - regarding the mental telepathy! Yup, I agree great advice here from everyone! In my household I feed everyone in separate places in order to give the animals peace and can also regulate intake. |
| I feel your pain. This has been an issue for us ever since we got Gracie. Frankly, it has been the biggest issue and the only real challenge since getting Gracie the puppy and Virginia her mother. The big girls want to eat the puppy food, the puppy wants to eat the big girl food and Mady, our two year old, is a real grazer. I have had to harden my heart a bit and not leave food down all day long. And we have had to commit to watching them carefully when they eat. It has been so easy for me to get distracted doing chores, then turn around and see that the dogs have traded food. |
| we have the same issues with sherwood and georgi |
Marianne wrote: Lol Marilyn - regarding the mental telepathy! Yup, I agree great advice here from everyone! In my household I feed everyone in separate places in order to give the animals peace and can also regulate intake. I do like Marianne. I feel strongly every dog deserves to eat in a calm atmosphere. It must be unpleasant to be eating and have another dog staring at you, hovering and trying to take your food! I feel it leads to food aggression too - feeling like your food may get taken at any time does NOT lead to happy meal times! I also measure everyone's food, some get additives that others don't get, and some even are on meds given in their food. Mine also need to eat when food is there because we travel and compete in events - like yesterday morning we went to a lure coursing trial. I needed the 2 going with to eat and let their food digest before they ran. They ate at 6am, we left home at 6:30, got to the event at 9am and walked and pottied both dogs. Then they ran! |
| I recently went from a 1 dog to a 2 dog household also. I was free feeding my first one, as she is picky and likes to eat when she wants to eat. Now I feed mine together, each gets their bowl on the opposite side of the kitchen. I watch them eat (I usually eat with them, breakfast and dinner, sometimes right now I even sit on the floor, lol). I have a 2 and half year old, and a 10 week old. Neither is food aggressive, they each eat their own food, but will stop in the middle, then start to go check out each others food. The puppy enjoys running over once in awhile and shoving his face in the older dogs bowl, I tell them no, put him back. The older one will check out his food, I tell her no, she stops right away. I watch them both so they can learn, and she will learn that eventually we won't be free feeding. It's actually almost like training them both now, she eats on a more regular schedule, I will still leave her food down after I leave for work, but not the rest of the day. And he is learning what is his/hers. It's working well, good luck to you as well! |
| we have 3 dogs here and have always done schedule feedings. They eat at 7AM, 3PM, and 6PM. We leave water down all day but not food. They know when it is time to eat, they usually remind me. Even if Im taking at nap at 3, they will come wake me up and let me know its lunch time. Pick up what ever food isnt eaten and your older dof will learn to eat when food is down. I also have 2 Labs, If I left food down to free eat they would eat ALL DAY!!!  |
My 2 have exactly the same food. Fed at 7 am, 12.30 and 6 pm. They eat at opposite ends of the kitchen, supervised. I used to feed the yorkie the other side of the baby gate as she was slow and picky. She soon realised if you didnt eat your dinner a big sheepie head stuck its nose in the small dish and finished it off. Out last sheepie, Katy, used to flip the yorkies saucer over in case there was anything underneath  |
snazzierella wrote: How do I keep the new puppy from eating our existing dog's food, and keep our dog from eating the puppy's food? Our first dog, Bailey, usually eats her food a little at a time throughout the day. She's over a year, so she eats adult dog food, and of course the puppy will be having puppy food. So I'm wondering how to keep them out of each other's food. Hi All of ours are fed together twice a day - however, as Lincoln is such a gentleman we have to put him the other side of the babygate otherwise he would let Tia and Esher eat his food. We also have to give him permission to eat, dont ask why as its nothing we have installed in him, its just the way he is! The babygate means that they can all see each other and once they are all finished they all get let out to do their business. Tia is on adult food, while Lincoln and Esher are on junior. Esher loves to check out Lincolns bowl and Lincoln loves to check Eshers even through they would have had the same. When they get the chance they also love to eat Tibbys food so I have to ensure that this is picked up which annoys Tibby. We have started to leave the babygate open to see how that goes and we warn Esher to stay where she is. Good luck with the puppy and let us know how you get on. Sometimes its trial and error. |
| Okay, I think we've got this. What's working for us: Feed puppy in the kitchen. Bailey is a great dog who understands her boundaries and after telling her the puppy food was not for her, she stayed out of it. Feed Bailey in the living room or wherever I am that I can watch her dish to keep the puppy away from it. The puppy stops eating about halfway through her food to come check out what Bailey is eating, and Bailey will give up her food to the puppy if I don't keep the puppy away from her. Bailey eats slow, but if I keep her focused on it she will finish her dish. As long as Bailey eats her food, everything works out pretty well. The puppy can graze all day if she wants since Bailey is such a good girl. (: Using a baby gate to separate the puppy from Bailey until Bailey is done would also work, I just don't have one. |
| This was an issue when we first got Bentley and he was a slow eater. Lizzy was always interested in the puppy food. It took diligence. I fed them both at the same time. I stayed put in the same area even thought they were at opposite areas of the kitchen. Bentley is still really picky about not eating his breakfast right away. He is learning to keep a close eye on Lizzy because she's known to eat it. It's an ongoing battle. |
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