Dog trainers, a question. :)

[simka2]

Since we have two Ridgebacks we are dealing with a bit of food agression. Would you please walk me through the steps of dealing with this. I would like to nip it in the bud. I can just feed them farther apart, but we still have bowl swapping occuring. :tongue_smilie:

 

With horses I would inrease distance apart, use barrier methods and positive/negative reinforcement.

 

I am just a little unsure of how I want to proceed with the pups. I have a rather dominating personality and want to be cautious about how strong I am with them.

[AK_Mom4]

Boy oh boy did we go thru this with our pups!

 

They were really bad. So, to begin with it took 2 of us to feed them .... no pup was allowed near the bowls while one person was putting the food in. They would get totally frantic, but we would hold them back on leash until the food was down and in the bowls. Then, the person feeding would tell them to "come get it" and they were allowed to come to the feed bowl. But we absolutely do NOT let them change bowls. We have one pup that was more food aggressive and would try to push her sister out. When aggressive pup was done, we would snap her leash on and make her sit on the other side of the room until the other pup finished. We would also take their bowls away while they were still eating and make them sit until we gave them back.

 

Now - they are 10 months and huge. They sit politely until their bowls are filled and they are told they can come near. Even DD10 can feed them without getting mowed down. We also enforce that they can't approach when we are eating - they have to go lay down on their dog bed until we are done.

 

Teaching good feeding manners is well worth the trouble. It is an area where being a little domineering is a good thing, IMO!

[simka2]

Thank you! I was lacking in the creative and yet systematic ideas. We definetly have one that is more agressive than the other. She is the smaller of the 2. :)

 

Boy oh boy did we go thru this with our pups!

 

They were really bad. So, to begin with it took 2 of us to feed them .... no pup was allowed near the bowls while one person was putting the food in. They would get totally frantic, but we would hold them back on leash until the food was down and in the bowls. Then, the person feeding would tell them to "come get it" and they were allowed to come to the feed bowl. But we absolutely do NOT let them change bowls. We have one pup that was more food aggressive and would try to push her sister out. When aggressive pup was done, we would snap her leash on and make her sit on the other side of the room until the other pup finished. We would also take their bowls away while they were still eating and make them sit until we gave them back.

 

Now - they are 10 months and huge. They sit politely until their bowls are filled and they are told they can come near. Even DD10 can feed them without getting mowed down. We also enforce that they can't approach when we are eating - they have to go lay down on their dog bed until we are done.

 

Teaching good feeding manners is well worth the trouble. It is an area where being a little domineering is a good thing, IMO!

[vettechmomof2]

we feed seperated in their own crates. that way no stress from each other staring someone down or just taking the food or fighting occurring.

Everyone has a safe solution and it helps to enforce the crate is their own safe place.

 

I did want to add that we also have a wait command while feeding and they must stay in a down until we put the food bowls down for them. Then they must wait for the command that we give for eating.

[bbkaren]

Our three dogs all eat from a bulk automatic feeder. They eat one at a time and have established the heirarchy of who eats first, etc.

 

It's hectic at first, with a new dog added to the pack and boundaries not yet established, but it's solved quickly.

 

Are your dogs food-aggressive toward people as well, i.e. when you approach one who's eating? That's a different story, and does indeed need to be nipped right away.

 

You say they're both puppies and are correct that now's the time to solve the problem.

[livingnlearning]

I have five to feed and it's pretty crazy sometimes! One of the dog is just enthusiastic about her food, one is passive, and the other three want their food and everyone else's! LOL

 

I feed them all in their own place in their own bowls.

 

I will make them stay back as I put the food down otherwise I get food all over the place. If the pup rushes in I'll pick the food back up. When she sits back like she's supposed to then I will put the food down and tell her she can have it. I reward her with her dinner when she's being calm and respectful, not in the instant that she's freaking out.

 

You have horses; you know the timing on rewarding them for the good behavior. Separate them and stand there with one's food and let her freak out all she wants but don't put it down. When she finally calms down, sits and looks at you like "huh. are you putting that down sometime today?" then put it down. No cross words exchanged, no interference from the other pup, and she made the food descend from heaven by sitting down and being calm. :)

[KS_]

Another tactic to try is to hand feed them one piece at a time to get them to focus on you and not on each other (so you'd need 2 people, or alternate between them). This helps eliminate food aggression towards people, too, because they see that the food comes from people, so people around their food bowls is a good thing. It may not take very long for them to respond, then you can move to putting a little more food at a time in their bowls, but still not all at once. And keep reinforcing that they each have their own bowl and area. At one time, we had 2 dogs and 2 cats, all eating raw, and everyone stayed on their rug and didn't steal food (even though one of my dogs was a real piggy!).