I have learned that she is eating her food and doing anything she can to get to the other dogs food once she s eaten everything she wanted from her bowl. (the other two are smaller, so I try hiding their food. Doesn t always work, apparently.)
My grandmothers dogs are accustomed to having food out all day for them, so they just leave their food behind after taking a few bites, and then my dog charges in. She doesn t push them away when they re eating, but let them move away for a second and she s there.
Very food motivated. Any ideas would be helpful, as I am feeling pretty stuck. I doubt the ages matter, but my dog is 4 (pit/rott), one of the small ones is 5 (cockapoo), the other is 17 (toy poodle).
I hope this makes sense...if not, please ask me to clarify.
Answer
Verulam:
Feed them completely separated and don't let them back together until all the dishes are empty and picked up. Be very careful - food is a trigger and eventually you could have a heck of a fight on your hands.
When you have numbers, you can't 'free feed'. Fact. You'll find some will gain weight, and the others lose weight, depending on who gets into which bowl! I'm afraid grandmother's dogs will have to be fed at set times.
Dogs shouldn't snack in any case - their digestive systems need periods of rest during the day. And you may find once on a proper schedule, these dogs have more regular bowel movements.
Lorraine:
There is no way you are going to stop this. It is normal behaviour for 99% of dogs and your dog is doing nothing wrong.
Free feeding is never a good idea anyway although at those ages it might be hard to stop, but that is the only way other than keeping the little dog's in a totally different room and allowing only them in there.
