Strange behavior at feeding time between 2 B's

[Tayda_Lenny]

I have a question about feeding more than 1 B. Tayda has never been very food motivated so when i had only her, she would often leave her food for hours and she would often leave her food for hours and just nibble at it here and there. Then someone suggested only leaving it out for ½ hour and then picking it up so she would learn to eat promptly. That worked, for the most part. Then I got Lenny – the food monster. I can feed them in the same room no real problems. Lenny will gobble up his food and then hang around while Tayda eats. She usually takes about twice as long to eat as he does. Sometimes I feel like she is only eating so that he won’t eat her food. If he gets too close to her, she will growl to let him know to stay away, and he respects that (though ALWAYS testing the limits). Sometimes she will take a piece of kibble or two out of the bowl and put it on the floor a few inches from her and then go back to eating from the bowl. When Lenny sees this he always sneaks in and eats these stray pieces. She doesn’t stop him. Then she usually leaves 4-5 pieces of kibble in the bowl and walks away… Lenny always runs to the bowl and gobbles it up, and Tayda doesn’t object.

Just wondering if there was some canine psychological analysis of this behavior? Why does she leave a few kibbles in the bowl and walk away knowing he is going to come eat them? Why does she put pieces on the ground… like those particular ones aren’t good enough to eat? I’ve tried feeding her less and not matter how much I feed her, she leaves a few pieces. Should I keep him from eating them? I kind of figure, if she doesn’t care, why should I? But maybe there’s more to it than what it looks like…

[tanza]

If you feed them in crates, that stops that behavior… and only give all of them 20 mins tops to eat... the rest is taken away... if she leaves them, she is NOT hungry....

[Tayda_Lenny]

i used to feed Tayda in the crate, but then it got to the point where Tayda was standing up for herself and Lenny was listening so I fed them together. I like being able to feed them together, if they were actually fighting I would definitely separate them again, but it seems like just a little ritual where Lenny wants more and waits for the go-ahead from Tayda to eat the rest of her food. i was just wondering if it was harming something psychologically for him to be taking her food…

[JazzysMom]

Keoki and Jazz have similar behavior.

He's a gobbler, she's a picker. He eats his food and runs to stand by just in case she lets him get her food. She growls if he gets too close, and once she is done she lets him move in to lick the bowl.

The behaviorist described his behavior as a form of silent bullying. What we do now is feed them at the same time, as always, but we do not let him go anywhere near her when he is finished. We started by physically restraining him, ie holding, and moved to simply standing a few feet away from Jazz and not letting him go near her {by just walking in whatever direction blocks his path. }
The whole process only took maybe two weeks. Now he eats and goes trotting around the house, minding his own business, until she finishes. She eats in peace, and he is allowed to go lick her bowl when she leaves.

IF she opts not to eat at that time {I give her about five minutes}, then I remove her food and she isn't fed again until the next meal. I have to control eating times simply because of our schedule, and I don't issues of feeding her later and having the other two dogs getting all worked up for food.

Anyway, that's what we did/do…...FWIW.

[JazzysMom]

I should say also, that the option of feeding in crates didn't appeal to me because that seemed more of a prevention of the behavior as opposed to changing Keoki's mindset and attitude toward Jazzy and her food which was my goal here.

Now, it doesn't matter where we feed them or what – treats, etc -- he waits his turn and leaves the others' alone {MOST of the time, LOL}

[Tayda_Lenny]

Yeah, I'd rather not feed in crates if I don't have to. They are not actually fighting so I'd like to make it work this way. I tried standing in front of Lenny when he was done tonight and eyeing Taydas food. He tried to sneak around me a few times but then gave up and went into the other room. I followed him in there and when Tayda came trotting in he raced for her bowl. Ha. Anything for that last crumb of kibble!

[MyChike]

If we only knew what they were thinking…..Chike and Brandi have different eating habits but they eventually worked it out between them. Through some fights here and there they have learned whose bowl is whose and they surprisingly respect each other now and don't eat out of each others bowls even if one decides to leave some food for later.

One of my favorite b moments also involved food. I had picked up some treats from the doggie bar at petco and gave them both a treat when I got home. They both took their treat but Chike spit his out. Brandi gulped hers down and went outside. In a minute Chike was begging for more and I saw that his was now gone.

I, being the ultimate softie, thought he had decided he liked it and gave him another one, which he took and ran outside. In just a minute he was back begging for another. I thought there is no way you ate that so fast, but again being the indulgent parent I gave him another, and he promptly ran ouside.

Then feeling bad for not giving Brandi and equal share I took a couple outside for her. There she was on the porch chewing her treat with two more un eaten ones laying beside her. Chike was taking them to her.

Good luck...

[LeeL]

We have a similar situation. Our older 2 dogs just don;t care about eating (though they love treats) and would take a long time. The vet always wanted them to gain weight and suggested we let them free feed. However, the puppy is a vacuum cleaner and will eat a bag of food in 2 minutes if you let her so we went back to taking their food up after 15 or 20 minutes and keeping her separated (we did not realize she got out to their food once and she stuffed herself so much she was a like roly poly little ball). The little dog literally eats like a competitive hot dog eater.

[JazzysMom]

@LeeL:

We have a similar situation. Our older 2 dogs just don;t care about eating (though they love treats) and would take a long time. The vet always wanted them to gain weight and suggested we let them free feed. However, the puppy is a vacuum cleaner and will eat a bag of food in 2 minutes if you let her so we went back to taking their food up after 15 or 20 minutes and keeping her separated (we did not realize she got out to their food once and she stuffed herself so much she was a like roly poly little ball). The little dog literally eats like a competitive hot dog eater.

Funny – Jazzy is my dog that is not in a hurry for food {although treats do exite her}; she doesn't run to the bowl, takes a long time to eat, etc.
And she is the one with the weight struggles. I have to watch her intake closely or she chunks up pretty fast.

Keoki is our pig. He lives for food, glorious food! He'd stuff himself sick if we let him. Yet he is our leanest dog -- not skinny, but not an ounce of extra fat on him either.

You'd think it'd be the opposite, wouldn't you?

[tanza]

I have always found with young boys… they use up so much energy... that they could eat till they fell over...gggg....

[dash]

@JazzysMom:

Funny – Jazzy is my dog that is not in a hurry for food {although treats do exite her}; she doesn't run to the bowl, takes a long time to eat, etc.
And she is the one with the weight struggles. I have to watch her intake closely or she chunks up pretty fast.

Keoki is our pig. He lives for food, glorious food! He'd stuff himself sick if we let him. Yet he is our leanest dog -- not skinny, but not an ounce of extra fat on him either.

You'd think it'd be the opposite, wouldn't you?

our house is the opposite. Dash is much slower to eat than Sissy. We have had to become creative to get him to eat quickly so she doesn't end up eating it all.