[mcnuttsj]

I have 3 dogs, 2 1.5 yr olds, and one 17wk old puppy. one of the 1.5 yr olds is having food aggression issues, mostly directed towards the puppy. I thought she was doing better, but she is still having this problem. I leave food out all the time for them so that they can eat when hungry, and see that there will always be more food for them, except when i'm at work and they are in their crates. But when they are out and are eating, I have 3 bowls full of food and space them out, so that she can't guard all three. but the aggressive one grew up with 4 other dogs, and never had this problem. We've had the puppy for a month now, what can we do? Is the Hi-Energy food I am feeding them the problem? or should i start putting food in their crates with them? I don't think its a hyper thing, cause we have a big fenced in backyard and tons of toys, and all they do is run around.

tomorrow, my brother and his gf will be moving in and bringing their 9wk old pup with them, so i need to solve this problem asap.

[CorkyMax]

No expert here but will say what I believe is best. The puppy should have puppy food and not regular adult dog food!! That point I am an 'expert' on, lol!(I hope your brother is feeding PUPPY food also!)

I would not leave food out all day but prob feed the adult dogs twice a day and the puppy needs prob. 3 feedings---You can check out more on the web--Just put--> feeding a puppy--in your browser. I don't think I would feed them in their crates either. But you may need to feed them in separate areas--help stop the aggression. The puppy prob REALLY needs a separate area as it should have that extra meal---I am not sure of the age to stop giving the 3rd meal--The web will prob. let you know.

Then too it may depend on what breeds your ADULT dogs are--Some dogs do best on one meal a day and some (most I think) are better with 2 feedings a day.
Lol, I for one could not just feel right with only one meal a day but---
What breed(s) are your dogs and would love to know their names too?
The reason I am answering you now is because it is the weekend and the forum is usually not as busy then and esp. being summer too! I did not want you to get discouraged if not getting too many replies right now! There are a few good knowledgeable members in this forum who will prob. answer better than I am in the next several days.

Lol, you prob. won't like me saying this but I hope you don't acquire more problems when your bro. moves in with his little puppy. It sounds like you may have more problems with your big dog family coming! I hope not but feel free to ask away in this forum if it does happen---We will try our best to help out!

And sorry if this bothers you but loving dogs the way I do, I have to say it--I hope you don't crate you dogs for more than 4 hrs (Still too long as far as I am concerned) at a time without someone letting them outside for 'a breather' I know it is hard when you work but you have to think --Put yourself in the dog's place--- When I worked---My 2 dogs had free access to the fenced in back yard via a doggie door. I gated off living room, etc. and gave them free range otherwise. Sorry I almost completely hate crates--closed door ones. If it is left open and the dog likes it as a 'den'--fine but not penned up esp. long hrs! I am on my married daughter's 'case' all the time about this subject! I realize it is not possible for all people who work and live in apts, etc. to be able to do what I did but if you think about it--You may come up somehow with a better solution for your dogs.

[mcnuttsj]

Cail (the food aggressive one) is a 35 lb lab/beagle mix female, Pepper is a 45-50 lb husky/shepherd(australian shepherd?) mix female, and Taz, the puppy, is a 17-18wk old lab/pit mix male. All three are fixed. and since my husband works a super early first shift and I work a later first shift, they are only home alone for about 4 hours. They are fed separately, and do not over eat, so i haven't had a problem with leaving food out all the time, due to them all being in perfect shape. They get plenty of exercise when we are home, as they do pretty much nothing but run and wrestle in the backyard and with us. Cail loves Taz any other time. They cuddle together and play together and lick each other's faces, but when taz goes near her as she is eating its a whole other story. I have no concerns about Pepper, as she is completely impassive about the whole ordeal. Although now that i found out the food we buy isn't necessarily FOR high energy dogs, but it Gives dogs high energy, I am a little bit concerned about it.
I like to leave the food out so that it gives them the option of when to eat, and it shows them that there is always more food for them. It works for pepper and taz, but why not cail. i will post pics on my profile, but i don't know how to post them here.

[awesomecanines]

My sister just adopted/rescued a 3 month old male Australian Shepherd/Belgian Malinois mix and she already had a 6 year old male Yellow Lab. The six year old lab is one of the mellowest dogs I've ever met, but when it came to his food dish and a rambunctious 3 month old, it didn't take long for him to get agressive and possessive of his food.

My sister handled the initial "attack" (a snip, a snarl, and one quick bite, all of which lasted less than three seconds) just beautifully, from what she told me. She didn't panic, she didn't yell, and she didn't let her husband or sons get all stressed out, either.

She blocked the older 6 year old lab with her body, getting in between him and the puppy just for an instant, "distracting" the older dog, and then she went on with what she was doing as if nothing odd or weird had happened.

Pausing just a few seconds before she moved the adult dog food dish into a different area, she ignored the puppy and didn't "reward" him with cuddles, petting and affection while he was still shaking and scared from the older dog's claiming the space around his food dish. She quickly made sure he wasn't bleeding, but other than that she went on about her business as if nothing had happened.

What we did later that day was bring out the treats, had the dogs about three or four feet apart, facing each other, both of them relaxed and calm, and then we made "eating" together an enjoyable event for both of them, moving them closer to each other over the next five to ten minutes as we fed them an occassional treat, until they were finally nose to nose, each of them getting a treat.

This is an exercise that takes patience and time, and will work with food dishes, as well. Space them apart, maybe even at the beginning on different sides of the room, and then over time, the food dishes get closer and closer to each other. In the end, not too close. There is no need to "crowd" any of the dogs, but you most certainly can eventually have then in the same room and fairly close to each other while they are eating.

Again, the whole idea of the exercise (and it will need to be done more than once or twice) is to connect for all the dogs involved the idea that eating together is enjoyable and not a threat to their survival, and every dog in the house also needs to be comfortable with any human, whatever their age or size, being close to their food and water dishes.

With most dogs this can be accomplished with calm, tiny movements towards their food dish and light, easy touching of the dog while they are eating, and periodic taking away of their dish while they are eating.

This will help them get used to the presence of humans next to them and their food, especially when they are young. If it is an adult dog and just freshly rescued, be sure to consult with a professional dog trainer or handler. The idea is the same, but with a nervous or aggressive rescue, more care needs to be taken, especially at the beginning of the training, and they have the "fake" hand they use to get the dog used to someone grabbing for their food, so everyone stays safe.

I agree that the puppies should be fed different food. A puppy's nutritional needs are much different than an adult dog and in many cases the breed and size most certainly matters in light of how much and how often they should be fed. I suggest consulting with your vet about each dog's individual dietary needs.

Also, I think it's a good idea to feed your dogs twice a day (maybe three smaller helpings for the puppies) rather than having food available to them at any time. Most of the dogs that I know that are free fed all day, are incredibly overweight, and some breeds are more prone to obessity than others, so you really have to careful. Again, I would consult with your vet about their nutritional needs.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your every growing dog family.

[Jake Johnson]

What is the relationship that you have with your dogs? Are you the pack leader?

One quick fix for the problem is to start feeding inside the crate especially for the puppies. Put each of them inside their own crate and feed them there with the door closed and latched to protect them from the older dogs.

I am a firm believer in crate training my dogs and each of them knows that their food will be given inside the crate.


Jake

[mcnuttsj]

cail, the aggressive one, shares an extra large crate with pepper, and they can both have their food in there without having any aggression issues. taz is in a crate with his food by himself, and bella (the new puppy) has her own crate. even if i put the crates next to each other, cail will growl at the puppy (taz or bella) in the other cage. and then when i do feed them outside of the cage, i make sure the bowls are spread throughout the house, so that none of them is eating in close range of each other.

[Jake Johnson]

Since Cail seems to be the only member of your pack that is aggressive with your new puppy I am assuming that you are the pack leader and that Cail has established him or herself as the beta dog. Kind of like the first officer.

Since the puppy is new Cail may be establishing the puppy's place in the pack.

Try feeding the adult dogs normally and then feeding the puppy after the others have eaten. This may artificially give Cail the reassurance that the puppy is the bottom of the totem pole so to speak.

When you do this protect the puppy by feeding in it's crate with the door closed and latched.

Doing this will also let the puppy know where its position is in the pack. You may have to do this until the puppy gets big enough to hold its own in the pack atmosphere.

Jake

[Lunareclipse]

We adopted a food agressive dog and as soon as I saw he was food agressive, I picked up all the food and fed all the dogs twice a day. Porter had to earn every scrap of food he got. I claimed all the food as mine so therefore he had no resources for him to agressive about. I would feed let the other dogs eat while I was busy making Porter earn his food. for 15 minutes every mealtime I would have him sit, shake, down, down all the way, heal, stay. If he wanted to eat, he had to earn it. After a while, he understood that I had control of his most valuable resource, his food. I could feed him with the other dogs after 2 months wihtout any problems. I now free feed them again without any problems at all. If I were you, I would make him understand that the food belongs to you now instead of him. If he values food as suuch a valuable resource that he would guard it, then take control of it and make him earn every ounce of it.