My dogs bark at each other while eating.

They used to eat in the same room with no problem then when the barking started we moved them to seperate rooms and that worked for awhile but now they are at it again, and from opposite sides of the apt. It is sooo frustrating.

Ones a Jack whos 2 and the other is a Rottie who's 4. The Jack is pretty dominant but the Rottie barks too.

I've tried taking the food away from the Jack on the first bark but she will just run over to the Rottie and keep barking.

It's a war in this house to eat in peace.

They do this when there are treats that take any time to eat. As soon as the Jack is done she goes and barks at the Rottie.

Any idea whats going on here? What can I do to stop this?

Hi lil.

I have just a few questions for you.

1) When did you first notice this happening and how long has it been happening.
2) Did you notice anything that my have caused this to begin (how were the dogs before and did anything happen immediately before the first instance of this that may have made your Jack bark)
3) Does this only happen with food, or does it happen when others give attention, during playtime, etc.
4) What do you do and/or what happens in order for the dogs to finally quit barking at each other (no more food left, dog put in the other room, etc.)

Sorry for all the questions, but I think it's important to get a better picture of what may be going on.

Hi,

Thanks so much for your reply.

It first started happening about a year ago when the Jack was about 1.5 yrs old. It's been happening since then, but for awhile it was ok if they were in seperate rooms.
Then we moved and its a smaller place and they eat at opposite ends of the livingroom/ kitchen and they bark at each other.

Before this started the Rottie had begun to just sit by his food and not eat. He didn't seem to be sick so we surmised that he was taking the opportunity to have something that the pup didn't have- food leftover. We took away his food and returned it 10 min later and he would usually eat it but this game went on for a couple months.

The jack is also "bossy" with the Rottie at other times such as: when the Rottie is trying to climb up on the bed and she is already up there, when we let them out to pee or when company comes over she bites at his ankles. She barks at him when she has finished her treat king first too. He doesn't give it up though and this turns into alot of barking.

She is lucky he is so good natured about it.

In order for the barking to stop the food has to be finished and lately the Jack has started to do the whole not eating game like the Rottie used to do. We take away her food if she doesn't eat it after a few minutes and we take it away when she starts to bark but she just barks at him anyway. Its not like she is trying to keep him away from her dish its like shes trying to tell him not to eat his own food.
Since she usually continues to bark anyway we will often just yell at them to shut up and pull our hair out.

I've considered feeding the Jack first since she seems to be more dominant than the Rottie but at the same time I dont want to feed her ego. And besides arent we supposed the be the dominant ones and them the subordinates, equal to each other?

Thanks again for your help!! I realy appreciate any advice you can give us. Have you heard of this kind of thing before?

I can feel your pain to some extent. My boys had issues with the feeding time from the get go. The older (and more dominant one) has always been food and toy possessive though, took quite a while to teach him to even share water with other dogs at agility class!

When I first brought Linkin home I started feeding them in seperate rooms, seperated by a door because I wasn't sure how Coal would react (if he'd attack Linkin). After a few weeks of this, I opened the door... no issues, so I moved Linkin's dish into the same area where Coal eats. I don't have any serious issues, but Coal has done the "wait to eat in front of Linkin" kind of thing. When I pick up a dish to start feeding Linkin's usually going BONKERS for it!

I do NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) with both dogs. I started with Coal because he's so dominant and to gain my dominance over him, and continued with Linkin to let him know pack order goes Humans, Coal and THEN him. This has been an arguement among many dog enthusiast - whether or not we should let there be order among the dogs. Some say they should be equal while WE'RE the boss, but I think there should be some kind of order amongst them as well. Because of this, I always feed Coal first and Linkin last. Same thing goes for going through doorways, getting treats etc. Just because I put Coal above Linkin does NOT mean he's above me though, and he knows this I establish this through doing the same things but with ME first. I eat, and then the dogs (Coal getting his dish first and then Linkin), I go through door ways and THEN them etc. etc.

Because YOU'RE the boss, YOU control the food. It doesn't matter what kind of order are between them, it won't remove your possition as boss. If the dominant one does something to the submisive one that you don't like, you as pack leader should be able to let them know and stop the behavior.

Besides NILIF like I explained above, the only other suggestion I can think of right now would be to feed them at different times and put one away while the other eats.

Thanks for your suggestions. I think I will have to try feeding them a seperate times, one after the other.

I am a little unsure which to feed first though. I should feed the more dominant one frist right, but how do I know which is the more dominant one?

The Jack is the one who is so bossy and barks at the Rottie when they are eating but then the Rottie acts so calm and cool about her pushiness and isn't that a pack leader trait. Not to mention that the Rottie is older and bigger. And the Jack licks the ears out of the Rottie but he never grooms her.
I mean, is the Jack the boss just cuz she's bossy?

Maybe I should just experiment and see which works best.