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If you have more than one dog, you may have come across the problem of one dog eating the other’s food. This can occur because one dog has less of an appetite than the other and leaves his food for your other dog to clean up, or one of your dogs may be dominant over the other and takes the more submissive dog's food. This results in one dog getting too much food and one dog not getting enough. Not only is this unfair, but it can have long-term health consequences, with one dog becoming overweight, while the other may not get all the nutrients he or she needs.
Dogs have hierarchical social structures, with some dogs being leaders and other followers. In a pack situation in the wild, lead dogs would eat first, followed by more subordinate dogs. This would be natural and would protect the integrity of the pack, which would need its leaders to be well fed to lead the pack. So if you have multiple dogs, it is not uncommon for a more dominant dog to exert that dominance by eating the other dog’s food. Another issue can occur when you have a dog that is particularly food motivated, and one that is not, and your food motivated dog gets the lion's share of the food due to the apathy or inattention on the part of the other. If this problem develops, you will need to intervene to teach your dogs to respect each other's food and only take the food that is portioned for them individually. This is not a pack of wolves, after all!
You will need treats to teach a 'leave it' command. Also, you will need to commit your time to supervise feeding and implement commands, to ensure both dogs get to eat their food. You may need a way of separating dogs from each other's food area while training is ongoing. A separate room, large crate, pen, or area cordoned off with baby gates or other barriers may suffice.
The Claim and Control Method
Most Recommended
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Most Recommended
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Fill both bowls
Ensure that you are present to supervise when your dogs are eating. Fill both dog food bowls, but remove the dog that is getting his food stolen from the room temporarily.
Claim submissive dog's bowl
Let your food-stealing dog eat from his own bowl. When he approaches the other dog's bowl, push him away, by placing your body between the dog and the extra bowl.
Be verbal
Firmly say “leave it” or “off".
Reinforce surrender
When your dominant dog backs off, you can reward him with attention. Remove him from the situation and allow your other dog to eat from his bowl. Repeat at each feeding over a period of weeks.
Introduce eating together
Now allow both dogs to eat together. If your dominant dog attempts to push the other dog away from her bowl, insert yourself, and give the 'leave it' or 'off' command. Allow your other dog to complete his meal. Repeat over several days as required. Your dog will eventually learn that while your submissive dog may not claim his food, you will claim it on his behalf.
The Leave It Method
Effective
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Effective
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Present closed hand
Hold a treat in your closed fist and present it to your dog. When he sniffs your hand, say “leave it”.
Reward 'leave it'
Wait until your dog stops investigating your hand and trying to reach the treat. When he retreats from your closed hand, say “yes” and open your hand to offer the treat. Sometimes give the treat without saying “leave it”, to establish that your dog only needs to leave the treat alone when you instruct him to.
Challenge
Place a low value treat, such as dry kibble, on the floor and give the 'leave it' command. When your dog obeys, reward him with a high-value treat, like a piece of meat or cheese.
Provide distractions
Move the game to new locations and try leaving a treat in a chosen spot. Command your dog to 'leave it' when he finds the planted treat and reward him when he obeys.
Apply to other dog's food
Once well established over a period of weeks, use the 'leave it' command when your dog approaches your other dog's food dish.
The Take Turns Method
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Least Recommended
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Create schedule
Your dogs do not have to eat at the same time, or even the same time of day. You can train your dogs to each take their turn, eating at separate times, either one after another or with a time interval. Have a designated area for eating, setup with bowls for food and water. Your dogs should always have water available. You may need a way of keeping the other dog separated, such as using gates a door or a pen.
Create seperation of time and space
Starting with the more dominant dog, or the dog who is taking more food, feed that dog the appropriate amount in the designated area, while keeping your other dog or dogs from the area.
Feed dominant dog
Give the dog several minutes to finish his food, then remove him from the area and bring in the next dog. Fill their dish with the appropriate amount and give him an adequate amount of time to finish eating.
Feed other dog
If the dog is not finished after a certain amount of time, say 5 minutes, take the dish away and move on to the next dog.
Establish schedule and time
Eventually, your dogs will learn to eat their food in the time allotted, and because the other dogs are separated, the dog that is eating will not experience distractions or the other dog stealing their food. While the other dog is waiting for their turn, give them a chew toy or have them wait, performing a 'sit-stay' or 'down-stay' activity.
Written by Laurie Haggart
Veterinary reviewed by:
Published: 11/13/2017, edited: 01/08/2021
Training Questions and Answers
So my puppy suddenly doesnt like his puppy food and will go for the other grown up dogs food. We have tried putting the puppy food where the grown up dogs food is and he still wont take it. We are not sure if this is unhealthy or anything but he really loves the grown up dogs food.
Nov. 17, 2020
Texas and Cooper's Owner
Darlene Stott - Dog Trainer and Groomer
102 Dog owners recommended
Hello, I think this is best answered by a vet who can let you know if the food is okay, once you've told them the brand of food and the ingredients. We have a feature "ask a vet a question". Take a look here and you can do so. https://wagwalking.com/condition/digestive-problems. My concern would be that the food would not have all of the nutrients that a puppy needs. You can try feeding the puppy in a separate room or try adding a little canned food (puppy food) mixed in with the kibble to make it very palatable. Try putting the food in an interactive feeder to make eating time more interesting and fun. Good luck!
Nov. 21, 2020
Hello, I have 2 collies,one eats all their food immediately while the other likes to nibble throughout the day. More recently the dog that eats theirs immediately has started to help him self to the others. I dont want to take the slow eating dogs food away as she eats throughout the day at her own leisure and i cannot feed them separate as again the slow eating dog nibbles. We have had 2 dogs for nearly a year now and this issue has only just started happening. I have been forceful with the fast eating dog pushing him away and telling him to leave however as soon as we both leave the room hes straight back at the food. Any help is appreciated.
Oct. 15, 2020
Bella & Benji's Owner
Caitlin Crittenden - Dog Trainer
1128 Dog owners recommended
Hello, First, the easiest solution would be to feed each dog in separate closed crates. Give each dog no more than 45 minutes to eat, then if they are not actively eating, let them out and put the food away. At first, I would feed the slow eater breakfast, lunch and dinner, to give them an extra opportunity to eat, while they are learning to eat more quickly. Once they are doing well, you can try removing the lunch meal. In many cases the slow eater will not eat much breakfast or lunch at first, but as they realize the food is taken up and have opportunity to get hungry again leading up to lunch and dinner, they are more likely to begin eating what's given to them at meal times. Some dogs also simply aren't hungry until later in the day and prefer to eat a little bit in the morning and most of their daily food ration in the evening - if you find pup is doing that with the new schedule, that should be fine as long as they eat extra in the evening to make up for overall calorie need - you can begin feeding less in the morning if so and give extra at night, so it equals the same amount of food in a day overall- if you have any concern for pup's health, like if they tend to get low blood sugar, speak with your vet and defer to them though - I am not a vet. I would also recommend teaching your fast eater an Out command - which means leave the area. Without supervising the dogs during feeding, you would have to set up something to automatically deter pup away from the other dog's food, which also means likely feeding the dogs in different rooms of the house and using something like a pet barrier device to keep the fast eater out of the room the other dog's food is in. A pet barrier device is a bit like an electric fence. You can set the range to be just that one room where the food is, and pup wears a collar that come with the device, and whenever they get within range of the barrier device (placed by the other dogs food) pup is corrected by the collar without you there. Practice the Out command without the barrier device first though with the food in the new location, so that pup understands that that room is off-limits before they start to be corrected by the collar. Make sure the room where the food is in, is not a room that that dog needs to be in at any point, since they will be learning to avoid that room. Out: https://www.petful.com/behaviors/how-to-teach-a-dog-the-out-command/ Personally, I recommend attempting to teach the slow eating to eat at set times in the crate first though, since that creates less stress around food and overall. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden
Oct. 19, 2020