A Potential Problem Brewing

[Kirislin]

I've got 5 whippets of my own and for about the last 5 or 6 weeks I've been looking after Iggy mums 2 little dogs while she is in hospital. They are an Italian Greyhound and a little chi/min pin x. All had been going pretty well until last night. They are pretty psycho with food but I always make them sit first and then they wait till I say they can eat.

Last night Peanut, the chi x finished hers and just charged my boss girl Penny for hers. A fight broke out but luckily they stopped when I roared at them. Not like when Penny and Kibah fought, they would have killed each other. Anyway, I swatted Peanut and told her to "get!" and she just trotted off unconcerned as if to say, I dont care.

This evening every one got raw chicken wings. The whippet girls got 2 each and the littlies got 1 which is a pretty big meal for them. I was on the phone and heard squabbling and rushed out, it was over but I think Peanut had attacked the iggy for hers. Then about 20 mins later when I gave the whippets their 2nd wing each Peanut just ran up and tried to take Pennys!

Penny could easily beat, even kill this little fiend but she's a gentle girl and of course I wouldn't want her to do that anyway. I am worried that 1, someone will be injured and 2 that Peanut will just upset the balance here and cause more fights with the others if they see weakness in Penny.

Right now I've got Peanut in a crate but it's not practical for long periods, any suggestion on how I can handle this? I'm thinking maybe I need to catch Peanut before I start dishing up their dinner, in other words, before the feeding frenzy starts, and locking her in a crate. Then when everyone else is eating I could feed her in the crate and maybe leave her there for half an hour or so afterwards to settle. Do you think that might work?

Right now I am feeling anxious about even letting her out again, I might put her on a long lead.

[Diva]

If all the incidents have been over food, I'd feed Peanut in a crate and not have her loose around the others where food is involved. If she is resource guarding other things as well, or making a general grab for power, you have a bigger problem on your hands. But it may be that she is just a monster around food which I would think should be managable.

Edited December 5, 2010 by Diva

[Earthdog]

I'd feed her in a crate.

[wuffles]

I separate mine when feeding meat and bones. Ava eats in her crate and Satch eats outside. It's no hassle, and then neither of them have to worry about having their meals stolen.

[JulesP]

Feed separately

[Kirislin]

Thanks guys, I've always had my lot under contol when feeding and never had a problem, I can go and take anyones bones or food from them so this is a new situation for me, and I dont like it. So glad I have crates though, from now on that is Peanuts dining room.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Feed her separately. I feed Ruby separately to the other two for this very reason: food possession.

A crate is fine, a baby gate with the dog isolated behind it is also fine.

This should be relatively easy to manage given the circumstances. It's always the little ones which are the most fiesty!

[JulesP]

I've been chomped this year by 2 different Chi x. Feisty little things.

[persephone]

*stifles a giggle at the mini-monster*

definitely feed her separately ....

[Kirislin]

*stifles a giggle at the mini-monster*

definitely feed her separately ....

Here is the problem child, you'd never know to look at her would you.

and here in a more pensive mood, gazing at nothing in particular.

Edited December 5, 2010 by Kirislin

[Ons]

I hate going around to my friend's place coz her chi always tries to bite me

Another one to suggest feeding in a crate. My fosters always get fed in a crate and there are no problems particularly as they all sleep in the crate as well so it's a place of nice associations. I don't know whether Maggie would do anything but i like to play safe. If anything she probably would get distracted by the others, want to play and not eat so she is better being locked up where all she can do is eat. and I let her out when I'm ready not when she wants to come out.

I can feed my 3 in the same room although I space out the bowls unless it's chicken wings/bones etc. then Onslow is outside and the door shut as he can be food possessive. Now he just has a look at what's in the bowls and works out where he needs to go

[halfthewords]

WOW, she looks almost pure Min Pin! (See sig - just like my red girl. )

My MP is food aggressive... She is fed all meals in a separate room. I think she likes her privacy anyway. I watch them like a hawk while they eat, don't trust them not to wolf everyone else's food!

[Nekhbet]

new dogs in an established reasonable sized pack + food = disaster.

Crate or separate and then make sure all the food is finished and everyone is well and truely over the food mood before reintroducing. I would also be supervising play time now they've started to squabble over resources.

[mita]

new dogs in an established reasonable sized pack + food = disaster.

Crate or separate and then make sure all the food is finished and everyone is well and truely over the food mood before reintroducing. I would also be supervising play time now they've started to squabble over resources.

Exactly this. I now make it a habit of feeding the dogs in separate places & remove their dishes when finished. Dogs will even battle over them!

I learned this when I got my first tibbie....angelic little blonde. On the first day I was giving some treats to the 2 shelties & her. One sheltie made a dive for her treat. The tib turned into a little dragon & launched herself at the sheltie, hanging onto her lip. Great screams & the other sheltie joined in to help fight the 'dragon'. I had to pluck the still spitting tibbie out of the fight.

All 3, I might add, normally had the sweetest, gentlest temperaments. But food resources trigger the devil within.

[Kirislin]

new dogs in an established reasonable sized pack + food = disaster.

Crate or separate and then make sure all the food is finished and everyone is well and truely over the food mood before reintroducing. I would also be supervising play time now they've started to squabble over resources.

Yep, I'll be doing both from now on. Thanks everyone for re-inforcing what I suspected I must now do.

When they first came here I would leave them locked in the house separate from my dogs when I had to go to work, but the last few weeks I'd been giving them the run of the house but I'll be going back to segregating them now, even though the little sh!t dug a hole in my carpet last time. Better a hole in the carpet than a hole in a dog.

[Gayle.]

I have an elderly Lhasa Apso who I feed completely seperately to the Aussies. She gets shut in the laundry until everyone has finished their dinner. The Aussies don't get separated although Isaak gets his away from the other two cos he likes sharing theirs but they don't like him near their bowls but they are all pretty tolerant and if I just move him away we have a peaceful meal.

But if I leave the Lhasa near the others, the Aussies would go for her dinner, cos she gets My Dog foil packs mixed with her kibble, and they are apparently very desirable to big dogs. And she would defend her dinner to the death. Easier just to lock her away somewhere else.

[pebbles]

Peanut looks like she has a lot of Min Pin in her and food aggression is something Mins are good at. They can be fine sometimes then just erupt even when you are watching them. My little shite Mick would sometimes think Abby's dinner looked better than his - doesn't get the chance now, he's fed in his crate with the door closed - much easier on Abby and my nerves lol.

[Nekhbet]

if you have a very large dog crate you can use as a play pen just shut her in that with a bone, toys etc. If she shreds those who cares.

Unless I'm going to have another member permanently at my place, segragation when you're not around is the safest thing and no sharing of resources.

[indigirl]

Kirislin I feed all my dogs separately, they are all crated for mealtimes except Wally the elderly sheltie, but as the others are all crated he is separate from them. I dont let anyone out until they have all finished and i remove the feed bowls first. It means there's never any fights over food. Having large dogs plus toy sized dogs makes me extra cautious that there is never a fight at mealtimes.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I feed my dogs separately. As I foster different dogs regularly, they are not usually allowed to eat amongst my own dogs. The exception is the current foster who is a sweet shih tzu who wouldn't harm a fly. I've got 3 food aggressive dogs and they all eat in differnt places. My toothless old dog who takes ages, goes in the bathroom.

I NEVER leave any food whilst I'm out. Bones are too big a risk, if someone buried a bit and dug it up while I was out it could cause trouble.

It's all about working out a routine and sticking to it. You could put Peanut in another room, not letting her out until everyone else is finished and every scrap of food is cleaned up. You simply never provide any opportunity for her food aggression to swing into action, particularly with different sized dogs.