feeding 2dogs

We had our 2 dogs in kennels for a week while we were away. She feed them twice a day we usually just leave them a bowl of hard food and top it up during the day and have never had any problems. She told us leaving food all day will lead to food aggression. I have seen no signs of this before she said they were rowing a bit over their food one day while she was feeding them. She advised me to feed them twice a day from separate bowls?

ive never heard of it leading to food aggression if you leave food out constantly, but i would only feed once a day for my adult dog in the evening when she is empty, but you hav a pup so maybe just feeding the pup seperately 4 times a day and your adult dog 2 daily insted of leaving food out all day

I would feed once for the adult and 'free-feed' the pup until around 15 mos. But if the other dog is in the same room all the time that mightn't work because he'd take it.

I think that free feeding the 2 would lead to conflict more than 'food aggression' something along the lines of one dog is eating and the other muscles in, end result = 1 or more dead dogs.

harry id hav to disagree , its better to hav the dog look forward to a feed then to free feed, have a pups 4 meals be rewards for doing exercise etc , and hav the pup hungry for its next feed leaving food out constantly makes lazy pups

One of the dogs is 14 months he has always free fed he only seems to eat bits and pieces during day. He gets the odd bit of left over kids diner breakfasts etc and will horse that into him straight away.
The pup is 4 months and eats whatever u put in front of her straight away we usually fill a bowl of nuts for them she will eat about a quarter in one go were as he will only have a nibble but they eat from the bowl at the same time no problem they usually lick the faces of each other afterwards then jump into bed together they don't seem to have a problem sharing.

I put food down for the dogs once a day in the evenings, if they dont eat it within half an hour i take it up and try it another hour later, if they still dont eat it they dont get it until the next morning.

John
Free feeding works well if you only have one dog and your around all day to supervise, but you will find as the pup gets older it will cause trouble. I always free feed my pups for as long as possible but that means having the food in a crate either with the pup or watching for the pup to show an interst in it while it is running round the kitchen, then putting it back in the crate to eat. I have kept dogs for years and never been able to leave food down all day, it will lead to a fight and then you will find anytime you feed your dogs it will be like a trigger and they will fight or become protective of the food. I am sure there are some people that will boast they feed their dogs from the same bowl but with this breed or similar you couldnt take the risk that it will work everytime. Once there is a row over food it can take a while before harmony is restored. All adult dogs here are fed twice a day dry in the morning and raw in the evening. Dont worry if your puppy isnt eating much eventually by going without for a few feeds it will eventually get into the new routine.

i feed my 3 once a day and i always sit and watch them.... daisy tends to try nick shelby's and vito's food. they eat it in the one sitting and if they dont finish it after 10 mins i take it away.... they always finish it tho... makes things easier for me and i kno how much they are eating. i feed in the evening so they have done there walks, training etc so as said before its like a reward and also they tend to eat coz there hungry.

Goin to feed twice a day from now on and see how they get on thanks for the replies everyone

I have two dogs in my house Milo is my fella and just recently i've had to take in a 13 year old collie who belongs to my mother just for temporary basis, i have the two of them sepeated when i'm not around for the following reasons i'm sure many of you can agree on.

1) Milo is young and Penny (collie) is old and he can sometimes get excited around her.
She has often given him a warning and i am afraid if i was not around and she snapped at him, he could snap back and as we all know about the lock jaw our dog's have it would be a horrible situation.
2) Pitbull's are un-predictable as we all know, Milo is a placid dog and i've never had any moments so far where anything has got out of control with another dog, he has often showed another dog he is much stronger then them but nothing more. Milo and penny were introduced over a period of 3months now and bringing a strange dog into another dog's teritory can cause dominace and i wouldnt want to make the old dog feel uncomftable.
3) Penny is not my dog and i would be responsible to anything which may happen if i was to leave them unattended for a long period.

But what i did make clear to my mother before agreeing to let her dog stay with me, was what my dog is capable of and it was her choice to let her stay with me so she also has taken a risk. If anything was to ever happen. Please god it wont.

Point of this is, I keep them seperated because of age difference and Milo loves his food i feed him twice a day, split the portions and he gets spoiled rotton in between by us if there is much left overs. Where as penny would leave her bowl there all day one day or the next it could be gone in space of an hour. I have often caught Milo trying to get at her food if i let him out. Its just greed he has no ending to his stomach, so i think in some cases if a dog is much older to seperate them but if there only a pup it should be easy enough to introduce but always keep an eye on what's going on.

Caren wrote:as we all know about the lock jaw our dog's have it would be a horrible situation.

You're not serious are you?

have to agree with everything you said in your post except 2 things, pit bulls are no more unpredictable then any other dog, generally dogs don't just pop up with an unpredictable behavior there's always a reason for a sudden change, the hole lock jaw thing is so not true, ask your self this? if they had a lock jaw how would they be able to live?? for instance if their jaw locked and they couldn't open it what would happen if it locked and they had a mouth full of food? yes the breed was bred to grip and hold but they can let go if they want at any giving time, the jaws do not lock...

Before you jump the Gun, i wasnt just aiming it at my dog as being un-predicticable as you read i wrote if i wasnt around and the collie could snap then it would go from there.
I have a two year old child, and no matter what breed of a dog is around i would not leave her for a second alone with a dog.
Your telling me that a pitbull does not have a lock jaw, so what are breaking sticks made for then tell me? If a labrador got a hold of another dog for example you could seperate them much easier where as a pit has a much strong lock with there jaw which is why most people would call it a lock jaw.

caren the make up of the jaw of an APBT is no differant than any other dog its just that when an APBT is in hold it grips with such tenacity that it seem like the dogs jaw is locked but it can let go when ever it likes the reason for tools such as breaking/parting sticks is so the person who has the dog can get it off what ever its holding onto rather than waiting for the dog to release by its self.
its true some ppl call it "lock jaw" and say these dogs have lock jaw but i put that down to ppl not knowing what there talking about !

Actually no, breeds bred for things other than fighting, Labs, Spaniels and Mastiffs etc. Have a much different style of fighting, they 'snap' rapidly never really getting a hold on the other dog, just making puncture wounds. Pitbull breeds on the other hand tend to grab and get a 'hold' and then proceed to shake, but they try and stay in the same bite without letting their oppenent go, which might give them the upper hand.

Breaking sticks or parting sticks as they are sometimes called are used to safely open the dogs mouth once the two are secured. They aren't used on other breeds because others don't stay in the same spot long enough, it ends up with the other breed turning and biting the handler (non Pitbull breeds)

Hope that helps.

james b wrote:caren the make up of the jaw of an APBT is no differant than any other dog its just that when an APBT is in hold it grips with such tenacity that it seem like the dogs jaw is locked but it can let go when ever it likes the reason for tools such as breaking/parting sticks is so the person who has the dog can get it off what ever its holding onto rather than waiting for the dog to release by its self.
its true some ppl call it "lock jaw" and say these dogs have lock jaw but i put that down to ppl not knowing what there talking about !

That's good James, I was typing at the same time as you.

^^^ why thank you harry not doing to bad yourself

Totally agree with Lilly, Harry and James B on this one, no such thing as lock jaw !!

Caren I think what we are trying to say is that it is important to stick to the correct terms when talking about this particular breed of dog, because of the perseption some people have of this breed without knowing all the facts. Lock Jaw is the correct term ususally used for an illness called Tetanus because it is one of the attributes of it, and in fairness not even a breaking stick would work if the dog had 'lock jaw'. The PBT along with SBT's are probably the only breeds that you sometimes need a breaking stick to pry them apart. This is not because they have lock jaw it is simply due to the way they have been bred and developed over the last few hundred years. Every dog is different but they can all still exert a huge amount of pressure which indeed can give the impression the dogs have lock jaw. I know it sounds like I am knit picking but we have so many people visiting out site we are only trying to have the facts right.

Lots of terriers behave similarly I.e. Grabbing and holding. My uncles old JRT used to grab the end of a brush and you could swing him around in circles, t'was class lol.

God that was a long read for me ... like you said 'Lock Jaw is the correct term ususally used for an illness called Tetanus'
So was no need for you guy's to jump down my neck straight away. As james b said the breaking sticks are to get the dog off whatever they are holding rather then waiting on the dog to realease its self.
I think you missed my point on what i was getting at, i said the collie could snap and Milo would snap back and get a hold and if i wasnt around there be no letting go because of how powerful there mouths can be, where as if a collie was to get a hold its much easier to seperate and they would not hold on as long.
All take deep breathes here ... jeez

found this .
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210987_f520 copy by macui1, on Flickr

Phew .... That was needed Christy .....

Caren .... Personally .... I always thought they had lock Jaw aswell ...

But having an APBT myself i found out that they dont ..

Its Just sheer Determination not to give in, that gives them such unwillingness to let go ...

And while im here ...

The stick method of separating 2 PBT's comes from the early days of the fighting pitbull .. The stick breaking imitates a broken bone in the other dogs body (as in broken neck) which means the other dog would unfortunatly be deceased. so there for the other dog would release because of this ... .. (someone please correct me if im wrong) ..

Anytime i've been around this behaivour a well positioned poke in the offending dogs bum hole works just as good ... Unsanitary i know .. but quicker and alot better for the dog rather than putting a stick into its mouth and trying to pry its jaws apart ..

Whatever works .. i suppose ...

Not a rant ...but ..... big exhale.... my fingers hurt

Rosco

I didnt think it was an exceptionally long post as your original post on this thread was nearly twice as long. I didnt miss your point, when it comes to a collie and a bull breed especially pit bull then there is no contest. It was just the way it came across I think that made a few people respond the way they did...... lock jaw and unpredictable..... All breeds imo are unpredictable.

2 deep breaths taken [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

ross the breaking stick is for prying the jaw open you dont snap it in there mouth to imatate a bone breaking ,
but i think i know where your coming from years ago when i was a kid i was told by someone that back in the day when badger hunting was legal the lads would put sticks in there wellie's so that when / if the badger bit it would hear the snap and release it turned out to be a spoof to put the ferociousness of the badger into perspective

as for violating the dog ,first i've heard but whatever your into