Just wondering...

[L.M.]

For those of you with more than 1 dog.....do your dogs not eat at the same exact time?  We put Stella and Seamus' food down always at the same time.  They each have their own bowl.  Normally, Seamus will begin to eat first, so Stella lays down and will wait until he's done to eat her food  (EVERY TIME).  We thought...okay, he is more dominant so she lets him eat first.  Well, the other day, Stella must have been really hungry, so she began to eat first.  Seamus lay down and wait until Stella was done!!  We just find this so funny and wondered if anyone else's dogs do this??  I always try to analyze my dogs' behavior...lol and this just struck me as pretty funny.   

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

This sounds a lot like our dogs. I keep their dog food down most of the time, but they both wait to eat until suppertime. Fudge always lets Vern go first. I don't think it has anything to do with who is dominant, in our case, but rather, Fudge likes to be alone when she eats. She usually waits until we have all left the kitchen and then she circles back and eats. Rarely, do I see her eat first, but it has happened when she must be starving.  At those times, Vern hardly ever waits his turn and starts eating at the bowl next to hers. If she stops eating, I have moved her bowl farther away. My dogs never fight over anything, but Fudge just prefers to eat alone :) I have seen Vern eat, so I can't say as I blame her...LOL!!

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

When Oliver was a baby and a growing boy he would inhale his food.  I have only a one bowl stand with 1 food bowl and one water bowl.  So I always fed Sasha first because I had her before Oliver but when Ollie was a growing boy I would have to physically hold him back when Sasha was eating because he would push her out of the way and inhale her food.  So I used this time while Sasha was slowly eating to do some training on Oliver.  As he grew I figured well let me feed him first so he would not bother Sasha so I changed the order on who gets fed first.  This worked for a while then the summer came and Ollie does not eat much in the summer so I switched back to Sasha eating first and Ollie was past the puppy inhaling his food stage in life and everything was fine.  Then Sasha turned out to be a little Missy Piggy and what ever Ollie did not eat Sasha would clean up his bowl.  So now Sasha eats first and Ollie hangs out until she is done and waits his turn.  I gues all that training sunk in :)   Funny thing thou.... Since I have always stayed around to supervise the eating time, Ollie will not eat unless I am standing in the kitchen !!!  

[Joanie]

We have two dogs and my husband and I free feed and it's pretty funny.  Sometimes they will not eat at the same time, but sometimes they actually line up to eat!  For example, Roxie (our bulldog) will get to the bowl first and start eating.  Lani (our ALD) will stand directly behind her.  If Roxie is taking too long Lani will bark and Roxie will move away from the bowl.  Lani then steps up to the bowl to eat and Roxie stands directly behind her like she's in line.  If Lani takes too long Roxie barks, and Lani goes to the back of the line so Roxie can eat.  It's pretty funny :)  I like to analyze their behavior too.

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

Oh how cute its that :)

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

How funny!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Occasionally my dogs eat at the same time especially if I put tidbits of human food on top of theirs. But Calla will almost always eat when food is served and Luca eats some of his food when he feels like it and some later on etc. So I have to be vigilant and keep his food in view or close his crate or Calla will eat Luca's food too.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

My two eat at the same time.  It takes them about 5 minutes, and they don't go near each other's dishes.  I can't imagine either of them having the patience to wait for the other one to be finished.

[Bonnie and Kona]

The instant we put the dog bowls down each one dives into theirs like a flash and gobbles every morsel. We have slow-feed bowls but they don't work. No one waits for the other, ever!

[Ginny Nightingale]

Sounds like my three--takes 10-20 seconds for them to all be done--I can't imagine the turn-taking that everyone is describing--too funny!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Oh gosh, my two practically knock eachother out of the way to get to their bowls. Waiting for the other to finish would take large chains and a muzzle! They both have always eaten at the same time. No politeness when it comes to food here. I have never seen any dog do this. Very interesting. They do lay down and wait for my command to eat before they budge though. I do it pretty quickly as Bella drools with anticipation while she waits and I have to clean up a puddle if I wait too long.

[Lynette Main]

The only time all three of my doodles eat at the same time is if I put some kind of treat in their bowls.They all eat out of three different bowls and one Giant water bowl. I went with the largest restruant salad mixing bowl. It will hold at least six gallons of water. Its never filled that high because it would then become a swimming pool and water would be everywhere!!! There is no pecking order at our house,Its who every is hungrey.

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

These are cute stories!  I love the mind picture I got while thinking about the 2 dogs standing in a line.  How cute!  I am getting another doodle this summer, so I'm pretty curious about this subject myself.  I always wondered how hard it will be to separate their food because I do not want one dog eating the other's food.  I would worry one wouldn't get enough nutrition and the other would get too fat!