We adopted a 10 yr old maltese in Nov 2013, bringing us to 3 maltese. Since all 3 of them must take meds in the morning, we feed them wet dog food and place the pills in their food.Jazzie, our rescue, shows signs of food aggression on many days. She will gooble her wet food down, then move Kissie out of the way to eat the food on Kissie's plate.When we first brought Jazzie in the house, we were feeding her in a separate area but that got old.Please advise me on the best way to handle this behavior. BTW, we leave dry dog food in a bowl all day and she does not do this. She will wait until Kissie finishes, then goes to the bowl.Thanks for any tips.

Our rescue dog we were told had food aggression too, we just made sure for the first month that there was always food in her bowl, and after a while she ate when she wanted at her leisure. With 2 other dogs not sure what the solution would be.

Chanel, is my maltese rescue and had several "issues" when I first got her. Mostly terrified of men or anything moving toward her quickly. She is much better now, but still is not sure about strangers. I think it takes a lot of love and patience and each dog has to be handled in a different way, based on their backgrounds. I wish you a lot of luck and hope you update us on your new family member's progress.

Competing for food when it is scarce or people neglecting to feed them except when they happen to remember will make them gulp their food and eat as much as they can get to at any time. We had one who did that and she would try to eat the others food - we would gently tell her no - pick up his plate and escort her to another room. We then put his plate back down for him to finish. She never attempted to fight with us though. Is she aggressive towards you if you tell her no and try to take it away?

Is she crate trained? If so would it work to feed her in there until the other one finishes up or lock her in a bathroom?

doxiemom11, no she isn't aggressive to us. She just moves in on Kissie's food so quick after she has gobbled down her wet food that I hardly have time to say no before she has engulfed Kissie's food.Usually while they are eating, I'm trying to put clean water in their water bowl and fill their dry food bowl.When she does this I tell her no and with my hands I move her away from the plate. Of course one of my fears is that Kissie hasn't gotten her pred pill before Jazzie has taken over and that sure wouldn't be good.I guess I need to sit on the floor in between Jazzie and Kissie so it doesn't happen but this really isn't the best solution to the problem. Either that or go back to feeding her in another room but again that doesn't solve the problem.Her foster mom did tell us she had food aggression in her house but I thought it was because they took in a lot of foster dogs and she was "fighting" for her place as the "new kid on the block." I thought she had been here long enough to understand all 3 are treated equal and she will never be left out.Thanks everyone for the replies.

Help with food aggression | Good Sam Community

17 Replies

SCVJeff
Explorer
Mar 19, 2014
Cesar Romono had a show about this between two dogs. Don't remember what he did, but it worked. Keep an eye out for that show.
keepmotoring
Explorer
Mar 19, 2014
xteacher, I am happy to know you take foster dogs!! I am not worried about one of them eating to much. A can of wet food feeds 3 dogs both morning and evening. It really is for putting their meds in the food and Kissie needs to eat before her insulin shot 2x daily. The rest of the day they can eat dry food. Their weight is fine.

Tonight I sat in the floor between Kissie and Jazzie while they ate. When Jazzie was finished and she wanted to go over to Kissie's plate, I told her no and blocked her. I will continue this and see what happens.

I thought I would use the leash approach but putting a harness on her 2x daily (we would keep a harness on all the time when in the mh but not at home) seems a little much.

I am also thinking about after she finishes putting her in another room.

I really appreciate the replies. One thing for sure Jazzie is a sweet dog and we are so happy to have her in our lives!!!
doxiemom11
Explorer II
Mar 19, 2014
Our did learn that it was not acceptable for her to eat of the others plate. It did take a couple of months of being alert to what she was doing and correcting her. She did learn though. Funny thing was - after she learned, they both ate their food - then switched and licked up any small little scraps from each others plates. We let them continue to do that. They also by that time had decided they were best friends and were bonding and starting to watch out for each other.

I agree that it isn't food aggression. You would get a violent reaction, growling, snarling etc if anyone comes near the food, or fighting with the other dog to take the food away.
xteacher
Explorer
Mar 19, 2014
Our dogs are fed in separate areas and I supervise until all food is gone; it doesn't take long. With our new foster, he's fed in his crate b/c he's not eating well yet (scared right now), so he doesn't have to worry about one of the others getting his food (even though I wouldn't allow it, he doesn't understand this yet). I wouldn't leave food down. You can't monitor how much each dog is eating, and one could get fat while the other may not being getting its share.
keepmotoring
Explorer
Mar 18, 2014
Deb and Ed M, I was posting when you were also posting. I really like the idea of the leash and will try it to see if I can resolve this behavior. I kinda agree that it is piggishness. I just want to get rid of this problem and at some point be able to feed them all at the same time, in the same place without problems.
keepmotoring
Explorer
Mar 18, 2014
emzee, yes dry food is left out all the time. If Kissie is at the dry food bowl, Jazzie waits until Kissie is finished with dry food before eating.

Kissie also needs insulin shot so that is why we feed wet food in the morning and evening, both of which Jazzie has started having issues
emzee
Explorer
Mar 18, 2014
Our pom finishes eating and walks over to Maddie's dish, waiting on Maddie (yorkie) finishing. It started to make Maddie hurry to try and finish and gag and choke or she would just leave her dish. Ended up Maddie has a collapsing trachea and wolfing down that food so fast really didn't help her. Now she eats with our other yorkie (5 months) and KC has to wait. KC (pom) gets her insulin shot and then eats alone. Takes time but working so far.

Curious, do you leave dry food out all the time?
keepmotoring
Explorer
Mar 18, 2014
Code2High and Pawz4me, thanks for your replies. I like the idea of putting a leash on Jazzie. I think this will get her attention.

I will give all my attention to them until I see the behavior change.

Again, thanks for all the replies. I have never had this problem. We have had 11 maltese in the 36 yrs we have been married. The most we have had at one time is 5 and we never had to separate them. They all ate their food and never tried to eat anothers.
Deb_and_Ed_M
Explorer II
Mar 18, 2014
That's not food aggression - that's just piggishness. And really easy to solve: put a leash on the pig until everyone is done. If Jazzie moves towards the other dogs' food - simply give the leash a tug and say "no".

I've got food aggression with my old/blind/deaf/demented Cattle Dog: if either of the other dogs walks near him while eating, or near "perceived" food, or near the groceries in the back of the car - he will bite without warning. One day I saw the bite coming and stuck my leg up to block Jimmy from getting bit - and he got me instead. I still have bruise....
Pawz4me
Explorer
Mar 18, 2014
Wet food is much more "high value" than dry food.

I think you have two choices -- You either separate them (different rooms) when feeding wet food or you stand close by and keep your attention directly on them and prevent anything before it starts. The latter is what I do whenever I bring a new dog into the house, until I'm positive the newcomer has learned acceptable behavior.