Long story short: one dog won’t eat unless the other dog has access to her food, in which case she barks/resource guards at the other dog and then runs over to finish her food. She won’t eat until she has the opportunity to lure the other dog into a situation where she can then bark at the other dog.
Explanation: I have two dogs (best friends), one is a pokey eater (P) and one is a chunky hungry girl (C). We’ve always fed them either out of eyesight of each other and/or divided by a baby gate. C always finishes eating quickly and then would wait at the gate for P to finish eating. P started getting slower about eating and would sit and wait at the gate right next to C on the opposite side, so I would just assume P was finished eating. Whenever I’d do that, I’d open the gate to go inside and if C stuck her head in, P would bark at her and then run over to finish eating. Now, we feed them divided by a gate and around a corner so if P is eating, she won’t be able to see C at all. Now, P won’t eat her food and will just wait by the gate next to C, until I open the gate and she barks at C and then runs back over to eat her food.
They love to play, and I think P may have realized that this resource guarding behavior gives her a chance to practice dominating C. I’ve been trying to stop this behavior by not rewarding any resource guarding, and just putting away P’s food as soon as she stops showing interest, so there’s nothing to guard. Is this the right way to go about this or is it exacerbating the problem?
Explanation: I have two dogs (best friends), one is a pokey eater (P) and one is a chunky hungry girl (C). We’ve always fed them either out of eyesight of each other and/or divided by a baby gate. C always finishes eating quickly and then would wait at the gate for P to finish eating. P started getting slower about eating and would sit and wait at the gate right next to C on the opposite side, so I would just assume P was finished eating. Whenever I’d do that, I’d open the gate to go inside and if C stuck her head in, P would bark at her and then run over to finish eating. Now, we feed them divided by a gate and around a corner so if P is eating, she won’t be able to see C at all. Now, P won’t eat her food and will just wait by the gate next to C, until I open the gate and she barks at C and then runs back over to eat her food.
They love to play, and I think P may have realized that this resource guarding behavior gives her a chance to practice dominating C. I’ve been trying to stop this behavior by not rewarding any resource guarding, and just putting away P’s food as soon as she stops showing interest, so there’s nothing to guard. Is this the right way to go about this or is it exacerbating the problem?
I don't like for them to feel pressured to hurry up & eat.