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Delila's getting mouthy.

2153 Views 16 Replies 12 Participants Last post by  JeepKuntry
Every time Ekim goes to eat from his bowl Delila runs over and sits and barks at him. He never bothers her food and doesn't bark when she eats. I make sure I feed them at opposite sides of the room and I give him his first, but she always runs over to him and barks. I tell her no and take her back to her bowl, sometimes she stops barking but not until I keep saying no to her. Poor Ekim hears me saying no and thinks I want him to stop eating. Two boxers are going to be fun. LOL
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personally I feed both dogs in the kennels with the doors closed. Kaci eats less and faster than Milo and if I didn't seperate them she'd go try to eat his food, then a fight would ensue.
Ekim hasn't used a kennel for the past 3 years. He has a favorite spot where we feed him and keep his water.
we have to  watch the girls, Savannah will try to sneak over and steal Reese's food. Usually though they are pretty good about staying away from each other.  i hope things geta little easier
Hi Everyone, Gee, I am a little dissapointed. It seems that I never get a lot of responses to any of my posts. Can it be Because we are new to this site?
Feeding them seperately is probably the best solution
lulu\";p=\"43855 said:
Hi Everyone, Gee, I am a little dissapointed. It seems that I never get a lot of responses to any of my posts. Can it be Because we are new to this site?
When Kiah is mouthy I give her time outs for about 1 to 2 minutes, no more, she is doing better.  You should check out the training posts, I got the idea from Liz in one of her posts.

I try to read all of the posts, but if I am going to say the same as everyone else I don't respond.  I am not sure what you have asked but there are so many members now that sometimes it is difficult to get through all the posts.  If you feel that we are not responding it may be that it was pushed back pretty far or the subjects have come up several times and their are stickys or other posts about the same things.  Have you done searches to see if your subject has come up before?  I don't believe that anyone on this forum purposely does not respond because someone is new; we love to hear about new members and their babies.
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lulu~~~

Barb is right.  We don't ignore "newbie's" just because they are newbies.  Most of us won't repond to a post that is/has been posted up several times before.  Especially if the last time it was posted was recent.  You should do a search or go through the sub forums to see if your question has been asked/answered or a stickey has been made about it prior to asking.

Also, with the barking, try timeouts.  When you give Delilah a verbal correction, say her name first then give the correction.  Like, "Delilah, NO!"  This will clearly define for Ekim who is being corrected and reduce the tendency of "correction confusion" in a multi-dog household.

Hope this helps.
We feed in separate areas.  Hanna is fed in the kitchen - Kash in the hallway off the kitchen.   They both have learned (after some growls) to stay in own area until each is finished.   We had to moderate for a bit, but now they are good at it.
I agree with what Liz just wrote. When my trainer was training "me" to train my first boxer, he told me that when ever you give a command, say his name first to get his attention. Buster-sit. Buster-down. Buster-come. Buster-No. Buster-No Bite. Whatever the command, even in a single dog family, it does seem to work better when you address your dog before giving the actual command.  :)
I didn't feel like we were being ignored at all and I am grateful for all the help. I should have said being new maybe these questions were asked before. Liz, I was going to ask you about using Delila's name with the correction, everytime I said no to her barking, poor Ekim stopped eating. He must have thought I meant No for him. I confused my poor guy. Liz, you and Tootsie are so good  with your advice that you answered my next post before I even posted it. You read my mind. Thank you all. BTW Liz, how are you feeling?
Yea I always have to make sure when I issue a command or whatever I attach the name, other wise I would have 2 very confused Boxers....Timeouts are really a good idea, I wouldn't crate her tho for that, you want her to continue to associate the crate with good things...I have a bolt on the side of my cupboard(looks kinda funny, but it works), that I use to tether Angel to when she started getting out of hand...Also perhaps feeding in separate rooms might help..I stand right there when mine are eating as Samson eats fast and he will try to muscle in on Angel's if she walks away....Piggie :)
:? im no help..mine eat side by side..they had issues the first week or 2..but i didnt seperate them(although there was growling & barking there was never fighting)..b/c i didnt want to have to be a slave to seperating them forever..

they do go into eachothers bowls and sometimes one will get more but they work it out..

before we moved here i had that issue with my american bully & my golden..2 males..the bully would always try to dominate the food...my golden could have cared less..lol unless it was something meat related then he would lash back..both dogs were over 80 pounds..so it sounded crazy..never hurt eachother ..i would feed them same time..same room (kitchen) but not next to eachother..

** question...if you continue to seperate arent you sort of reinforcing the behavior? ie: feeding seperate rooms etc?..wont they continue the negative behavior ? i mean i understand the fighting etc..but if you put the bowls down..same area...and they fight..so you seperate the bowls isnt that reinforcing it sort of?.. i dont know im jsut asking...shouldnt you start out far apart and slowly get them closer? i dont know just seems like it would be something that kpet going on and on even with snacks..or one of the kids dropping something...

8O again just asking..
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Ky~~~

In some cases it is best to seperate them.  No it isn't reinforcing the behavior.  It is actually avoiding the behavior.  In most cases, seperating is used to be able to work them back in (slowly) and feed them side by side.

There are cases where it is just more responsible and safer to feed them seperately and keep them seperated, but that is a worst case scenario.  In this particular case, I feel it is more likely that the puppy needs to learn manners for feeding time.  It is likely that the adult (Ekim) will teach her these manners when he is fed up with the noise (gently of course).  He doesn't appear to have food issues, based on what lulu has stated, so I expect he will just get fed up with the noise and rude behavior and teach her that it is inappropriate.  However, if it is a behavior that is inappropriate for the household then the owners should step in and enforce a more appropriate behavior like...oh I don't know...eating...lol...

If I were them I would enforce the fifteen minute rule...If she hasn't eaten her food within fifteen minutes of putting it down, for whatever reason, you pick it up and she is done till the next meal.  She will figure out VERY quickly that she needs to eat while it's on the floor.  You aren't starving her, just teaching her that when it's time to eat, she eats...
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same as the kids basically lol..eat it or lose it..

ok cooll i wsa wondering that..i never understood when people would feed one in a bathroom with a closed door etc..i DO understand if the dogs are adults and rescues etc...of course thats safer and the dogs have to re learn or just learn manners...but i didnt get it with dogs that do it after years and have lived with eachother that long...

ok got it now..lol
We feed Charlie and Sadie only a couple feet apart.  Up until we cut Sadie's food back, she never messed with Charlie's food.  Now I occasionally have to yell no at her.  She usually eats faster than Charlie so I try to hook her and get her outside potty so he can finish his dinner in peace.  Charlie used to be a speedy eater, but we're feeding him out of a lasagna pan/cookie sheet lookin thing so he has to work a little for his food.
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