Food fight

[2CrazyCorgis]

My adorable little Corgis have recently started a pretty disturbing trend. I used to feed Rudy in his crate and Bella in the corner of the kitchen, then I switched to different rooms in the house. Now Rudy is outside and Bella is inside. To make a long story short, no matter what I do, when they come back together they want to fight. No blood has been drawn and no one has been injured so far. Both food bowls are totally empty and licked clean so there is no food left to fight over. Every time I have changed the routine, things were fine for a couple of days, then back to the fighting. They get along fine the rest of the time. It isn't clear who starts it, sometimes I'm sure it's Bella and then other times it is clearly Rudy.

Has anyone else had this issue? I'm kind of at my wits end with it.

[travelers]

Laurie,
I feed Quiddi & Fiona at different ends of the room and they switch bowls when they are finished (in about 30 seconds) to check that the other didn't leave anything. But, as soon as I open the kibble bin, Quiddi charges at Fiona, every time, unless I stand right in front of him, glaring. He has always been very definate about letting Fiona know that he will be eating NOW. Lucky she is such a goof, she just runs to me, wiggling and saying "Quiddi is ready for dinner now".
I think it's good that Rudy will soon be bigger then Bella and be holding his own since she was there first and may feel a bit Alpha. Which we all know YOU are! Oops, sorry Scott.
Beth+IDEA+

[LoveMySadie]

I feed both Sadie and Hank (our German shorthair) in their crates. When they are finished, they go outside and I pick up both bowls. We've never had a problem at all this way. With the size difference between Hank and Sadie (90 lbs. vs. 26 lbs.) I've always felt like I needed to err on the side of caution!

Leslie

[Jane Austen]

Quiddi charges at Fiona,

Beth that sounds so much like what Duchess does to Powder, the cat.
Every time Duchess is anticipating being fed and Powder is back to her, she will charge at the cat and side swipe him. Powder is huge and not at all put off by the dog. If the cat is turned toward the dog., Duchess will just do a short charge and then give a little growl. June

[Jespah]

Rupert always finishes first and then stares at Jemma while she growls and eats. They will sometimes guard their empty bowls and growl.

I suggest picking up the bowls the minute they are done. Say "mine" in a firm voice and remove them. That shows you are the alpha in charge of the food and feeding.

[Kassie]

We feed in oposite sides of the room and watch closely as we give skinny Minnie Aine (21 lb) a little more than Maeve (25lbs.) a good thing since we started adding pumpkin or yogurt is they eat quickly and are usually too busy eating to fight. They too check out each others bowls when finished, then sometimes Aine will carry her bowl around like Snoopy looking pitiful. We've had the occasional food fight, usually Aine bullying Maeve.

[jakort1]

I must be lucky, I feed Will and Rogue about a foot apart. I just tell Will leave it while Rogue finishes. So far, so good.

[sutulu]

I was just catching up on Corgi-L posts and there has been quite a bit of discussion about when there are more than 2 Corgis, feed them in crates. Period, end of story. Lots of discussion.....

As much as I wouldn't want to do it, if my two fought over their food dishes, I think I would go that route. I'm lucky they get along fine so far but it can be very dangerous.

With Joey in the house I have to move very fast to get Tuck's bowl down first, then Lulu, then Joe. He thinks he can stick his nose in the other dog's bowl. A few growls but I guess I am moving fast enough. \

They all respect each other while eating, once the bowl is empty it is open season to go lick the other bowls.

Good luck!

[CorgiMum]

Danny & Dylan are fine at feeding time.

Out of necessity Montrose and Dylan would have their bowls down first as she needed to be carried out, (they never fought) & Dylan went out on his own, so Puppy had to wait for his until they came back in.

Now with only the two boys, Danny will run around like crazy while I'm getting their meals, but the second that I give Dylan his bowl, Danny lays flat out, a good 5-6 feet away, without anything being said, and quietly waits while his brother eats. Then Mr Slow Poke Dylan goes out and Danny eats his meal.

You could try putting their bowls down one at a time, it might help, but out in the open, never in a corner. How are things when you feed them away from home, on the road?

[taflar]

I was just catching up on Corgi-L posts and there has been quite a bit of discussion about when there are more than 2 Corgis, feed them in crates. Period, end of story. Lots of discussion.....

And I agree!

If you have dogs fighting over food or even empty food bowls, feed them in their crates. Even if you only have two dogs. And pick up the bowls as soon as they're done eating. That way there is nothing to fight over.

Also when you feed dogs in thier crates you know for sure if a dog is eating or not and how much.

Peggy

[2CrazyCorgis]

First of all, things are much better with the help of everyone's suggestions. Our problem was still occurring even after the food was eaten and the bowls were picked up. It was more of an initial meet-up problem. We also determined that Rudy was the instigator, although Bella was no angel either. We are currently tethering them at opposite ends of the kitchen for their meals. Rudy will usually finish first and go to the end of his leash to lunge toward Bella's bowl. Once he is calm, I will un-tether him and walk him toward where Bella is. After they make their initial contact they are fine and we let them both off the leash. We will keep this up for a while and see how it progresses.


I can still reach in and pick up both of their bowls with no problem.

[CorgiMum]

As I have mentioned, I've been lucky enough to to have had this particular problem with my dogs, but a few things have come to mind while reading about Bella & Rudy.

I don't have the answer but was wondering if tethering them might make them more tense, as when walking etc with a dog on lead.

Is there a clear idea between them as to who is the alpha? I'm wondering if establishing that might help solve the issue. I do feel that is the reason that Montrose & Dylan never fought, she was clearly alpha to him, as Dylan is now to Danny.

Good Luck, and please keep us updated.

[CorgiMum]

Laurie, I've been wondering, how are Pretty Bella & Sweet Rudy doing at their mealtimes?:SMILE:

[2CrazyCorgis]

I think we've figured out what is working. Instead of picking up both bowls right away, I let Rudy go over to Bella's bowl and see that it's empty (like she would ever leave a crumb!). Once he sees that, he's fine. We haven't had any growlies since we started doing that. Hopefully that will stick.

[CorgiMum]

YAY!! +COWDANCE+

Good news, that must be a big relief for you. Hope it continues to work for them & they have clicked onto a pattern that suits them both!

[travelers]

Laurie,
That's exactly what Quiddi & Fiona do, every darn night.
Beth

[fionafancypants]

I have Tovas sister lilly from time to time and never really have a problem but tova used to get really chargy (Quiddi charges at Fiona) at the cat when he would come by her EMPTY dish so i used to make her deal with it and when bubbles the kitty was little, id put him near the dish and tell tova no no when she growled, was suggested by someone and it seemed to work now they virtually eat from the same bowl at same time from time to time.

+GOOFY+