Anyone have any ideas how to keep one dog from eating another's food?

Question

Long story... I have 2 large dogs. Both about 100 lbs each. One has to have his food left out all day because he has Addison's disease and he must be allowed to eat whenever he likes so he does not get stressed. His specialized food is also very expensive, about $38 per bag. I am watching the other dog for a friend for a few months. His regular food is a much cheaper retail brand. The visiting dog keeps sneaking and eating my dog's expensive food. He used to just sneak & eat it at night when everyone was asleep. We have since put the expensive food up at night, but now he sneaks around and gets it in the daytime, when my dog is not near his food. I have tried verbally scolding the visiting dog when I caught him doing this and he ran into another room and hid and threw up because I guess I upset him, but later he went and got the food again. I felt really bad and I don't know what else to do.

Does anyone have any ideas how I can stop this? I'm stumped!

Answer 1

Sounds like the other posters had pretty much the right idea about keeping the two dogs separated.

One thing they didn't mention is possibly rotating the dogs into free areas of the house. For example, during the day allow your dog to roam the house with his food out and keep the guest dog crated or in a separate room. When you need to let the guest dog outdoors, pick your pup's food up and put it someplace safe while you escort your guest through the house and outside. In the evenings, put your pup (and his bowl of food) in a crate or in a separate room and allow the guest dog to have the night to roam the rest of the house. This way everyone has a chance to stretch, have exercize, and only be exposed to their own appropriate food.

As for the people recommending tying the guest dog outside to a tree...what's wrong with you people? Tie-outs are not a good thing. They lead to obsessive habits (barking, lunging, tolerance to choking oneself which will lead to even worse leash walking...) and can cause the dog to physically harm himself if he runs and jerks on the end or gets wrapped around a tree or other object. The tie-out is the lazy man's tool that doesn't want to go outside and actually train his dog and be the leader. /rant

Hope the tips help. :)

Answer 2

I think I'd put a baby gate in the right place to keep the visiting dog from having access to the food during the daytime. Another thing I'd do is get a runner at walmart. You place it between two posts or trees as an elevated wire. There's a 15' or 20' 2nd wire so he can run the length of the overhead and 15 to 20 feet either side of the overhead. This gives him ample exercise.

The baby gate allows the dogs to visit through it, but keeps the visitor away from your dog's food. This way you hopefully won't have to restrict him to one room only when he's inside..

You can't have him eating your dog's food as then your dog won't have food when he needs it and the other dog will overeat, it sound like, which isn't good either.

I hope you can do a combo of these two things to make your life easier. In the future, I wouldn't recommend dog sitting at your home since you're dealing with Addison's disease.

Answer 3

The dog is eating the cat food because so many new things are going on in his life. First, dogs frequently prefer cat food, it is higher in fat content for a cat's needs and we all know that if something is fattening it tastes great. So, the cat food is gone and the kitty pesters you for more food - sounds logical to me. Before spending any money try this change to see if it helps. The cat eats dry food which is not stinky at all. Try a small bowl on the kitchen counter in an area that's kind of out of the way. I know you need your stuff, but this is a life we're talking about here. She is all stressed out due to the big life changes and now her food is being stolen too. How would you feel? If she can't jump up onto the counter easily put a chair near the counter and show her how to jump onto the chair and then onto the counter. Yes this will make your kitchen a bit chaotic, but babies do too! Who cares, if you love her your feeding arrangements are your business and no one else matters.. I would also put a small bowl of food either on a dresser in your bedroom or on some other piece of furniture. I'd again make it easy for her to get to the food. Once she realizes that she will always have access to food her anxiety levels will drop and she should stop pulling out her hair. I understand that you are torn by all the stress and activity with your child, another on the way plus a dog and a cat. It is a big job you've got there. I know that you love all the pets and the kids too. Once the cat begins acting better, the level of anxiety in your home will rapidly drop. Now for your dog, splurge on his food a bit. Get him a high rated dry dog food, it will cost more, but he is worth it. If you have a Costco near you they sell a very highly rated dog food - their own brand Kirkland chicken and vegetable with real chicken. It is about the same price as an average dog food but it has been rated highly for years. Other good foods are: Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and rice. Go on line to the "AKC Grades Dog food" site and see what they have listed. 99% of the very good foods are expensive but the Kirkland is very reasonable. Please take note that the Purina Beneful which is advertised so much and sounds so good has the lowest rating on the page whoops, no Purina Come and Get it is 1 point lower. The Nutro foods are sold at places like Pet Smart and do cost more than supermarket food but are very good too. I wish you good luck with these changes and much happiness with your growing family.

Answer 4

You are going to have to bite the bullet and fix things so the visiting dog can't get to the food. Either lock him away or put up a gate between him and the food. You can't risk your dog getting sick because you're doing a favor for someone and watching their dog. As far as training him not to eat that food, not much chance at all I'm afraid.

Answer 5

Keep him in a kennel at night so he won't eat the other dogs food! Or tie him outside with food and water and shelter of course! Or keep your dog in another room with his food were the other dog can't come in and get it. Well let his family know he really likes the food you have maybe they can start buying it for him too !! cause he mite not like his food and they don't know it! good luck.

Answer 6

well u can separate them with a baby gate thingy and that should do the trick but i kinda depends on the length of your backyard so that's what helped my dogs but they didn't constantly have to eat..think about it this way u don't have to have the other dog forever.

Answer 7

Can your dog leap higher than the other dog. What I mean by this is can you put your dog's food higher (need to leap) than the other dog can leap. (or any other special physical feat your dog can do to place food out of reach)

Answer 8

Put the visiting dog on a leash and tie the leash to a tree or other sturdy object.

Answer 9

Geeeeezus......try FEEDING IN A CRATE!!!!
Duh? How THICK are you???

USE a CRATE,SHUT the DOOR,SLAP the CRAP out the other dog....CONFINE IT!!!

Fer krissake...THINK,OK?