Is there a way to train our dog's to eat their respective foods?
 

My roommate's dog loves any and all kinds of food. He keeps trying to go after my puppy's food! I really do not want him eating his food, nor do I want Alfie eating the other dog's food. Does anyone have tips?

I usually will close the crate (where I keep his food) when we're both gone. I forgot to do so today, and found his bowl empty as can be lol. My fault, yes. However, tips to keep him from eating food he is not allowed to (if they even exist), will be great.

~bump~:D

LOL, good luck, I had to get rid of my cat because I could not keep the yorkies out of the cat food. Not to mention the litter box when we were gone. they loved Tootsie Roll Surprises

LOL TOOTSIE ROLL SURPRISES. LOVE IT.

I'm not sure what you could do. BUMP~

If there is, I don't know how! My sister's and my yorkie won't stay out of each other's food. I just switched mine's food and they are now on the exact same kind. That's the only way I know how to solve the problem. :rolleyes:

Yah I totally agree...maybe feeding them the same thing...but I still think they will go after each others food.
Only other way is not to leave the food down all the time. Just put it down at meal times.

Thanks everyone. I would have the dogs eat the same food if I had anything to do with it haha. Alfie's still on puppy food. But my roommate feeds her dog Iams:thumbdown. I would love to convince her to switch to a better food. Hopefully by the time Alfie switches to regular dog food, she'll be convinced. I have several months to do the convincing. :D

In the meantime, I will be more diligent on keeping Alfie's crate (where his food is kept) closed when I'm not around.

It's weird though, the other dog only goes for the food when my roommate is home. He never goes after it when she's gone and I'm there. When we're both there, he'll go after the food. It's almost like he knows mommy most likely won't be paying attention and he can get away with all sorts of things when she's around. Roomie gets in a zone and blocks everything out. I'm just the kind of person that is aware of everything going on. Does this make any sense? I'm rambling. I'll be quiet now lol:p

Well.... I don't really think there's a way to keep them off food, but I might be ignorant here :D

I used to feed Mocha in schedules, but lately I've been sort of freefeeding her. She goes for her bowl, my shihtzu's bowl... sigh.

I think the most important thing is for Alfie not get into the IAMS..

Of course you can. Dogs are VERY intelligent and can learn. The big question is are you and your roommate willing to put in the hours of training that it will take to accomplish the task?

We have trained Boo the Boxer to leave the Yorkies' food alone through hours upon hours of patient and creative training with little or no scolding or "punishment".

This type of training goes against the nature of dogs, so it will take huge amounts of time and effort. First of all you have to feed both dogs at the same time, each dog in their own place, and get them both to the point where they finish their meals in a reasonable time period - reasonable meaning the amount of time you have that you can directly supervise every single meal -- without exception. You quietly praise each dog for eating their own food (without causing them to get excited). During the process every single time you even think that one of the dogs is going to leave their bowl you distract them - timing is critical - it has to be done immediately - before the dog even makes a move to the other bowl. When you distract the thought process you quietly praise when the dog goes back to eating from their own bowl. Once you get each dog to finish their own meals from their own bowls you can move forward, but this critical step must be consistent before you move on.