Looking for ideas for food and water location where bigger dog can't reach
 

I am having issues with my big dog going around the house and eating up all the puppies food and drinking all 3 water dishes of water up in one sitting. This is enough water to last more than a day for the 2 puppies and my other Yorkie. This is also about a days worth of food. We have gone through about 3-4 months worth of puppy food in 3 weeks time because I have to keep putting food back out for the puppies because the big dog gobbles it up as soon as I turn my back. He doesn't dare do it while I am watching because I tell him not to and make him go lay down. He does this if I go in the kitchen to get a drink or go to the laundry room to start a load of laundry.

Any ideas on what I can do to make it easy for the puppies to get to their food and water but make it very difficult for the 80 lb English Setter to get to it? He gets fed twice a day and has a raised water dish that none of the Yorkies can reach and I change the water in the raised dish, but it has not been empty for at least 2 weeks because he is always drinking the Yorkie's water and I am getting fed up with it.

I currently have their food and water under a chair but it is not ideal how it is set up right now and I am hoping for a better solution to the problem.

How about a small crate, just big enough for the yorkies to get into? We have to feed Sissy in a crate so Bubba doesnt eat her food.

I use Baby gates for my Yorkie Cricket. She eats perscription food and my parents have a Bassett hound that will eat ANYTHING! I keep Cricket's food in my bathroom and she can go and eat whenever she wants.

I was thinking along the same lines. You could set up a baby gate with enough space for the puppies to walk under, but not enough space for the larger dog to crawl under. I do something similar to keep my Yorkie out of the cat food. The cat has her own room with a baby gate. The Yorkie can't jump the baby gate, but the cat can.

Some very good ideas. I think the crate one will probably end up being the answer. A crate small enough for the little dogs to go into and eat/drink and the big dog won't fit into.

I had a set up when I just had 1 Yorkie where his crate was set up next to a wall and the baby gate. Then I opened one end of it to make a "space" between the wall and the baby gate and his food and water was there and even when I put him in the other end of his crate and closed the door, he had access to the food and water. I put a blanket over the top of it and clothes pinned it to the crate and baby gate to keep the big dog from trying to get over it and to keep the Yorkie from thinking he could jump out and this worked great.

However, the puppies can go around the crate by the wall because they are actually cupboards with space under them and they fit under the door of the crate so this doesn't work yet for keeping them in that area and Monkey Girl Yorkie Puppy would just climb over it. I was using this for when they weren't in the crate, but then it was too much trouble to move the dishes and close the door.

It has been crazy around here with re-arranging the house every other day to accommodate the puppies changing needs. I set up an area specifically for them and Monkey Girl puppy climbed out of it the very second day. Over the exercise pen, over the baby gate. Out of the baby playpen. The smaller puppy can go through the bars of the baby gate. It has been crazy trying to figure out where to house them and they ended up with the older dogs of course.

They have gates with little door holes/openings in them for cats (but most Yorkies would prob fit) and big dogs can't. So the yorkies could go as they please but not the big dog.

I have a similar problem with my new little dog. She's very fussy and barely eats a thing, so its really important that she gets to eat in peace. My other two dogs will try to eat her food if they get the chance. I realized she has to be fed separately...So I put her food into the play yard and zip her in, so she can nibble in peace. In her case though, the only way I can really get her to eat is to hand feed her:eek: She's very tiny even compared to my teapot Sunni, and wont fight for her space (yet) I'm hoping that will change, but for now its no biggie to just let her eat separately at her own pace.

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