is this normal?
 

okay so we've now had blue for a little over two months and from day one shes been fed twice a day once in the morning and once at night. i feel like i over feed her at about a cup to two cups of food at each feeding. this is how feedings go

step 1: get her dish
step 2: tell her to sit and wait at the entrance to the laundry room where the food is stored
step 3: bring the food bowls out and make sure the dogs remain calm while i walk to place there food
step 4: boomer gets the okay to eat
step 5: blue gets the okay to eat

both dogs must be sitting and waiting before they get to eat and blue has to do watch me which she does natural but i still give her the command and count atleast five to ten seconds.

the thing is blue eats like shes starving and i just dont know how to get her to slow down. she eats so crazed that the dish gets pushed about and the food spills everywhere. she doesnt growl or anything when you come near or pet her while eating shes just so focused and shes never had to defend her food from boomer or anyone. is it normal? should i just let it be and see if she grows out of it? should i be teaching her not to eat like that? the only worry is if i get near her face she hunkers down in to the bowl more but i can pick up the food bowl with out her getting upset she just tries to feverishly eat all the food like its her last meal. most dogs ive raised by this point have slowed down and know they will get there food and not worry. maybe im not feeding her enough?

Have you tried feeding them separately? Carter chows down like crazy if Bentley is in the room.

no i didnt think about that only because as is the two dogs are feed about 6feet apart from one another and i was always told they should eat in the same room so they dont get food aggressive with one another but maybe ill try that tonight and see how she does. i also pick there food bowls up when theres no food so im leaving them down today to see if maybe she feels the bowl going away means the food might not come back.

oh and ive tried letting her start eating first or giving the okay at the same time as well

I would try feeding them separately for a couple days. She might just be terrified that he's going to come take her food when he's done so she needs to finish it NOW.

if thats the case shes crazy... he eats slow normally i have to watch to make sure he doesnt wonder off and she doesnt eat his food. and normally when hes finished he just leaves and lays down next to me or in the livingroom but it doesnt hurt to try

There are special bowls, sold in pet stores, that are made to make you dog eat more slowly.

I would definately feed them in different locations. But, she might just be a hoover hound. My Rottie is.
As law said you can get special bowls at the pet stores that will help OR for much less money, go buy a bundt cake pan. It does the same thing and is much cheaper.

My friend uses a large rock, which is even cheaper still.. Just put in it there so the dog has to eat around it.

But I'd try get to the root of the cause first. If she's eating faster because the other dog is there, I'd end that.

yeah but the special bowl wont teach her impulse control... i was trying to teach her like with treats gentel, id hold the bowl tell her okay and if she started eating to fast i tried getting her attention and telling her gentel or slow then letting her eat again repeat till she will eat slow like taking a treat gentelly but her treats one even get her to stop. ive even tried lay down and wait before eating so now if i manage to get the bowl away before the foods gone she will lay down and watch me till i tell her okay again.

Try working on this: Lesson 3 As opposed to taking her food away.

It helps to teach the dog that ignoring, gets the treat.

Odin is a gulper. I got one of those toys he has to roll around and I fill it up with kibble. At least it keeps him for eating too fast.

she knows this already as leave it. and with everything if its in hand or on the ground i say leave it and she does. except for the food in her bowl because i thought about using that to get her to stop so i could tell her slow but even that one make her stop. shes smart and well trained thats why i dont get why she wolfs her food down its like she gets in the zone!

she knows

wait(wait for something till i give the okay)
sit
stay(from sit or lay down 30seconds 10feet away)
lay
drop it
leave it
settle(for when the two dogs play to rough)
come
out(mostly used for out of the kitchen when were having dinner)
off(off the couch or not to jump up on people)
she knows to sit when greeting people or other dogs
up(for up on the couch or in the car)
bed(go to your crate)

were learning tub right now which means get in the tub for bath time because theres no way i lifting your big butt in to the tub lol

If you read the link, it's not a command. You just hold it there until the dog ignores it, then they get the treat. It teaches impulse control.

they say "dogs are a personfication of there owners" feed them both in sinc , blue may feel he is playing second fiddle !your dogs do as you feel .

yeah i just sorta tested/modified it(bored stay at home mom i got nothing else to do today) i got one of blue treats which i always thought she was crazy for and a handful of her food... didnt even put it in the bowl and it was like id never taught her gental at all lol and when i held out the dog food vs. the treat she went for her dog food. so i started keeping my hand closes till she stopped licking and trying to get the dog food then would give her a few pieces till it was almost gone then i offered the treat and dog food again and she just waited till i gave it to her no excitement about it. only thing is im not sure how this will translate to her bowl vs. my hand but i better understand whats going on in her doggy head, her food is just that darn exciting for her

---------- Post added at 09:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 AM ----------

the only thing the two of them really do not together is walking, and thats because boomer is dog reactive and it takes me time to get him to calm and behave on walks. so we walk blue but not boomer. that and blue goes to puppy classes on thur. and boomer stays home. other then that i go by whos acting the right way if i get up in the morning and shes crying making a fuss in her crate boomers out first. if hes crying and acting like a butt in his crate she gets out first either way they both have to sit and wait calmly before i let them out. they go out back together, she normally gets in the car first only because she sits and waits better then boomer does. i feed boomer first only because hes slower and he was here first but i do change it up so that theres no playing fav. its like children you cant favor one over the other and i dont neither does the bf the rules apply to all.

I don't see this as abnormal at all. All 3 of my adults and the pup hoover up their food and always have. Fed separate or together, doesn't matter. They are all very food motivated and think they are constantly hungry. I actually planned on free feeding back when I just had the one, but he would literally eat himself sick so I had to go to scheduled feeding a set amount.

If it really bothers you, just get the rock (make sure its too big to swallow) or the bundt cake pan.

This sounds very frustrating to me, I would probably gulp my food too if I felt that it was going to be messed with constantly. I would feed her separately, let her be and just eat. Fast or not fast unless you are worried about her choking. Add water to it too, that can help slow her down. Dogs normally will eat fast if they feel threatened or if there is a chance of losing it to an alpha. I would let her be. Sometimes we forget to let dogs be dogs.

no i know that messing with her food could be frustrating thats why for over two months ive let her just work it out on her own never touching her or her bowl when she eat. but now shes getting older and should know her food isnt threatened and shes not slowing down.

I'm curious but what is the real reason why you are so worried about this?

and fyi, if you have two bully type dogs, i wouldn't be so keen on feeding them together all the time. It's actually a good way to START a fight, rather than "prevent food aggression".

I also would go with feeding them in separate rooms. One reason you SHOULD be concerned about your dog eating too fast is Bloat, which can be deadly. You might want to get the Brake-fast bowl for peace of mind that by slowing down your dogs' eating, you could very well prevent her death by simply buying a $20 bowl. To me, it would be well worth the $$ if I knew it could prevent her from getting Bloat.

Here's the bowl from the official website for Brake-fast:

http://www.brake-fast.net/

and another place that sells the bowl, and talks about Bloat:

http://www.isabellacatalog.com/p/Ant...?tid=710092933

and a few articles on Bloat:

http://www.globalspan.net/bloat.htm

http://www.peteducation.com/article....2+1571&aid=402

http://www.medicinenet.com/pets/dog-...at_in_dogs.htm

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/articles/caninebloat.htm