I'm pulling my hair out!!

[Punkygirl0101]

Zen is only 10 weeks old! 3 times already while him and another dog are eating (For some reason Peanut and Daggett seem to be the target), he will suddenly ATTACK them, and growl over food. I have never heard of a 10 week old puppy with food aggression. We have two feeders on the ground of food, we put them down twice a day so the dogs don't get too overweight by eating all day.(Except that only happens when my mom is NOT home, because she always wants to feeders on the floor 24/7. She thinks its starving the dogs. I wish she understood ) (Its too hard for me to feed them separate meals twice a day. I have 13 dogs, and a LOT of household responsibilities I take care of, not to mention other pets who need care as well. And it takes WAY too long to feed them individual meals (I have done it before). The dogs of course put him in his place when he does it, but thats obviously not good enough.

I don't want to just keep him on a leash and away from the feeders, he eventually will be eating with the other dogs, and needs to learn to eat with the other dogs. So far I have just been immediately telling him "NO", and putting him in time out (In the bathroom).

[Doglover1988]

If I were you I would just lay out 13 bowls 2 xs per day for feedings it wouldn't take that long I wouldn't think. This is how I feed my three they each have their own bowl and there is still some aggression. I don't really see any other way around it besides feeding him in a seperate room.

[SpringerLover]

If you can't do 13 bowls (understandable), put him in a separate room with just his bowl for now. I think that's the only thing you can do right now. He is just a baby and it seems like communication/signals are getting mixed up. To prevent actual fights, feed him alone. In a crate, the bathroom, somewhere by himself and he doesn't get let out until the rest of the food is picked up.

[Cassiepeia]

I agree. Give him his own bowl and feed him seperately for now.

Cass.

[dogs4life]

My first thought was, is your puppy getting enough food or are you feeding frequent enough? Maybe your pup is super hungry and impatient plus overwhelmed when you put the food down and cannot wait until others get their fill. Can you feed him more frequently?

My suggestion would be to add more feeders, as many as you can handle (maybe 6 bowls), and reward with a yummy treat for "sharing" food bowls.

Hope you find something that works.

[Punkygirl0101]

I put down another bowl.

He gets food other than the dry food. He also gets fed wet food. And he definitely gets enough (hes a fat little man), like I said the feeder is down all day when my mom is home, and she has been on leave of absence for a couple weeks now. Though at night I still pick the feeder up just cause I don't want them eating and having to go to the bathroom while I am sleeping.

He has been really good about it lately. I immediately startle him, and pick him up. I tell him "NO", then I put him in the bathroom. Once hes calmed down I put a bowl of food on the floor. He hasn't fought with anyone over food in atleast 3 days. Hes actually eating with the other dogs right now since we all just woke up and I put the feeder down.

[calgal]

I think sometimes they go thru all these "faux" aggressions over food just to stimulate themselves so they can eat, or eat better. My little 6 month old doesn't like to eat unless one of the other dogs come close enough to her to let her growl and start eating. She infact waits till they are totally finished with their meal so they will come close to hers before she eats. Maybe your overfeeding the little one and is the reason he has to act this way in order to eat? Anyway, I'd feed him alone for awhile. All three of mine have their own places and dishes when they eat.