Tips for Feeding Two Dogs at Once

If separating them in the same room doesn't work, or if your overeater does display signs of food aggression, you'll want to physically separate both dogs in different spaces altogether. This may mean feeding the dogs in separate rooms behind closed doors, and if you don't have fully closed-off spaces, try feeding the overeater in a crate or invest in a "baby" gate to keep them away. The food-aggressive dog will also need independent training to address this "aggresssive" behaviour.

Preparing for Challenges

While separation and supervision are two of the key approaches to learning how to feed two dogs so that they can both eat, you may experience some challenges. For example, one of your pets may be a slow eater who misses out on meals when the other dog swoops in and steals their food. In this case, you have two options: you can feed the slow eater small portions more frequently in a separate space, or you can remove the fast eater to give your slow eater more time to concentrate on their meal. Some pet parents might consider taking their fast eaters out for a walk when their slow eaters are munching, or a special bowl can be used to slow down the fast eaters.

If you have a dog that is more of a grazer than one that eats all of their food quickly, you may have to reconsider leaving their food out, especially if the other dog has access to that food bowl unsupervised. Start by picking up their bowl for a half hour or hour and then put it back down to see if they're willing to eat then. You never want to leave food out and not know which dog ate it; this will quickly put extra kilos on a dog that eats two meals, and take away from the one that is not getting their sufficient calories.