Kobe and Zoe
My Two Dogs and Their Shenanigans

Feeding two dogs at the same time can be stressful at first.  When we got our lab puppy Zoe, we already had Kobe – our 10 year old Akita / Black Shepherd cross who unfortunately wasn’t very well socialized with other dogs.

When it came time to feed the two dogs together I wasn’t sure how things were going to work.  I am no dog trainer, but I do read a lot of books and watch shows on TV and with just a few minutes of training here’s the point I have been able to get to with them.

In this picture you see Zoe on the left and Kobe on the right.  They are both ready to eat their food.  Notice that I’ve got both of them sitting beside their bowls waiting for their food.  They are both paying attention to me 100%.

In this picture I’ve put a little bit of food in both bowls, BUT haven’t given them the signal that it’s ok to eat their food yet.  Notice that their attention is still on me, not on the food bowls.

This picture was taken after I have them the signal to eat their food.  They jumped right in.

5 Quick Tips for Feeding Two Dogs at the Same Time

(1) Establish the Right Energy – The first thing I always make sure I do with Kobe and Zoe is to establish the right energy for eating.  That means that they have to be calm and submissive.  I don’t feed them if they are too excited or if they don’t listen to me.  If they don’t calm down, or if they don’t listen to me, they don’t get any food.  I wait for them to calm down.

(2) Establish Authority – I am in charge.  That is the energy I project to them.  I am the “hunter” who went out and got them the food (ok so I didn’t hunt for it, but I still had to go to the store and battle traffic!), and now I am going to give them some of this food to eat.  I want to make sure that they know that I “own” the food before I decide to give it to them.  It’s not their food – it’s my food.  That’s the energy I keep in my mind.

(3) Establish a Signal – I first get them to sit.  Then I put food in the food bowl, but they don’t actually get to eat until after I give them the signal to eat.  Meaning, just because I’m pouring the food into their bowl, it doesn’t mean they can jump right in there and start eating.  They get to eat after I give them the signal.  For me I use the words “Eat Your Food” and I give them a hand signal.  With Zoe I almost exclusively now just use the hand signal.

(4) Use Your Body – At first, when I would put food in the bowl for Kobe he would immediately try to jump in and eat.  That’s because I let him do that for 10 years.  However, when I decided to train them to eat together I wanted to break that habit.  The way I did this is by putting food in a bowl and then putting the bowl down, but putting my body in between the food and Kobe.  Meaning I got Kobe to sit, then I put the food bowl down about 6 feet away and I stood in between him and the food.

If he tried to go for the food bowl I would block him with my body.  Believe me he tried.  I just stood in his way and said “NO – SIT” until he backed up and sat down again.  It only took a few seconds for him to get the point.  Once he got the point, I would then say “EAT YOUR FOOD” and get out of the way, letting him eat.

I started by training them like this separately for just a few minutes, and then did it with them together.

(5) Use Visualization – I swear my dogs are psychic.  They can see the images that are in my head.  I think all dogs are psychic like that.  They respond to our energy and what we visualize in our heads more than anything.  Every time I feed them, I visualize them sitting down and waiting for my signal to eat first.  Only once I can see it in my mind do I proceed to do it in the “real” world.

I find that if I try to get them to do something, but in my mind I’m visualizing the worst case scenario – such as them not listening and just jumping after the food or something, it doesn’t work.  Visualization really works with dogs.  The Dog Whisperer always talks about that.

How to Feed Two Dogs YouTube Cartoon

I made this quick little cartoon on YouTube talking about these five tips as well.

Got Any Other Tips for Feeding Two Dogs?

Do you have any other tips or stories of how you got your two dogs to eat their food together without killing each other?

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