And you could have fooled me, Dingo! I thought you were a pro when it comes to dog training. But you’ve definitely got a lot of good experience. Thanks for sharing!

the “look at me” or “leave the room” is a simple voice correction. when you give her/him the “no” and then redirect to look at you, praise it. another thing you can do if the annoying behavior of staring at other dog who’s peacefully eating isn’t going away is to chase the offender out of the room and make him/her sit in other room with you. by “chase” i don’t mean frighten or scare, just simply body block so he/she goes into other room, or lead them away into the other room. then PRAISE. always praise. they sooooo get the praise. believe me. people correct behavior with a leash correction or a voice correction but they always FORGET to praise for the right behavior. i’m not against corrections, but it should always end with a behavior that can be praised. (end on a good note.)

if you start feeding them in same room, simply supervise it for however long it takes. stand right over them. over time, stay in the room, but move around while they eat (do the dishes, fold laundry, whatever you can do in that room). i can leave the room and there are no fights. ever. BUT i absolutely supervised for a few months. and i would NEVER leave them home alone with raw bones even tho i know they don’t fight over them. it’s just not worth me finding out.

“experienced dog trainer?” LOL. I’m still learning. I just got into it when i got Loki, who has more drive than my Mini Cooper S! He’s like a corvette on high-tess… and was naughty to boot. so i hit the ground running with him. we’ve been at it since aug 2008 now. compared to average pet owner, people say my dogs are “great!” but compared to what i know is out there, I’d say ‘they’re ok’ and NOT perfect! but that’s why i love ‘em!

glad lucy isn’t growling at feeding. even gladder (?) that her growling behavior wouldn’t deter you from keeping her. so many people give up too easily. food aggression to me is easiest form of aggression to fix. but then again… maybe i haven’t really had the worst case of it in either of my dogs (tho i was told Loki was food aggressive and could never be fed with another dog…now look at him, telling on Juno when she stole his bone!)
.-= Wild Dingo´s last blog ..The Other White Meat =-.

It is really a matter of security with a lot of dogs. At least, I think it starts out that way. But if we don’t modify the behavior right away, it could become less a matter of security and more a matter of the dog thinking she is the pack leader.

And thanks for the heads-up on training the dogs not to “look” at one another during meals. So far, we’ve been feeding them just out of sight to each other, so that hasn’t been necessary. But I would like to eventually stop feeding them in separate rooms. I will certainly try your tips.

One thing I’ve noticed since I’ve started working with Lucy on the food aggression is that she no longer automatically runs to her crate whenever the treat bag comes out. She and Frankie have more often than not been eating their little treats side by side without incident.

And one other big development happened the other night when my husband accidentally dropped a bit of cracker on the floor. They both rushed for it at once and one of them snapped it up (he did not see who the lucky winner was), but there was no growling or jealousy.

So we are making progress. And for the record, Lucy hasn’t growled at me during feeding time at all lately.

Holding food in the bowl is also great way to “be around the food” while they eat.

great job on Lucy! she’ll get it! remember to reinforce her for NOT “looking” at frankie during his eating or trying to get his food. if she even ‘looks’ in his direction, redirect her and give her a “job” (sit, down, leave the room) and praise. it took exactly 2 nights to teach loki this (of NEVER EVER looking at juno while eating) using this simple technique. I used “look at me” or “leave the room” for his jobs. he got used to “leaving the room” and finding me to sit with me after he was done and juno kept eating. funny thing: one day i gave them both bully bones for breakfast, then within 30 seconds he came in my office and sat next to me, sans bone. i didn’t believe he ate it that fast, i went in the living room and my “non aggressive dog” juno had BOTH bones! (I think she got it not thru fighting–becasue i didn’t hear anything– but maybe he abandonned it for a few seconds and she took advantage of it and took it.) he came in my office to “tell on her” instead of fighting of his bone. good boy! as a leader, i was able to EASILY take his bone back from juno (no fighting or aggression) and give it to him. moral of the story: be a fair leader, show praise for right behavior and no fights will occur…and they will come to YOU for conflict resolution.
.-= Wild Dingo´s last blog ..We’re Waiting for You =-.