Labrador eats other dogs food

Lucuma

Hi, we have recently gotten 2 dogs. Both outdoor dogs. Our first dogs. One is a male labradoodle, he's a slow eater more of a grazer. We got him first and it could take him 2 hours to finish his bowl of dry food. We just got a female neutered labrador yesterday. She hoovers food and will eat her own food, and then finish off his! The male labradoodle is already underweight according to the vet so needs fattening up.
How do I stop the labrador eating the other dog's food as well as her own?

Graces7

Lucuma wrote: »

Hi, we have recently gotten 2 dogs. Both outdoor dogs. Our first dogs. One is a male labradoodle, he's a slow eater more of a grazer. We got him first and it could take him 2 hours to finish his bowl of dry food. We just got a female neutered labrador yesterday. She hoovers food and will eat her own food, and then finish off his! The male labradoodle is already underweight according to the vet so needs fattening up.
How do I stop the labrador eating the other dog's food as well as her own?

Feed the labradoodle in another room? Door closed … Outdoor dogs? Then feed one inside, one outside

tk123

Graces7 wrote: »

Feed the labradoodle in another room? Door closed … Outdoor dogs? Then feed one inside, one outside

+1 to separate them and if it was me I’d be looking at feeding the doodle something else - he mustn’t like it much if it’s taking him 2 hours?!

irish_goat

If you've only gotten the labrador yesterday it may take a little while for your 1st dog to learn that they need to eat their food in one go. We have 2 hoover dogs in our house and anytime we have a foster dog staying they always quickly learn "if you don't eat fast, you don't eat".

Lucuma

Graces7 wrote: »

Feed the labradoodle in another room? Door closed … Outdoor dogs? Then feed one inside, one outside

Unfortunately we built one of those new fangled open plan houses :rolleyes: so there's no door between the kitchen and the hall. The only contained room is the utility and that's the home of the cats who are terrified of the dog so feeding inside isn't an option. I have tried feeding 1 dog in the shed (closed in there) and 1 dog outside alright. I was wondering would they ever get to a stage where I didn't have to do that though

Lucuma

tk123 wrote: »

+1 to separate them and if it was me I’d be looking at feeding the doodle something else - he mustn’t like it much if it’s taking him 2 hours?!

Yeah.
The vet said to feed him a 100% dry diet. If it was wet food there's no issue, he gobbles that down. But the dry food he just grazes on and off during the day he eventually will eat it all.

But grazing is no longer an option with the labrador around.
Maybe I will have to start feeding him a bit of wet just for the moment til he gets used to eating fast, to make sure he actually gets to eat something

Lucuma

irish_goat wrote: »

If you've only gotten the labrador yesterday it may take a little while for your 1st dog to learn that they need to eat their food in one go. We have 2 hoover dogs in our house and anytime we have a foster dog staying they always quickly learn "if you don't eat fast, you don't eat".

I was thinking that might start to occur alright!! No animal will let themselves starve like

tk123

Lucuma wrote: »

Unfortunately we built one of those new fangled open plan houses :rolleyes: so there's no door between the kitchen and the hall. The only contained room is the utility and that's the home of the cats who are terrified of the dog so feeding inside isn't an option. I have tried feeding 1 dog in the shed (closed in there) and 1 dog outside alright. I was wondering would they ever get to a stage where I didn't have to do that though

I would have said yes until Lucy got sick and started leaving her food - Bailey would gobble it up if he had the chance lol! When they both eat at the same speed it's a lot easier - before she was sick they'd eat and then swap bowls!

aonb

If your Labradoodle is underweight, and a vacuum-cleaner-Labrador dog has arrived, I would suggest that you have to sort your Labradoodle first - mix a bit of wet with the dry food to get him to get on with it. Put him in the shed away from the Labrador absolutely. You dont want to start any aggression with a new dog and food too. If the new dog is a bitch, there is a good chance that she will boss the male dog anyway, so you dont want to have food being an issue too, where she will definitely become overweight - just because she is female, neutered and a labrador

borderlinemeath

Sardines/natural yogurt/an egg/broth from cooked meat all great options for making dry food tastier for a picky dog. And far less sugar than the typical tinned wet food available in most supermarkets. There are some good wet foods available, but it can be cheaper to work with real food for mixing. And you'll most likely always have something to hand in case you run out of wet dog food.

I have 4 dogs, 3 would eat anything but my eldest is a fussy eater and also needs to have meds hidden in her food so hers has to be extra tasty. She also gets fairly bored of the same thing, so I have to mix it up for her. I baked some fish for dinner today so the left over fishy broth was her mixer today. Another favourite is a packet of mince, boiled up in water, just pop it in a tupperware and it lasts a good few days in the fridge. She eats in the hall on her bed and I know she's enjoyed it if she potters back into the utility sniffing about for more.

Because you've got an open plan layout you should invest in a crate for feeding one of them. Given that the lab is a gobbler, she would be easier to train to feed in the crate (she may even be crate trained given that you got her as an adult). Also a good way to slow her down would be to scatter the food around the base of the crate, it would also buy a bit more time for your other dog to finish their tastier food.