Well, I'm almost ready to start my dogs on the BARF diet. I have one more question before I start. My dogs are always fed together. I never have any problems with food possesion from either one. My friend who feeds her two dogs BARF told me that I should separate them when feeding raw food because they can get kinda stupid. Is this true? Should I feed them separately? I know that they do get possesive of bones (rawhides, smoked beef).

Thanks

I will recommend that you feed them in crates. If you feed them loose you are going to risk both dog fights and you will have to wash your floor twice daily. If they are in crates you can just clean the floor when they are done eating. Also, in the beginning it is nice if they "barf" it back up(which happens) if they are in their crate. Yes, they will eat it again.... I have only had this happen to me twice, but icko. Both times it has happened within 20 mins of eating, so now they stay put until I feel we are safe. The first time he decided to yak on my carpet.

:rolleyes:

I never had any issues with food posession and my two....they did, however, enjoy taking their turkey necks or oxtails off their plates and onto the carpet....ick. You might take that into consideration. I didn't crate them while eating, but I would stand watch and not let them take their food out of the kitchen.

I would never feed two dogs together. I know some people do it without any problems. I would not recommend it though as it could lead to aggression towards one another. You say your dogs have never shown food aggression towards one another. If thats the case you'll probably be fine. Then the other issues brought up above come into play.

One thing I thought of, being that it's not a particularly neat meal, in the frantic manner the food may be moved around and eaten, this could trigger a fight.

It *could* trigger a fight between two normally peaceable eaters, like Chuck says, because of the food being moved about, and if one finishes before the other. The one that finishes first may try to take some of the other's. I never had that happen, because despite their different serving sizes, they always seemed to finish at about the same time. Also, our mealtimes are very ritualized. They have their own dishes that they always use, always placed in the same locations, and I always release them to eat in the same order (the bitch is always released to eat first). The only thing that changes are the commands that I issue before releasing them to eat. I might do a "back, sit, down, sit" one day, and a "down, back, sit, down" the next.

At any rate, I was a bit worried about that when we first switched to BARF, so I did "stand guard" the first couple of meals. But everything went smoothly and there was no hint of any problem, so I was able to relax quite a bit in my vigilance.

If you're worried about it, you should be safe rather than sorry, and feed them in separate areas.

Well, crating them while they're eating is not an option as I don't even have crates for them. Their eating area is in the basement as they are messy eaters, so the mess doesn't concern me that much. My concern is that I don't want to have to split up two fighting Dobermans. I guess I should just feed them separately just to be on the safe side. I'll see how they act and maybe eventually I'll try to get them to eat together and see what happens.

Thanks for the ideas <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Originally posted by Danielle:

I guess I should just feed them separately just to be on the safe side.
That is the way to go.