Your dog stops eating, or eats only part of his food, when the other dog is around. Either the other dog is making him uneasy, or he would do this alone too. A few feedings, changing one thing at a time, will show which.
If the dogs have ever fought, or either one has been hurt, keep them apart at meals and call your vet before you try anything below. If he won't eat even when he's completely alone, this probably isn't about the other dog. Skip to "When to call your vet or a behaviorist."
Xiaoyu is my Alaskan Malamute, three and a half years old. Gugu is my Shiba Inu puppy, about five months old. They share a room at dinner now, but it took a while to get there.
Step 1: Feed him alone
Pick one meal. Put the other dog in a different room, with a person or something to do, out of sight and earshot. Feed your dog his normal food and leave it down for as long as he usually takes.
If he eats normally, go on to Step 2. If he doesn't, the other dog is less likely to be the cause. Try again over two or three meals, then start with a dog who isn't eating but is acting normal. If he paces or whines because the other dog is gone, he misses his friend, which is a different problem.
Step 2: Bring the other dog back in stages
Use one stage per feeding, because a fuller dog makes the next test unfair. If he skips a meal at any stage, put the other dog away and offer the food again right away, especially for a puppy. The order is my own design. It isn't a clinical protocol.
- Closed door. The other dog is on the far side. Your dog can hear and smell the other dog but can't see through the door.
- Gate or glass. The other dog is behind a baby gate or a glass door. The dogs can see each other.
- Same room. Only if the other dog has never growled, stiffened or snapped over food, water or toys. Put the bowls as far apart as the room allows. You or a second person holds the other dog's leash. Never reach between the dogs.
Write down the first stage where he stops eating or leaves food. If it's the closed door, sound or smell is enough to bother him. If it's the gate or glass, the sight of the other dog adds to it. If it's only the same room, being close is the problem.
End the feeding if either dog freezes, stares, stiffens over the bowl, curls a lip, growls or snaps. End it too if your dog tucks his tail, turns away, licks his lips or hides. Separate the dogs with a door, a gate or a leash. Never grab a collar or reach between them. Pick up the food, and next time go back to the last stage that went fine.
What to watch while you test
A dog can stop eating without anyone growling. Watch the other dog for these:
- Staring at his bowl or his mouth
- Walking over the moment it finishes its own food
- Standing between him and the way out of the room
- Circling his bowl or edging closer to it
- A growl, or a stiff, very still posture
Watch your dog too. A dog who glances up at a noise and keeps eating is fine. A dog who stops, looks over and doesn't go back to the bowl is uncomfortable. End the stage there.
A stare, a lifted lip or a growl is a normal dog signal that he's uncomfortable with something another dog is doing, according to Ohio State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. ASPCA calls guarding possessions from other animals normal dog behavior, and says: "Do not punish or intimidate your dog when he guards food." Punishing can sometimes make guarding worse. Add distance, end the meal and feed the dogs apart.
What your results mean
- He eats alone but stops at the closed door or the gate. Feed the dogs apart. You can run the stages again later, starting at the closed door.
- He stops only in the same room. Keep the bowls far apart with the other dog leashed and a person watching, or feed apart. If the other dog stares, follows him or heads for his bowl, that is guarding, not just closeness. Feed apart.
- He eats fine at every stage, and only treats go wrong. See the next section.
- He won't eat at any stage even alone, or the other dog growls, guards or snaps. Feed apart and see the last section.
Treats and chews are harder than meals
Dinner has bowls, distance and me standing right there. Treats have none of that. They come one at a time, hand to mouth, with nothing between the dogs.
First rule out the treat itself. A dog who leaves a treat when he's alone may just be holding out for something better. Gugu does this. In a room by himself he sets down a treat he doesn't love and watches me, then eats it once he sees nothing better is coming. That has nothing to do with Xiaoyu. Try a smaller piece or a treat he loves before you blame the other dog. To test a treat with the other dog around, run the same stages with a treat he loves.
If he eats it alone but not with the other dog close, this is what I see at our house:
- Speed. Xiaoyu finishes almost any treat in a few bites, unless it's very big or very hard. Gugu is still working on his. Once she's done and he isn't, she turns to his.
- Size. A piece that's a few bites for a large dog is a big chunk for a small one. When I break Gugu's treats smaller, he eats them straight away.
- Chews. One evening I gave each dog a chew stick. Xiaoyu finished hers and kept trying to get Gugu's. He carried his a few steps, set it down and wouldn't eat it. We took Xiaoyu out of the room. A few minutes later he ate it.
Give each dog a hand-fed treat separately, in different places, with the small dog's broken into pieces he'll finish in a gulp or two. Give chews only with the dogs in separate rooms behind a closed door, before the bigger dog can grab. Pick up any piece small enough to swallow whole, and don't pull a chew out of a dog's mouth. The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) says to keep all extras to 10% or less of daily calories (how to work out what 10% is for your dog).
What keeps dinner calm at our house
When Gugu first came home, Xiaoyu had never eaten beside another animal, and Gugu was a puppy with no sense of boundaries. When he went toward her food, she growled and he ran off. For the first two months they ate in separate spaces. Now they share a room, with a good stretch of floor between the bowls, and I stay next to them for the whole meal. If Xiaoyu leans toward his side, I call her back at once.
Gugu has always gulped his food, so I can't blame her for that. I gave him a slow-feeder bowl, and they usually finish together. He looks up when she moves, then keeps eating. The growling at meals has mostly stopped. In the first two weeks she also growled and bared her teeth if he came over to drink while she was drinking. That has stopped, and now they drink from the same bowl.
Feeding in separate rooms is the safe default. Ohio State's veterinary college advises keeping newly introduced dogs away from where food is being eaten at first, because if either dog is anxious about the food there could be a conflict. Sharing a room is something dogs earn, with someone standing right there. If you leave the room, separate them first.
When to call your vet or a behaviorist
These timings are our own cautious rule, not a guideline.
Call your vet if he won't eat even alone and anything else is off: vomiting, diarrhea, unusual quiet, or pain. New guarding, chewing on one side, dropping food or drooling can also mean pain in the mouth or body. A dog who has eaten nothing for 24 hours needs to be seen, and here is how long a dog can safely go without food. Some dogs have less room than that:
- A puppy or toy-breed dog who seems weak, wobbly, trembling or unusually sleepy: call your vet or an emergency clinic right now
- A puppy, very small dog, or pregnant or nursing dog who skips a meal but is bright and playful: call the same day (a puppy who isn't eating but is acting normal has more)
- A dog on insulin who skips a meal: call your vet before the next dose and do exactly what they say. Don't guess at the dose
Call your vet, then a qualified behaviorist, if the growling turns into snapping or biting, if the dogs have fought or one is hurt, or if you've worked through these stages for a while and a dog stops improving. ASPCA advises seeing a veterinarian before anything else, to rule out medical problems that could cause or worsen aggression. It also says not to try to resolve guarding on your own if you think your dog is likely to bite.
If he eats fine alone and with the other dog, but stops when you're in the room, that is a different test: a dog who won't eat unless you're there.
Sources
- ASPCA, Food Guarding
- ASPCA, Aggression
- Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Indoor Pet Initiative, Introducing a New Dog to Your Current Dog
- American Animal Hospital Association, 2021 AAHA Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats