<p>I have three dogs, they all share a supper dish, and I keep it full of dry kibble and they (up until now, going on many years) have been great with it. They dont over eat, share nicely, no one is overweight etc.</p>
<p>My oldest dog has started this really annoying habit. He is somewhere between 11-14 years old, in pretty good health. He “pushes” the supper dish with his nose, sometimes pushing it around the room, and sometimes and pushes his nose across the food, scattering it everywhere. Luckily one of the other ones doesnt mind cleaning cleaning the floor of the kibble, but it is messy and annoying. The only experience I have with this behavior is my friends very old dog, when senile, did a couple ocd things like this with tapping his paw on the supper dish over and over. </p>
<p>Anyone know what this is about?</p>
<p>A couple of extra facts - They all like the food I put in it. One of them has this habit (ritual) of depositing things in the dish when she comes to eat (rocks, tennis balls, stolen socks.) So it may be possible that the old dog is worried about the rocks, and moves the food around, but I dont think this is it.</p>
<p>I have found that older dogs get quirky habits. Have you tried to put the dish on a non-skid mat? I am amazed that you can feed three dogs from one bowl. Are they little dogs?</p>
<p>they are all mid to small sized dogs, the largest (the oldest) is 36 lb cattle dog mix. the next is a 27 lb corgi mix, then a littlish terrier mix. </p>
<p>I have been really lucky with the one bowl thing, because I didn’t think I would have the patience for feeding times and schedules. None of them are jealous of the others. I can put a meat pan down (from after supper) and they will all gather around it and share. The cat comes up too. It is quite adorable. But I am not a good dog mommy, they only have tolerable habits, not great ones. (get on furniture, bark a little too much, etc…)It is really fun hanging out with so many animals, I work from home, and so they keep me company. I mostly enjoy how predictable they are. But this supper dish thing is annoying me.</p>
<p>We have 2 (big) dogs, and another one we had passed away last year at 11. Your dog might have some issue with vision, or something about the other 2 dogs. I would try some experimenting - like feeding him in a separate room with his own bowl, or using a different bowl if he has any vision issues. I think dogs can get a bit weirded at that age. Ours seemed to think the rather shag-like beige rug resembled grass in his later years.</p>
<p>You have two dogs that are herding breeds. Maybe the older dog is just acting on his herding instincts and herding the dish! He may just be entertaining himself.</p>
<p>Don’t mean to highjack, but I’ve had a behavior question myself. Not a food bowl, but a water bowl issue. We have one lab mix, one Corgi, both about two years old. Corgi, of course, is alpha. They spend a fair amount of time outside, so their primary water bowl is on the front porch. Lately Corgi will take a drink of water but then PICK UP the water bowl and carry it around the yard. Water obviously spills.</p>
<p>As I type I’m wondering if someone is going to suggest separate water bowls? I just have a feeling that Corgi would do the same thing if we had more than one.</p>
<p>Thats funny- my 13 year old english setter started doing that, scattering his food this year. I thought it was because he couldnt see well anymore…</p>
<p>Yeah, its definitely an old dog thing, I was just wondering if anyone knows why? The food scattering is very ritualistic. He pushes his nose across the food, sometimes not even touching the food, runs his nose across the side of the dish.</p>
<p>About the Corgi in the yard with the water dish. I bet he is using it as a toy. Get him something else to pick up and run around with. My corgi steals socks and runs around with them. He has to have his toys which are preferably something he has taken from us. He rolls on them too. </p>
<p>MyLB, maybe you could try a heavy bowl or bucket for the lab, something too heavy for the corgi to carry off. Dogs love to grab things and run. My field spaniel is always running off with things. Today, he pull an old corn stalk out of the garden and was running around the yard with this 5 foot long stalk. Very silly.</p>
<p>Thanks–it probably is this simple. I think I tend to over-attribute intent to the Corgi. When we had Lab Mix in for a play date before we adopted him, Corgi would drink and drink, Lab Mix would go over to the water bowl, and Corgi would run back over to the water bowl and push Lab Mix out of the way and then drink some more even though there was no way he was still thirsty. (Funny to watch given Lab Mix is about 2.5 times larger than Corgi.)</p>
<p>My (now deceased) guinea pig used to do this. At first I thought he was spilling his food by accident. Then I watched him one day after I put crunchers in his dish. He picked it up with his teeth and dumped it. He was a whopping big male… I think he had trouble getting his head down to eat them because of his double chins I realize this does not resolve your problem, but it just reminded me.</p>
<p>You might try a heavier ceramic dish that is harder to tip.</p>
<p>I worked for a vet for 13 years, so I’ll weigh in. Although I always believe sharing is a good practice, it really isn’t for dogs. Especially as our animals get older, we need to keep track of their eating and drinking habits. Older dogs can develop all sorts of health issues that can reveal themselves through how much they are eating and drinking. Food and water bowls really need to be kept separate.</p>
<p>My setter does that with his bowl when he is bored with his food. We now mix either plain yogurt or pumpkin in with his food. Gets him to eat right away.</p>
<p>My Cockerpoo is ten and has developed some new habits lately, too. She used to want to sit with us no matter where we are in the house. Lately, she hangs with us in the family room for a while and then gets up and disappears into the living. i find her there sitting in the dark by herself!<br>
As far as food goes, she has always had a habit of picking up a piece of kibble from her bowl and dropping it on the floor. She sniffs it and then eats it. She also looks up at us for a minute before she begins to eat. Not sure what she’s expecting us to do.</p>
<p>Interesting - at one point we had an old Westie on a special geriatric diet, and had an Irish Setter puppy who was growing much bigger each day. We put the Westie’s food under a high chair/step stool, and the Setter’s up in raised dog food holder. So of course, the Westie would be on her tippy toes trying to eat the Setter’s food and the Setter would be squishing his nose under the chair to get to the Westie’s food.</p>
<p>Before that, when we had 2 Westies (Irish Setter puppy came after first Westie died of old age) one time we tried a new dog food that had colored balls that supposedly corresponded to different “foods.” There were whitish ones for rice, brown ones for some kind of meat, and green ones that were supposed to be vegetables. Came home to find that the boy Westie had emptied the entire bowl on the kitchen floor and picked out just the white and brown ones. I guess kids are not the only ones who don’t like to eat vegetables! The food had some kind of guarantee on the package and we took back the partially consumed bag because it was an absolute mess.</p>
<p>Irish setter is now 10 1/2, and his ‘brother’ the English setter is about a year younger. Can’t wait to see what they come up with next.</p>
<p>I love the dog threads on this board best of all. :)</p>
<p>No advice. Older golden is alpha and will not share anything with younger golden, who he resents even getting a bone at the same time. Frequently I come back in the room to find him lying on one bone and eating the other. </p>
<p>I love it! Our male Irish Setter is definitely the alpha. Luckily the male English Setter we adopted could care less. But I really enjoy it when they each get a treat. Irish gobbles his down. English waits, and then when Irish is done, slowly eats his in front of the Irish.</p>
<p>Our English Setter’s markings under his nose resemble the mustache of der furer.</p>
<p>I love dog threads too! One cool thing with multiple dogs is seeing how the relationships evolve. Old dog (food pusher) came first, and he has a big dog bed that is especially his. Used to be no one else got on it, and he would do this funny mean thing where he stole the Corgis toys and put them on his bed. This made the Corgi so sad. As the years went by, everyone still more or less respects the big dog bed, but sometimes on cold nights they get on with the old dog and snuggle. (He likes this.)</p>
<p>I have three dogs, all rescues, adopted at different times. Two mini schnauzers and an English Setter. The two boys ( schnauzer and setter) are both seniors with multiple health issues. It was amazing and worrisome to see the adjustment (took months) the two of them went through to form a pack. After much training (mine and theirs) and the smoke cleared, it was obvious that the cutest, littlest, whitest, youngest member of the pack (4 year old female white mini schnauzer) was the Alpha. The boys respect her. She respects me. Its all good now. But she still does things like lie on their toys and chew hers… </p>
<p>I’m not 100% sure it’s an old dog thing. My dachshund has done this since he was a puppy. He doesn’t do it every day, but he goes through phases where he does it quite a lot. I’ve always thought that he wanted the food to run, so he could chase the “prey”, or that maybe he was nudging it to see if it was dead!</p>
<p>My dog has a fair number of food rituals. It takes him a good 10 minutes to get down to the business of eating. He has to bring an “offering” piece of food to an area away from his food dish. Sometimes he brings more. Then eventually he’ll go back to the food dish. If I didn’t know better, I would think he was saying grace because he lowers his head and just looks at it. It’s after this part that the tipping the food dish will begin (when he does this step!). Once finished with his rituals, he eats like he’s starving to death.</p>
<p>Oh, and he won’t continue to eat if we leave the room…</p>
in his later years.</p>
I realize this does not resolve your problem, but it just reminded me.</p>
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