Hello I have two male Westies that are 16 weeks old. They have become aggressive whilst eating. I fed them together to begin with but soon had to put the bowls apart. But now I have to try to keep something between them or put one on a lead as the more dominant one keeps moving from bowl to bowl. Please can anyone advise me on the best way to feed my dogs together?

i would think the aggression between 2 male terriers wont just stop at the food bowls,as they get older the more dominant one will want and expect to get everything its own way,at the expense of the other,a cage might help as they could be seperated if need be,castration might be an idea,but i think you've got your hands full,

HI

I think in one sense you have your hands full (2 youngsters!!) but don't worry too much abut the food thing.

Even in a large dog pack, the lower ranking dog will sometimes take and keep food from the "top" dogs, the exception being that if they are all seriouslsy hungry, then it will be different and the top dog will not tolerate any other dogs nicking his food.

Are the dogs OK normally: if it is just the food thing I would simply separate them at meal times. My in-laws have 2 Westie brothers and they get on ever so well, dad has "Benji2 and mum has "Whisky" and they are well-controlled but the best of friends. They are 3 years old now and eat in the kitchen but just with the bowls at different ends of the room.

One of my dogs used to nick food from the other but it was sorted by at first separating them, then I trained them to listen to my voice, then I was able to give them their dinner and say "OK fetch" to one and then to the other.

What I am trying ot say is that at the end of the day, if you train them and have the control then all should be well.

As an example you could train "Sit" and "Wait" then puppy 1 "Ok" then puppy 2 "OK" to get their food, just an interval of say 5 seconds between, and maybe have them on trailing leads to control them. But good basic obedinece will work wonders, as they will listen to you at mealtimes.

Simplest to separate them until theyu are a bit older and have learnt their commands though.