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They are not Labrador Retrievers, rather they are FOOD RETRIEVERS!
With that said, one dog is overweight and needs to only eat diet dog food.
The other dog is skinny and eats 3 times the amount of food the overweight dog eats. And will eat a little several times during the day, not all at once.
The overweight dog will eat all at one time, but will also "steal" any food left for the other dog.
Any suggestions on keeping the overweight dog from eating the skinny dogs food?
Crate one, that may work. We had 4 and 2 were on prescription food, they ate in the AM and the PM, all were very eager eaters and we stood there while they ate, then picked up the bowls. It wasnt a problem (they werent crated). Also make sure they have their own treats and eat them as soon as they get them (you may want to break them in half or give them smaller so they go down quicker, there are lite treats out there too that should help and your non-dieter may like them too). We measured everything and they got a level measurement. Yours will get used to eating twice a day and may in fact eat faster than if the bowl was left down during the day. You may also want to give the dieter canned plain pumpkin, it has fiber and is low in calories and will give her a full feeling (it's good for the other one too, for their anal glands), check w/ your vet though. Good luck
Since the one that eats throughout the day doesn't have a weight problem, you could stir in a spoonful of something (cottage cheese has been a go-to for me before) to get him to eat his whole meal at once. Of course, to be fair the other dog will want some too, but just put a tiny smidge in that bowl.
I have a friend that does cocker rescue and many of the dogs they get are very overweight, she does not buy two different foods so does not use diet food but rather replaces a part of the dog food with green beans or the canned punpkin. The fiber makes them feel full so they eat less and she has had no trouble getting the weight off the dogs.They leave her home slim but sadly some of the new owners plump them back up by over feeding them.
I have two dogs Chaos is a chow hound and would love to eat all day , Dazzle is a skinny sight hound , eats slow and often walks away from part of his meal so when he does I pick up the bowl and he does not get fed again until dinner it prevents Chaos from over eating and teaches him to finish his meals.
I had an overweight JRT and I did 2 things to help him loose weight. I bought 'good' dog food not grocery store brands. I buy a 4 star brand food, no corn and no wheat. I measured his food for the weight he should be and I also used green beans at first to fill him up. I also quit giving him treats every day. He lost 10 lbs.
I have 6 dogs and I feed one outside unless it is raining or too cold because he eats slow. The others eat in their own spot in the kitchen. I also stand there to make sure no sneaking food.
We have four dogs.
One is on Rx food.
One is on regular organic food.
One is on another food (small breed) with blood pressure medicine mixed in.
One is on that same small breed food - no blood pressure medicine.
So you can see there could be problems with cross-eating.
We feed 'em all at the same time and just watch them. It takes all of them less than 5 minutes to eat. Everyone kind of has their own spot to eat. The two little dogs are close together, but the big dogs are about 20 feet apart.
I have a 14 year old Cocker Spaniel, with a heart murmur, cough, and is overweight. We also have a 10 month old Dudley Lab. I have these same issues. The Cocker is on a measured amount of Purina OM. It is working beautifully. He loves the taste and has lost 10 pounds in 8 weeks! Obviously, he is the Alpha dog, so we had trouble with the lab waiting for him to finish, mostly because she wants what is in his bowl, instead of eating what was in hers. And him trying to finish off his and hers!
What works for us, is whichever one of us is doing the feeding (and we both work, so there is a schedule) is to sprinkle a little of her food over the top of his (sometimes, it may take twice) and when he moves to the other side to claim her bowl, simply switch bowls, so that he is actually getting his own bowl. She thinks she is getting his...Don't ask me how these otherwise intelligent Ambassador Dogs, who perform publicly at Events/TV fall for this. ..but it works every time! Hope this helps.
I have four dogs, one on prescription food and another that is 21 years old and will eat too much and then throw it up later if I let him.
I put the diabetic dog on prescription food in the bathroom to eat. I let the other three eat elsewhere but when "Buddy" the old dog is finished with his food I scoop him up and put him outside until everyone else is finished.
yep I stand watch my dogs eat and that is the only way you can know for sure what this particular dog is eating and yes cutting the treats out completely helps immensely . Good luck to you .
It is an easy solution...quit free feeding the dogs which will keep them from eating each others food and keep them from getting overweight.
Feed the correct amount of the proper food to each dog and then take the bowls away regardless if they are done or not. We feed both our dogs in less than a couple minutes (both are on different foods, one senior and one puppy) and they have learned that when we put the bowls down they need to eat because the bowls will be taken away shortly and they eat all the food we give them when we give it to them. Neither of our dogs are overweight and both concentrate on their own bowls because they know they are limited on time and don't have time to screw around with the other dogs bowl. We don't even have to watch them anymore, they eat their own food and walk away if the other isn't done yet.
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