[bestbessie]

I posted a while ago that our dog had died, and everyone was very nice about it, thanks. I'm still grieving for her. However the problems isn't me-our younger dog took it pretty hard, she was like his mum, he moped around, wasn't interested in play, lay on the couch during the day. We got another puppy (a female) who has really sparked him up, they wrestle and play all day, which is great. He's a different dog.

What I am concerned about though is that his eating habits have changed. He's always had a healthy relationship with food, he's been easy to train because he likes his food so much. The problem is that he can be very territorial about his bones, but when other dog food is put down, the puppy chows down but he will stand back and won't touch it.

We've tried feeding them separately, even in another room he won't eat it. We've tried varying the diet, and adding nice smelling things, warming food from the fridge but no luck. He will eat food when I hand-feed him and of course will eat at bone when presented, but I can't do this or feed him bones all the time.

Is this normal dog behaviour for an older dog to let the puppy eat all the food?

[ballengerb1]

"the puppy chows down but he will stand back and won't touch it." Are you feeding them from the same bowl? At the same time?

[bestbessie]

No we have separate bowls for them, and we do feed them at the same time. I was worried that feeding them at different times might create jealousy, what do you think?