The_momma22

Okay so we will be getting a new puppy in about three weeks. He's a lab/heeler mix. A farmers dog got pregnant and the farmer got rid of most of the puppies except one and he was telling us he was gonna "dispose" of him and I couldn't deal with that so I said we would take him. Anyway we already have a 1.5 year old dog who gets and open bowl of food and when he's hungry he goes and eats. Well with this new puppy I'm wondering how I can keep the adult food and puppy food separate or does it really matter if our adult dog gets the puppy food and vice versa. Any advice or suggestions would help! Thanks!

LARyan

Well the type of food each dog gets matters, but id think the bigger concern would be how the older dog reacts if the puppy went over and tried eating his food!

In my experience i always try and feed the dogs at the same time, in different areas of the house.

Bigboy

Yes it does matter greatly as the pup is growing it will need more of certain things (that is only found in puppy food )that a adult dog doesn't need as much! How old will the pup be when you get him/her? around 8 weeks or older is the right time! Seperate bowls for water and food are essential even if the second dog was a adult to stop squabbles/fights you can feed in same room providing you keep a keen eye on them and supervise them both! And don't forget lay ground rules from day 1 for the pup as it's very important the pup knows what is acceptable and what isn't in your house!! And welcome aboard to Df Enjoy the forum

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The_momma22

Thank you for your reply! He has never showed any form of food aggression. Even when he stayed with my inlaws (while we were gone for a weekend) who had a dog. They fed them from the same dish since they ate the same food. And there were no issues.

Bigboy

Ah yes but your dog know's your inlaws dog And probably has seen this dog many times remember a new puppy is coming in to your house (bowls are cheap to buy) (and you can't be sure your dog will accept the puppy eating his food out of his bowl and puppies can't eat adult dog food this a fact would you give a human baby adult food! Go figure We have resident food guru on here he called Vagreys and his knowledge on dog food is second to none I am sure he will chime in with his thoughts too HTH!

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Kaos

My question would be why you insist on free feeding the existing dog? I would suggest that unless there is a very good reason, you switch to feeding two regular meals per day at set times, and pick up any uneaten food. The free feeding is very likely to cause issues when you introduce the puppy, and many dogs will simply overeat when being free fed. Labs and heelers are both breeds who tend to become obese easily. In addition, free feeding tends to devalue food, which is unhelpful if you want to use food in training.

techie

Welcome to df The_momma! We have lots of good discussions here.
techie

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The_momma22

While growing up my parents had many dogs and different breeds and we have always had an open bowl. Now that we have our own house and have had a couple dogs on our own we also keep an open bowl. He has had an open bowl since he was a puppy and he is actually on the skinner side(not underweight he's just very athletic). The new puppy is a lab/heeler mix and the dog we have now is an elkhound/Aussie mix. I don't plan on changing his type of feeding anytime soon. I wasnt planning on having the same bowl for both dogs for food either. Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I think I will try the bowls on different areas and make sure to keep an eye on them.

The_momma22

Thank you for all the welcomes as well!!

DeeLind7

Welcome to the Forum!!!! I have always fed my dogs at the same time, in the same room, some with different foods. I trained them to eat from their own bowls. I'm down to 2 dogs now, and both eat different types of food. Each one of them know their "spot" for their bowls and only eat their own food. I have 2 water bowls, and both dogs know they are allowed water from any bowl they want. I can't free feed. Both dogs love food, any kind of food. A dropped, dry noodle doesn't last on the kitchen floor for more than 5 seconds. I do feed them twice a day.
Kudos to you for taking in the poor pup before the owner did the unthinkable to the poor thing. I suppose the best thing to do, is just feed them in different rooms when you first bring him home. Just thought I'd mention, we do love pictures... so post away!

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