What can I do to stop my dogs from fighting over their food?

I know dogs are territorial, especially over food, but our dogs get so brutal at times. We have three female dogs. Our first is an 8 year old Boarder Collie. The second is a 3 year old Chocolate Lab. And, the third is a year old Begal. The Boarder Collie bullied the Chocolate Lab when she was a puppy, but now she's grown an will not take any more. At meal time, we chain them across the yard from each other, but them don't seem interested in eating until we unchain them. And then its war. What do I do?

Feed one at a time, leaving the other two chained...

let them eat seperatly. keep 2 indooors while one is outside eating. or feed them different time os day. do you have seperate bowls? or let one eat inside and one eat outsdie and the thhird can be somewhere else. you just have to stagger the eating cycle

keep them chained until they eat, or feed them in separate rooms, they have learned that you have accepted that they will fight for food, you must be the boss, and not allow them to eat together, if they fight, take the food away and don't feed them together next meal

Our family had the same problem. We gave them two seperate bowls and that did not work. Then we finally made the natural pecking order; the most dominate female eats first (usually the oldest) and the other dogs are punished if they come near her. Dominance is usually females first then males. After a few weeks the other dogs learned to lay and wait quietly about 3 feet away until it was their turn. I have heard that having multiple female dogs is one of the hardest combinations though. Punishment was by means of the shaker, a tin soda can with about 10 pennies in it, taped closed. Most dogs hate the sound and will become submisive to it.

Seperate when feeding. Different rooms. Feed the dominant dog first always. Then move one. Three females is very hard. Any time you have the same sex dogs you can have bad fighting. Food is the most common trigger.I would not unchain them until the food was picked up if they did not eat in a given time to bad they would wait until the next feeding time and I would try again. Give them 20 minutes and pick up any left over food. Then unchain them.This will soved your problem but you will have to always seperate them for feeding.Good luck

First off,all of them need obedience work. As far as feeding time, you need to figure out the pack structure and feed the alpha dog first and on down the line. Keep them separated. Give 15 minutes to eat and take away all bowls. No snacks until the next feed either. It should only take a couple of times until they are more interested in eating than snarling at each other.

Over Protective of Food Bowl:Frank had a beautiful Labrador named Gordy.  Outgoing, happy-go-lucky, tail always wagging, Gordy was everyone's best buddy. Until it came dinnertime. Then Gordy became his own evil twin, snarling at anyone who even came near his bowl. Trying to retrieve his bowl got to be a task for only those brave at heart. Even Frank was being bit and it had to stop. Gordy was a chow hound.  Loved food, lived for food, the typical Labrador, he was very intense about his food. I visited Frank and Gordy at dinnertime so I could observe the dog.  I told Frank to go about dinnertime just as if I was not there, but to only put a quarter of the dog's normal ration of kibble in the bowl. Frank quickly snatched up the dog bowl when Gordy was not looking.  When Gordy heard Frank dumping the dry kibble in the bowl, he went ballistic. While dancing around in the kitchen, barking and snarling, he had worked himself into a lather.  Frank tossed the food bowl down on the floor while Gordy jumped and skittered about the kitchen.  When I asked Frank to take the bowl from Gordy, the dog planted himself over the bowl growling, whereupon Frank raised his hands in disgust and left the dog by himself in the kitchen. I told Frank he needed to change the dinner routine immediately.  I asked him if Gordy would sit and stay on command.  Gordy would.  One step towards the cure was taken. By this time, Gordy had finished his kibble and came prancing out of the kitchen.  When I entered the kitchen, Gordy immediately ran over and stood over his bowl, guarding the now empty bowl. I ignored him.  I took two identical metal bowls from my bag of tricks, placing one inside the other. Walking past Gordy as if he were not even there, I waited for him to snatch out at me, which he did. Sidestepping him, I kept walking but in a natural motion caught Gordy on top of the head with the bowls, still ignoring him and not saying a word. Returning to the kitchen, I walked past Gordy who was still guarding his bowl.  He was now watching my hands intently, waiting for the bowls to make contact with his head again.  I put the bowls on the counter top and now began talking to Gordy.  I took a biscuit from my bag and showed it to Gordy at the same time telling him to sit.  As soon as he sat, I said, “Good boy!” and tossed the biscuit to him, purposely tossing the biscuit behind him. Gordy turned to chase his reward, while I quickly picked up his bowl and placed it in the sink out of sight. I took bacon bits, liver scraps, and a cup of his kibble and placed them on the counter top along with the two metal bowls still tucked one inside the other. Then I began talking to Gordy in a soft undertone, asking him if he wanted a treat.  “Are you ready to eat?” When I heard his feet begin to scrabble on the floor, I would turn my back on him and stop all movement until he became calm.  As soon as he remained still for a couple of seconds, I would take a tiny scrap of bacon, turn to him, tell him to sit and when he did, I gave him the treat. We did this several times over the next fifteen minutes, until Gordy finally got the idea that he must become quiet on his own before I would pay attention to him, tell him to sit, and give him the treat.  After fifteen minutes, Gordy was quiet and sitting instead of scrabbling around like a mad dog. This exercise taught Gordy several things: 1) he received nothing .. no attention, no treats .. while he was scrabbling around in the kitchen; 2) he taught himself to quiet down because only when he was quiet and still, did I turn and give him attention. If he began to dance around, I just turned my back on him, ignoring him; 3)  he soon learned the only time I gave him a treat was when he was sitting and quiet. Now came part two of the dinnertime lesson.  I began talking to Gordy in an animated voice as I mixed the bacon, the liver, and the kibble in the bowl.  Now Gordy already knew I had bacon as he had received it as a treat.  Now he could see and smell that I was mixing up a delicious repast for him. Unbeknownst to him, it was trickery time.  I placed all of the food in the top bowl, and place two single pieces of kibble in the bottom bowl.  Turning to him, I asked him to sit “are you hungry?” and when he sat I put down the bowl with the two pieces of kibble in it. Gordy immediately dove, growling, into the bowl expecting good smelly liver and bacon bits.  His look of surprise when he found there was nothing, but two pieces of kibble was worth a thousand dollars! I waited until he was finished, turned to him and said .. “You want some more?”.  He immediately sat and I took up his bowl at the same time giving him a bacon treat for sitting. I then placed a couple more pieces of kibble in the bowl, plus a piece or two of bacon and liver.  Turning to him, I told him to sit, and gave him his bowl.  Again he dove, growling, into his bowl.  Only to find just a tad bit more than the last time, but there was a slight wag to the tail as he gobbled the liver. We repeated this exercise, over and over, until he released, “Hey .. it is not so bad when she takes my bowl. She gives it right back and there is always something better in it each time!” By the end of the session, I was able to place the food bowl on the floor and he was showing no animosity towards me.  I was the “great procurer of liver and bacon bits”.. he wanted me to take his bowl away, so he could get more. His growling was a thing of the past. Frank had watched this exercise as it dragged out over forty-five minutes. He was amazed that I could now reach down and take the bowl out from under Gordy’s nose without fear of being bit. When all the food was gone, I took Gordy’s bowl and placed it up off the floor.  I then told Frank, “Do not leave his bowl on the floor.  That leaves his bowl in HIS territory.  Keep the bowl in YOUR territory.  It is YOUR bowl, not his.  You are just letting him eat out of it while you share YOUR food with him.”  By doing this, you keep the upper hand, you remain in the alpha position, you remain in charge. After a month, I stopped in at Frank's house at dinnertime.  I watched him feed a now patiently sitting Gordy, reach down and take up his bowl, and replace it without Gordy growling or trying to bite.  Gordy has relinquished his bowl to Frank, knowing full well doing so was to his advantage, and in doing so, became submissive to Frank. Frank had unknowingly escalated the problem with his own reactions to the dog.  When he fed the dog, he left. This action gave the dog domain over the kitchen, it became his territory. When the dog growled and Frank left, Gordy believed he had defended his territory successfully.  Gordy had become top dog and Frank had become his second. By re-establishing his rank as top dog, Frank would now find his relationship a more pleasant experience.