When you have 20+ dogs, regardless of breed, feeding time is always an experience.  There really are no shortcuts in terms of what works well and not as well.  Over time, you can definitely pick up on the dogs preferences and nuances.  Some of them are…well…funny.  Just some observations from watching them eat over the years…

Holly:  Will not eat outside.  Only in the house.  Lays on the floor with her head resting on the side of the bowl, the bowl tilted, and she rarely comes up for air.

Chance:  Of course he is on a liquid diet, but when finished with his, he pounces around waiting for anyone to drop a morsel.  He lives for crunchy food!  But he also knows he can’t eat from any of the bowls.  He can only have a couple at a time.  He cannot go outside until everyone is finished, but BEGS to go out every day!

Czar:  Does go outside with the others, but rarely eats out there.  He likes to only eat in the house.  Since he cannot be in the same room as Chance, sometimes we put Czar upstairs behind the gate with a bowl of food.  He won’t touch it.  He only wants to eat on the main level.  Strange!

Luna:  Runs around like a rabid raccoon that hasn’t eaten in a week, scarfing food from any and all bowls.  She takes only one bite from each bowl and runs to the next.  We assume she is hoping there is something better in the next bowl!

Nadia:  Stares at Chance, hoping he leaves some of his liquid food behind.  If he does, she cleans up after him.  If not, she is dejected and “accepts” eating the hard stuff in her bowl. 

Lula:  Eats more than most.  She normally finishes her bowl, then walks around cleaning up what the others leave behind.

Mylah:  Only likes to eat on the deck, but will follow you around as you place bowls down elsewhere.  She apparently wants to make sure everyone gets the same food.  After all the bowls are down, she goes back to the deck and shoves her way in to a bowl.  Whoever she shoves has to eat elsewhere.

Miya:  Wants to always eat in a special spot.  Up until recently, she always wanted to eat in her igloo.  Miya has claimed one of the 3 igloos as her own.  When food would come out, she would run to it and wait. These days she likes to eat on top of the trampoline.   She gets very testy when others come near her.  No one else gets a bite of Miya’s food!  Some try, all fail.  With winter coming, maybe she will return to the igloo.

Phoenix:  Similar to Miya, but will come out of her igloo.  Of the 3 igloos, Miya has claimed one, and Phoenix has somewhat claimed one of the others.  Phoenix likes to eat in there, but will come out as needed.

Ice, Ember, and Iris:  Like Mylah, these 2 prefer to eat on the deck.  The deck is small, so they all must jostle for position.  Sometimes it all works out, sometimes it doesn’t.

Ellie, Josie, River, and Ziva:  They will follow the food giver around, sniffing every bowl that is put down.  They will  never pick one until all are down.  When that moment occurs, they look at you as if to say, “That’s it?”  Then they make their way around and find an unclaimed bowl.

Gypsy:  The lost soul.  She wanders aimlessly, apparently hoping for an invitation to the cool kids table.  In the end, she quietly picks a bowl and eats.  Usually the last one.

Willow:  Waits by the cement pad next to the deck.  If food is put there, she will eat it and finish it all.  If food is not put there, she becomes just like Gypsy and wanders aimlessly until she finally quietly claims a bowl.  Once she decides on one, she lays there and guards it, and takes forever to eat!

Quinn:  Similar to Luna, but not as rabid.  She bounces from bowl to bowl refusing to call one her own.  She just wants to eat as much as possible from everyone else’s bowl!  Most REALLY don’t like this, so there is often several yelps from her as they snap at her.

Kallen & Xander:  These 2 are peas in a pod…They have no manners!  They will push and shove any man, woman, or child to get to the food first, and then they pee in it.  Most of the time, these two crackheads eat alone because they refuse to let anyone else eat.  Even if they don’t eat.  They just want to make sure no one gets any.

Rose:  The food guarder.  Like Willow, she will lay by her bowl and guard it.  But Rose is worse than Willow.  She won’t eat until everyone else has finished.  Then, when any approach her to maybe steal a morsel, she growls to say back off.  Then she slowly eats a little at a time while watching everyone else stare at her.