I think we've figured out that my dog has food allergies, we're just not sure to what. The only food that we have found to clear up her skin is the Royal Canin Vet stuff, and it's $65 for a 17 lb bag. There is no way I'm feeding this to my dog that doesn't have issues. How do I go about feeding them different foods? As soon as they realize the other one has something different, they want the other's food. I've tried separating them for eating, and that resulted in the door just being attacked.
I would love to find something that worked for her that was cheap enough to feed to both of them, but I haven't found it yet. I've been searching at Long Dog Fat Cat, but the 3 foods there we've tried haven't worked.
Re: how to feed dogs separately
My parents feed separately. The big dog eats on the back deck, and the smaller dog eats in the kitchen. Feeding time lasts 15 min. They can eat during that time. If they choose not to eat what is in their bowl, it gets picked up after 15 min, and they out of luck if they didn't eat.
They will soon learn that eating time is eating time, and if they want to eat, that's when they should eat.
What foods did you try at LDFC? Did you get a grain free fish based food? I think that is usually what is recommended to try first. Or, you could take the Royal Canin bag into LDFC and compare ingredients. It might be cheaper to just do allergy testing (around here it's around $350 or $400 - probably a little cheaper in NE) - but with how much you are spending on a 17 pound bag of food, it might be worth it.
When we were trying to figure out what Sharla was allergic to, the dermatologist said food trials need to last a minimum of 8 weeks as before that, the dog could still have old food in their system. Also, food trials = absolutely no treats and the dog can't even have access to lick the bowl of the other dog.
Have you tried putting them in kennels? Or could you put up a baby gate and separate them into 2 rooms. It will pry be tough at first but I think overtime they will realize that this is how they should eat.
My dog was on Royal Canin when I first got him and I didn't care for it. And yes it is very pricey. I know use Blue Buffalo - have you looked into that?