[AngelBunny]

I do not recommend free feeding whether your have one dog or several. Dog #1 may well eat, hungry or not, to prevent Dog #2 or Dog #3 from getting any of his or her food. Free feeding in a multiple dog household also can encourage guarding behavior--the unhungry dog won't leave his or her bowl, protecting it from the other dogs.

And, if you free feed it can take you longer to find out your dog isn't feeling well than if you feed at set times and the bowl is removed after a certain period of time, whether or not the dog has eaten.

Since my dogs love their tucker, if a dog doesn't start eating when I release the dog after the bowl is put on the floor, I'm running to the phone to make an emergency call to my vet.

Frankly, I don't understand/see how you will be able to free feed with Khori and your small dog.

If your trainer is working to having Khori able to be free fed so he can "regulate himself when he needs food in his system," I question how much experience he or she has with Rotties. I don't understand the point of this aspect of your dog's training. I've had Rotties for 20+ years and all have been stomachs on legs maaquerading as dogs. All would eat as much as I could feed--they'd eat themselves to death if I gave them the opportunity.

By my comment, "I see no reason for a group hug during mealtimes," I mean just that.

I see no need for the dogs in my house to all eat in close proximity, bowls in a row. Every dog is fed in a separate room for all meals. To do otherwise requires too much time on my part to make sure each dog eats only his or her portion (and they’re all fed different amounts) and policing to ensure the bully doesn’t bull others away from their food. (Our foster is fed twice as much as our youngest girl who's the dog in charge. His teeth aren't the greatest. I have no wish to stand around to make sure Mox doesn't bully him away from his food. Nor do I have any wish to make him feel that he needs to fight to protect his food from his pushy, demanding foster sister.)

The only exception is when I leave for work or to go shopping. Every dog gets a small good-bye treat from me. Here I expect polite and calm sits in front of me while I give each dog a treat in rank order.

Other than this, I give each dog space and privacy to enjoy his or her meals alone.