Golden Retriever Brings All the Drama While Waiting for Dinner and It Deserves an Award

For our dogs, there are a few sacred things: snuggle time, their favorite toys, and dinnertime. If you mess with any of these, you're bound to be met with a little bit of hostility. That is your fault.

On August 27th, one dog mom learned this the hard way. Though her Golden Retriever is especially cute, he does not play when it comes to dinner: she was a little late, and he was not about to let her forget it:

The Golden Sloanes all got fed eventually, but not before they whined about it. I hope they all got an extra treat!

Related: Golden Retriever Meets His Baby for the First Time in Ultimate Moment of Sweetness

The Sloanes are four strong, all Golden Retrievers. It seems simultaneously like a dream and an impossible task! I have three mid-sized dogs, and I'm almost in over my head. Luckily, mom doesn't have to do all of it alone; not only does she have a partner, but these four actually love to keep each other company. They range in age from seniors down to almost-still-puppies!

When it comes to dinner, though, it's every dog for themselves. They get fed at a trough-like structure they've attached to the wall (in a follow-up, mom says she got it on Etsy), which is both hilarious to watch and creates some problems sometimes. Hopefully she varies who gets fed "first" every time, or she'll have lots more grumbles like this!

How To Keep Dogs Calm During Mealtime

It's a universal experience: you announce that it's dinner time and fight for your life while you prepare the bowl(s). There's usually barking, stomping, jumping, and even fighting amongst the dogs while they wait. Even if you don't announce dinnertime, they recognize the sounds of the bags opening and the food hitting the bowls.

If you're not interested in fighting for your life every day while dishing out the goods, you can try:

1. Training your dogs to go to a " neutral place " away from the kitchen until you say otherwise.
2. Preparing the food behind closed doors (or with your dogs behind closed doors!).
3. Choose a softer food rather than hard kibble so you won't make as much noise.
4. If you can, let your dogs outside to run a little while you get their food ready.

The most important thing to remember, even if they're annoying you, is that they legitimately don't know any better. They have no concept of human manners; all they know is that they're hungry. The best shot you have at keeping them calm is to train them to be that way from the jump, but manage your expectations. Even if they're obeying, you'll still get an excited whine and some tail wags!