Ash,

I think you know my dogs (Lady - Retriever & Tobi - Chihuahua). Well, Tobi is the Alpha in the relationship, but for a period of 1 week, a long time ago, Lady would finish her food first and go intimidate Tobi. This would continuously cause a fight. Here's how we resolved it.

We confirmed in Lady's eyes that TOBI IS ALPHA and she has to back off!!

We fed Tobi first. We put both of them in the Sit command and offered the food to Tobi. Lady had to watch him eat. If she gave any indications of moving towards Tobi (or the food) we would just sternly say "Don't even think about it"!! Just in the tone of our voice and Lady knew we meant business. If she remained in control for a period of 5 minutes or so, we then gave her the food -- all the way on the other side of the room, opposite Tobi.

That procedure continued for about 2 weeks. We haven't had any problems so far. Sometimes Lady will just lie down and stare at Tobi eating, but has not attempted to snatch the food away from him or get into a fight.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.