There are some camps who vehemently believe that in order for your dog to respect you, and his role within your family, he must always see you eat first. He must never cross a doorway first. He must never be allowed to sleep in your bed. He must never be allowed to "choose" a behavior.
The other end of that spectrum is that none of that matters, so long as you are enforcing obedience when you ask for it.
Still another angle gives us the perspective of the multi-dog household: Who is the "Alpha"? Who eats first? Who has rights that the others do not?
The answers to all of those questions, and to the one of Which Way is Right, is so very different for each and every household, that to say One way is The Way, would be grossly unfair. There are dogs (and Humans) out there who could care less who eats first, or goes outside first, or gets the best sleeping spot. There are those wonderful tomato-plant personalities that nothing riles them, and they just seem to 'get along' with everyone and every thing. If you are lucky enough to have one of these, count yourself blessed, and be kind to the rest of us.
In my house, the bottom line is respect. I have two very different personalities of the canine persuasion living under my roof, and almost always, a visiting dog. Mealtime happens only for dogs who are sitting politely and waiting. They do not mob the kitchen. They do not scrap or fight with each other when they are finished, as it is my job to enforce respect not only for me and my family, but for each other. They eat very closely, but not so close that they can reach the other dogs bowl without walking away from their own. When one finishes, he is asked to Sit and Wait while the other dog eats at his leisure.
There have been times when I have had to keep a visitor dog on lead, feeding a few kibbles at a time from my hand while asking the dog for numerous behaviors (such as Sit, Down, Wait, Come...whatever, just work the dog) in order to earn the meal, and to keep them busy enough to ignore the other two eating. I have worked with households who must muzzle and leash the "low guy on the totem pole" in order to safely have them wait a distance from the other dogs, to enforce that he has no right to eat until they have had their fill. Ultimately, this creates a better order, and a calmer dog; again, this depends on the individual dogs' personality.
I have seen families whose dogs are gulpers who finish their food as fast as possible, so they can scramble over and steal from the other dogs. This creates chaos, which in turn creates growly/snappy behavior, which will eventually lead to a fight. If you are a lazy human, or one who is struggling with a dog who does indeed suffer from resource guarding over food, then take it slowly and use crates. Use a leash at the very least, to allow yourself the control needed to enforce that it is You who controls the resource of the food; not the dog.
Controlling the resource: That is how you control the dog. If you must start with the "offending" dog in the other room, locked in a crate to eat so the other dogs are safe, then do it. Do not feel as though you must overpower a dog who is having issues with guarding what he perceives as "his." Finesse is required to convince him that he will actually be better off without that state of mind. Find a distance he feels safe with, and slowly begin to "smash" it into a smaller and smaller space, until it doesn't matter anymore. Teaching a dog it will gain something good from sharing, or not being so obsessed, will teach him how to stay in a calm state of mind.
That being said, you must also bear in mind that some dogs are just flat out not good at sharing with another dog. Some dogs are not cut out for being a part of a pack. They prefer to be only children, and we must be sensitive to that as well. You may make progress with a dog like that, but he may be a ticking time-bomb, just waiting for you to not be on your game one day. Dogs like that, should you choose to keep them, must be accepted as a lifetime management issue. You, the controller of all things in your dogs life, will be responsible for keeping him, and everyone who interacts with him, safe. These are the personalities who may do better with the stricter structure of where he sleeps, how he moves through doorways, etc.
I told someone once my thoughts on pack status as pertaining to food. He had a wolf-hybrid, so in my opinion, it was more important to stick to a more 'wolfy' pack order with that particular dog. He took my words so to heart, that when I visited, I noticed only one bowl. He had two dogs. When I asked about it, he said, "Watch this."
He then proceeded to fill the bowl with food. Both dogs were eagerly, but respectfully sitting and watching him do this. When he was finished, he called the old wolf over to eat, and stood guard while he got to eat half the bowl of food. When the wolf was half through, the guy then told Wolf to "Away" and sent him off the food to again Sit and Wait. He then called the younger dog over to finish the meal, while he stood guard and made sure old wolf waited.
He understood that He Controlled the Resource, not the dogs. He was willing to hang out for the entire 5-10 minutes it required for them to eat like that (oh nooo, not commitment!!!).
He has yet to ever have a fight over anything in his home.
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