My dogs are outside dogs. I feed them on the back porch but sometimes they don’t eat immediately. If I come back a hour or so later, their food is filled with #### ants. I have found if I take a square 8 x 8 pan of water with a little Dawn dish detergent in it and sit the bowl of dog food in it, the ants cannot get into the food. I know there are some dishes and stuff out there for sale that do the same thing, but my idea is a lot cheaper. Also, a side benefit: the palmetto bugs that are huge and plentiful in Florida and I find one or two of them occasionally in the soapy water in the morning. I hate those things.