As for the dog bowl part, just redirection, and involving her in helping fill empty bowls! Make the association to the dog bowls putting things inside of them; not taking things out
She’s not at an age yet where she can be defiant. Their brains don’t have impulse control until much closer to age 4. Tell her what you want her to do rather than saying no. She’s simply exploring her world and figuring out cause and effect. Keep redirecting away from the dog’s bowls and soon she’ll move on to the next thing. As soon as she’s able have her help put water in the bowl or add the food herself. I wouldn’t scowl at her or make sad faces. She’s not responsible for other people’s emotions. Try to react as calmly as possible. “I won’t let you play in the dog bowl. Let’s go make a tower.” For the food don’t put too much on the plate at once. Give her a bowl for what she doesn’t want. If she throws something you can take it away and maybe give it back once (like a water cup). If she keeps throwing and not eating I’d just say “looks like you’re all done eating, let’s get you done.”
I could be reading too much into it, but I feel like she purposely goes to throw dog food to get me to play with her cuz that's what I always do. She's bored, so she throws dog food, so I play with her...
@Sarah May kids definitely end up doing things that get our attention but it’s not done out of malice, they really do not understand what bad attention is until their way older than 17 months. More like 5 years or older for that type of stuff to really compute for them Kids are clever & look for the path of seemingly least resistance! Especially when that tiny! So we’ve just gotta try to be a few steps ahead! And mainly focus on what we want to happen instead of only saying what not to do
Kids don’t understand “no” or “do not” until around 2.5-3.5 years old. All she’s hearing is “drop” put an empty bowl or plate near where you’re eating, and use that empty bowl as a target for where food can get dropped or tossed to.