How do I stop my dog begging at the table? Every dog owner has been there: they sit down to have dinner and all of a sudden their dog appears out of nowhere and sits quietly by them with the most pitiful look on his face and the best “puppy eyes” he can manage. Some dogs stop there and just wait patiently until you can’t stand “the look” any more and share your food with them, while some will go even further by making noises, pawing you or even jumping up at you to give you a “nudge”. But while it sometimes looks as if dogs instinctively acquired the begging skills, the truth is that at some point they must get something off the table for them to establish the habit of sitting and waiting patiently until you cave in. If your dog never, ever, even accidently gets anything off the table, then he will not beg – why would he after all? Only behaviours that are in some way rewarded (even once every blue moon) will continue – if your dog never gets anything even for the best display of sad, starving dog eyes, then he will not waste his energy on just sitting there. What’s more, dogs learn who to beg from – so will never try to get food from someone who never shares, and will instead settle by the person who has given them something before. If you are like most dog owners and do occasionally share some food with your dog at the table, or if your family members do (and children are notorious for doing this, on purpose or inadvertently) then chances are your dog begs at the table. If this habit annoys you, not all is lost, although the longer your dog has had a chance to practise it (and he’s been successful) the more difficult the habit will be to break. Firstly, you have to make sure your dog is never, ever rewarded at the table. Not even crumbs. Even better, don’t pay any attention to your dog either, as attention might be another thing your dog is after, apart from the food. Remember that a behaviour is hardest to stop if it is rewarded on a random basis – so if you fed your dog at the table every time your had food and then stopped completely, your dog would find it much easier to “unlearn” the begging behaviour than if you do it every now and again, and it’s fairly unpredictable for your dog whether he will get something or not. However, if you find it really hard to resist sharing with your dog, or your family members don’t seem to be cooperating, there are other things you can do. Prepare a long lasting chew such as a filled frozen Kong for your dog, and give it to him at the same time as you serve dinner. This way, your dog will be feeding at the same time you do, but from his own dog toy, without looking at you and disturbing you. Do make sure, however, that what you offer to your dog is really attractive (so no dry boring biscuits) – you are after all trying to teach your dog that what he has in his Kong is equally good as what’s on the table – and competing with human food is not that easy! So think yoghurt, pate, peanut butter, canned dog food, soft cheese, bits of cheese – whatever your dog fancies, but make it as yummy as you can and freeze it to make it last throughout the dinner time! If you have small children that are likely to drop food on the floor for your dog to scoff off, however, even the best Kong or chew toy might not cut the mustard. In that case you will have to make sure your dog is not around the table when food is served – so either shut him in another room with something to do or teach him to settle on his bed or in his crate with a chew/Kong well away from the table. Start this by giving your dog a yummy chew on his bed and asking him to settle (you can use the word “settle” or any other word you choose) and praise your dog when he has lain down and is happily chewing on his Kong. If he gets up, just reposition him back on his bed and give him the chew again. If you notice that it’s hard for your dog to concentrate on the chew, you might need to give him something more high value, as you can be sure it will not be good enough when human food is around. You will need to practise this without food on the table to start with, and as your dog gets better and better at settling down on his bed, start sitting down at the table and asking for longer and longer settles. Later, pretend you are eating something or actually have a small snack while your dog is on his bed with his chew. Again, increase the duration of this until you can eat, say, a whole sandwich without your dog even thinking about leaving his bed and coming up to you. Gradually, introduce other family members into this training until you can be sure that your dog is happily chewing away while you all have dinner in peace. Throughout this training process you need to make absolutely certain nobody feeds your dog at the table or nothing ends up on the floor, even accidentally. If you can’t prevent your dog from being fed at the table, you need to remove him to another room or crate – otherwise you will never be able to stop the begging. After all, why would your dog give up on free food if it’s on offer?
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 15:33:53 +0000
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