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pet related: almost adult dog begging for human food
What do you recommend that I do to stop my dog from begging/stealing human food?
She's just over 10 months old and we've had her for about 6 months, so awhile now. She began begging about 2 months ago. She will sit and stare at you like it's nobody's business while you eat if you let her. We've been putting her in her crate during lunch/dinner time. But, I don't think that's the best solution to keep her from doing it. She'll also follow the kids around and jump up and steal their food from their hands (the toddler is short, ya know). She's a small-ish 12-14 pound Havanese/Bichon mix if it affects your suggestions. lol
We don't intentionally feed her human food, she only gets it when she steals it. She has a variety of toys she chews on, teething food treats like the Kong with PB, regular dog treats and then of course her ToTW dog food. She doesn't have all of those at once but she does get a treat or two a day and then occasionally she'll get her Kong or a CET chew. She has plenty of water down as well. I'm certain it's not because she's really hungry but that she just wants something that we have because it's tastier.
And for fun, here is a photo of our Bella.
Re: pet related: almost adult dog begging for human food
My dog never was really a beggar for food, but she wanted attention during every meal. We eventually taught her to go lie down on her bed, just through reinforcement and giving her something like a rawhide.
When I had a roommate, her dog also wanted attention during meals, and it didn't take long to train her to lie on her bed while we ate. I want to say she caught on within a couple months, but having my dog as an example probably helped. We were probably lucky that neither were true beggars to begin with.
My dogs don't have a ton of interaction with kids, so these may or may not work.
1 - Does your dog have access to toys/Kongs/chews all the time? If so, it may be helpful to pick up all the toys and rotate through them one at a time, saving the more valuable ones for when you and the other humans are eating.
2 - Are any of your kids old enough to give commands? Stepping up the NILIF would likely be helpful, even more so if the kids can get involved in the action so the dog understands the kids are higher in the pack order. The most helpful aspect of NILIF for us has been having our dogs sit and wait patiently while they beg. We call them the most polite beggers in the world. We ignored them long enough that now they just sleep through most of our meals, only getting up to stare at us towards the end of dinner, which doesn't bug me provided they leave me alone.
My dogs don't have a ton of interaction with kids, so these may or may not work.
1 - Does your dog have access to toys/Kongs/chews all the time? If so, it may be helpful to pick up all the toys and rotate through them one at a time, saving the more valuable ones for when you and the other humans are eating.
Yes, she has access to all of her toys except for her Kong. I'll pick some up and limit them. I wasn't sure if giving her a Kong at dinner time was reinforcing her getting what she wanted (a treat) was okay. That sounds crazy but I know you probably understand what I meant.
2 - Are any of your kids old enough to give commands? Stepping up the NILIF would likely be helpful, even more so if the kids can get involved in the action so the dog understands the kids are higher in the pack order. The most helpful aspect of NILIF for us has been having our dogs sit and wait patiently while they beg. We call them the most polite beggers in the world. We ignored them long enough that now they just sleep through most of our meals, only getting up to stare at us towards the end of dinner, which doesn't bug me provided they leave me alone.
Yes, my oldest is able and does with her. She listens when he tells her "down, off, outside, no" and commands like that.
I wasn't sure if we were doing an okay thing (crating) during our meals or not. I don't like her to sit and stare at us while eating because she'll also frequently jump at our chairs or wait under the table for the kids to drop something (which happens almost every meal).
Thanks everyone!