An animal’s bad behavior can be associated with maintenance errors, connivance and a number of other factors that form a bad habit in the animal. However, every problem has a solution, and you can wean your dog off stealing at any age.
How to get rid of begging
The solution to the problem of begging does not come overnight; it requires effort and painstaking training. Main rules:
- The pet should not be encouraged. Understanding that the animal seeks the owner’s approval in everything will tell you how to wean the dog off the table. Any manifestation of begging should be ignored. The dog will look you in the face, whine, bark, put his paws on the edge of the table, but you need to remain firm and not pay attention to him.
- You should not give your puppy anything while you are eating. Before you wean your dog from begging, you need to wean yourself and your family members from giving your pet treats. Everyone must participate in changing the dog's habits, otherwise training will not be successful. This rule especially applies to small children who always like to hand feed animals.
- While eating, you cannot communicate with your pet or even mention it in conversation.
- You should not look at the dog, as the animal perceives eye contact as encouragement.
- When the dog starts to climb onto your lap or towards food, the “place” command is allowed. If this does not help, you need to send him to another room. Living in a private house, you can let the dog out for a walk in the yard while the family is eating. This will deprive the animal of unnecessary temptations.
It is worth preparing that when a dog begs, it uses all its capabilities for manipulation. Therefore, it is recommended to comply with the following requirements:
- involvement of the owner’s family in the education process;
- avoidance of concessions and exceptions;
- ignoring the emerging feeling of guilt;
- persistence if change does not come quickly.
Invite a dog handler for a consultation in cases where the dog reacts aggressively to retraining or begins to chew things in retaliation. A professional will study the situation in detail and help identify errors. If necessary, you can retake the general commands training course.
Theft is a more serious case. Here you will have to show incredible perseverance
Stop choosing food
This applies to the habit of “vacuuming”. When the dog begins to stretch, give a prohibiting command, distract it and arrange a short training session. Generously encourage obedience, give tasty allowed treats: crackers, cheese, fillet, etc. Ideally, the pet should calmly walk past scattered pieces without control from you.
Do not offer treats from the table
This is one of the main rules. If you continue to reinforce a bad habit, the dog will not get rid of it. Would you like a treat? Do this only after eating. Leave the desired piece in the bowl. Let the pet understand that he will not receive anything until the end of lunch, and wait near his “plate”.
Leave traps
The theft is established without your intervention. The situation is difficult to control. This is the main problem in re-education. The dog understands that the punishment comes from the owner and tries to climb onto the table while no one is looking. You need to fundamentally change the situation.
Place traps: these can be structures made of threads, glasses of water, jars of nuts... Sometimes it is enough to lay out a layer of tape on the table, but usually the temptation is stronger. Do everything to make it unpleasant for your dog to climb on furniture. It is important to leave food, the pet will not react to the table without “tidbits”.
Be careful: your companion may swallow the trap, so you should not leave him unattended. Do not use harsh methods if the dog is too young or sick. The degree of impact must be selected individually. It is recommended not to stuff food with pepper, as the person under your care may burn the mucous membranes or even lose their sense of smell.
Living with a beggar dog is difficult, and weaning from theft is even more difficult. It’s much easier to ignore a puppy dog look one day than to deal with the consequences for a long time. However, even in advanced cases, not all is lost. Good luck!
How to stop theft
If the situation worsens and the dog climbs onto the table for food in the absence of the owner, you will have to resort to more severe methods:
- The easiest way to stop a dog from stealing food is with general commands - “fu” or “no”. They should be practiced regularly.
- Place an object on the edge of the furniture that will make a sharp, loud sound when dropped. Place it so that it falls as soon as the dog starts jumping on the table.
- Use Fisher discs to prevent your puppy from climbing into people's dining areas. He associates this sound with a dissatisfied roar and will help if the baby has not yet been trained in basic commands.
- Place pieces of food near the table, sprinkling them with pepper. This will help form a negative reaction to food outside the bowl.
Scaring sounds
If the dog does start stealing food, scaring sounds will help wean it off. To do this, you can use a Fischer disk, which is sold in pet stores, or make a similar device yourself. Even a tin can with coins inside will do.
When the dog wants to steal something or pick up food from the floor, you need to throw the device so that it makes a loud sound. It is important that the dog does not understand where the device was thrown from. If the animal has learned the lesson well, it can be treated with a treat.
General recommendations
Instead of thinking in the future about how to wean your dog from climbing on the table, you should take care in advance about the proper upbringing of your pet. The dog will not look for an opportunity to climb onto the table in the absence of the owner if the following conditions are met:
- Determine feeding times while the dog is still small.
- Before training your dog, review its diet. Perhaps adding additional nutrients will stop her from asking for treats.
- It is advisable that the pet eats at the same time as the owners or before them, but always in its place and only from its own bowl, this will discourage begging and walking on the table.
- Strict training and the authority of the owner will wean any dog from climbing onto the table.
- Place food in containers. The absence of temptations will wean the animal from jumping on the table.
- Reward good behavior, but give treats away from people's dining area and place them in the dog's bowl.
- Teach your puppy the command “okay” or “eat” so that you don’t have to wean her off taking human food.
These principles must be followed at all stages of a pet's life. You should not give your dog the opportunity to look for food while walking, climb into trash cans, or beg at a picnic. Any relaxation will lead to the return of the old habit, and it will be more and more difficult to wean the dog each time.
When weaning a dog from putting its paws on the table, begging and stealing, there is no need to follow the path of punishment. Spanking and yelling will only lead to the dog feeling stressed and resentful. It is much more important to wean your pet from asking for food from the table through re-education and training. This will not only bring a positive effect at home, but will also help to wean your dog from picking up potentially dangerous objects from the ground while walking.
Why does a dog beg for food?
Sometimes the cause of theft is an unbalanced diet. If a dog lacks nutrients, it will switch its attention to new types of food. Typically, such pets also experience cravings for inedible objects. Occasionally, the companion simply does not have enough food. However, most often the owners are to blame, not the animals.
Have you ever given an animal “human” food from the table? Many owners share food with their charges, feeling sorry for them. It seems to us that dogs eat too bland and monotonous. But they don’t need a variety of flavors, they just need to get enough nutrients.
The first time you gave your pet a piece of cheese from the table or a cup of ice cream, you helped form a new bad habit. From now on, the dog will insistently hover around you while you eat. Pets can be intrusive! If the ward receives a second piece, he will demand again and again. What to do? We'll have to go to extreme measures.
Teach your dog basic obedience
By teaching your dog basic obedience commands, you can then use these commands to prevent impulsive behavior such as begging.
For example, if your dog always jumps on your lap and asks for food while you're eating, simply tell him to "Sit" and "Ew!" This stops the unpleasant behavior.
If someone accidentally drops food on the ground and your dog tries to get to it, give him the "Foo" command to prevent this behavior.
Change your dog's diet
If you notice that your puppy isn't eating enough and is coming up to you during lunch and asking for food, it's probably time to change your dog's diet. Older dogs may require canned dog food to satisfy their taste buds and keep them healthy.
If your dog still completely ignores his food after changing his diet, consult your veterinarian because it could be an illness.
Block access to the table
While it may seem like an easy task, blocking access to the table with a child or pet gate is one of the best ways to prevent persistent pups from begging. Or lock your dog in a crate while eating.
Causes of begging and theft
Before you panic and think about how to stop your dog from stealing from the table, you should understand and identify the source of this behavior. A well-mannered animal, satisfied with its life, will not hang around the table, begging for treats, and will not just start stealing leftover food.
The dog is hungry
The amount of food a pet needs depends not only on the size of the animal. Active dogs that spend a lot of time outside and engage in physical exercise should not be deprived of food to replenish their energy.
The pet should receive a sufficient amount of calories, correctly distributed between morning and evening.
The problem is not necessarily a lack of food in the bowl. Perhaps the diet is poorly balanced, and the animal does not receive enough necessary substances from the food.
The correct ratio of protein products, fats, carbohydrates, micro- and macroelements should be determined based on the size of the dog, breed and lifestyle.
Errors in the behavior of the owner and family members
The owners themselves push the pet into bad behavior by offering treats from their hands. Even a single offer of food forms a behavior pattern in the puppy’s mind. It will be difficult to wean your dog off the table if children or guests secretly offer him table treats.
It will not be possible to properly wean a puppy from bad habits if he is fed from different dishes, in the wrong place and not according to the schedule. Unsystematic feeding makes the pet constantly expect food and does not allow the formation of a routine.
Food left in the kitchen provokes your pet's curiosity. Canines sense smells much stronger than humans, and left food attracts their attention.
Before you begin to wean your dog from climbing on the table or putting its paws on it, you need to change your own behavior and the habits of family members.
How to stop a dog from begging and stealing from the table?
The smell of soup comes from the kitchen. You wash your hands and sit down at the table. You bring the spoon to your mouth, anticipating a pleasant taste, and... you hear a demanding roar. Well, of course, it was your dog who came running at the smell of soup. And she asks, no, even demands, to be treated. Why do you need to stop your dog from begging for food, much less stealing it from the table? There are several reasons for this:
- the most obvious: beggar dogs and thieves are terribly annoying. In the first case, they look into your mouth, preventing you from enjoying your food. Secondly, the fried leg on the table may not wait for you... because the dog will eat it himself;
- The food we eat can be salty, bitter, sour and sweet. Hot or very cold. All this is harmful to the dog's body. Normal food for a four-legged friend should be fresh or at room temperature;
- a dog can beg for food in unlimited quantities. And this is fraught with obesity. Many breeds are prone to it.
Now you understand why the questions “how to stop a puppy from begging” or “how to stop a dog from stealing food?” relevant. Has your dog already adopted a begging pose and is looking at you with the most soulful eyes? Don’t let this habit turn into a habit - don’t be careless: by doing this you harm not only yourself, but also the dog.
Take your dog to his favorite place
If your dog does come begging for food after he finishes eating, the best way to get him to stop is to send him to a cozy spot near the dining area.
One such alternative behavior is to send your dog to a designated area, such as a bed, crate or mat, away from the table with a command such as “Go to your place.”
This way, the puppies can still feel like they are interacting with family and have a nice cozy place to hang out.
