Although it seems normal to some people to see their dog sitting at the table at mealtime, watching them eat and waiting for a piece to fall, the truth is that it is a habit that we should avoid.
Dogs cannot control their survival instincts, so they will always want to eat, even after eating a lot they will still want to eat. It is very sad to see them begging for a piece of food, even more so when guests come home for example.
The same thing happens when we are preparing food in the kitchen, if our dog is used to having something drop from time to time … Every time we go to cook, he will come to beg for a piece of food. He will even press us with his gaze, putting a sad face like saying “give me just a little piece”.
But let’s not kid ourselves, it is a bad habit for the dog, because we simply make him have a hard time waiting for him to fall or give him a piece of something. It is not healthy for him and on numerous occasions it ends up being a problem. Let’s see how to solve this behavior in a simple and effective way.
Teaching my dog not to ask for food
There is only one reason why dogs approach us when we are preparing food or when we are sitting at the table already eating. And that reason is, that on some occasion they have received food in one of those situations.
It is really incredible the ability to memorize that dogs have, perhaps they do not use that memory when they we teach not to pull the leash during the walk But they make full use of it when it comes to remembering when they will receive food.
If in just one occasion you give your dog something to eat, while you are preparing your food…. Every time you go to the kitchen, he will go with you to see if he can get something to eat again. It is not a good habit and can sometimes be annoying.
The only way to correct this situation is by never giving him food again while we prepare food, have dinner or clear the table. We must teach our dog that he has his own hours, breakfast, lunch and dinner (breakfast and dinner in some cases of very old dogs).
Dogs are animals of routines, if we give them breakfast every day at nine in the morning, and we decide not to give them a day…. Even if they don’t have a watch, at nine o’clock in the morning they will come looking for us to put their breakfast on. We must always respect their meal times, but we must never give them food outside those hours (except for prizes when we are educating them and always outside the home).
Being persistent and disciplined is the only solution to avoid this type of behavior. If we do not give them food outside their hours, over time they will give up in their attempt to steal something and these situations will stop happening. And be careful, it does not help to stop giving them a piece of food for a week or two, and then give them a day something, because they deserve it or because it is a special day…. there we will be losing absolutely all the work done.
If it is a special day, we can give you something special to eat but in your meal times and in your feeding room, not otherwise. Our perseverance is the only way to prevent our dog from begging for food.
If he sits next to us, insistently waiting for us to give him something, we can send him to his bed, but we should never scold him since he is not really doing anything wrong. He only waits for food, because surely we have already given him some time.
In a matter of two or four weeks, this bad habit usually disappears and our dog will give up completely, playing or sleeping, instead of waiting for food.
If you feel bad because you are eating and he does not, because he is giving you eyes, or whatever … You can always make your dinner and his match. In this way he will go to his feeder to eat and you will have a few minutes to eat quietly. If he likes your food more than his … something that often happens in dogs that only eat feed, you can surprise him with some BARF food recipe Or you can add a little canned tuna to its feed, to give it a new and spectacular flavor, as an example.
Remember that perseverance is the only way to properly educate our dog. And this time, we must always be persevering.