Thanksgiving is around the corner and that means food! Having dogs that beg or steal food from the table can ruin any holiday meal. Follow these steps to train a dog that doesn’t beg or steal food.
Begging. Dog owners love it and they hate it. On one hand, your dog’s persistence and adorable attempts to woo you into giving up a treat are endearing. On the other hand, having a dog that you can’t trust around your food is no fun at all. Dogs, like any animal, are highly motivated by food. However, the degree to which they will go to get it depends entirely on the training you provide them.
Watching dogs interact with other dogs, you can easily spot how young dogs learn about boundaries. Dogs don’t mince words – for lack of a better expression – when it comes to establishing boundaries around food. Many dogs will growl, bare teeth or even nip at any dog trying to sneak in for a taste of their meal.
Puppies will often try a slough of tactics to try to get to an older dog’s food. Ultimately, the response of the older dog establishes the boundaries that a puppy needs to understand what is theirs and what isn’t.
Your role as the dog owner is to establish those boundaries with your dog. This article will include some simple steps to avoid begging and food snatching for new puppies. It will also include tips for old dogs with bad habits.
They Don’t Want What They Have Never Had
One of the basic foundations to training dogs around food comes down to a simple decision. Do your dogs get people food, or not? Some people find a lot of joy in periodically sharing their food with dogs. We admit that even though we have fairly strict rules with our dogs and people food, we too relish occasionally sharing a hunk of steak or chicken with our pups. The only caveat is that we only allow our dogs people food when they are mature and have been trained not to beg for food.
The best way to start off your food training is to simply never give your young dogs people food. It’s as simple as that. Turning that into reality requires discipline on your part. With our younger dogs, we simply never feed them from plates, tables or in the kitchen. This eliminates any association that the pup might make between the times that we eat and the times that they eat.
Our puppies eat at regular feeding times in the morning and evening so that meals are predictable. The only other feeding comes in the form of treats during training sessions. When we make food and sit to eat, the pups learn that this is not a time when they get food.
Establishing this early on will eliminate the drive and interest that a puppy might have in your food. Once they learn that plates, kitchens and tables never result in food for them, they won’t place any stock in trying to beg or snoop around them.
Get Out!
One of the very early tricks you can teach a dog is knowing the boundaries of different rooms in your house and teaching them how to “get out” when you ask. This may sound harsh, but having the ability to get your dog to exit a room can be a very valuable tool.
We teach our dogs early on to learn the command “get out.” You can start training this by starting with a simple back up. Using a clicker and treats, slowly move a treat close to your dogs nose. If they lunge or try to snatch the food, simply recoil your hand a bit. No need to use your voice, they will get the message. Move the treat closer again and the moment that they take a step back, click that and reward with the treat. Once the pup can do this reliably, we start to place a vocal command on it. Using the words “get out” is a great way to start.
Link to the clickers we like
It may seem logical to use the words “back up” for this command. This is perfectly fine to do! But we have found value in having the command “get out” that tells our dogs to back up and get away from us. For more mature dogs it will teach them to not be pushy!
Next, once you have a solid “get out” command on your pup, you can start to establish boundaries to different rooms. Doorways make an obvious dividing line between a room and a hallway. As for kitchens, it helps to have a line between tile and carpet or something similar that a dog can learn to recognize as the boundary of that room.
To train a dog to get out of a kitchen, simply use your “get out” command with your dog in the kitchen, but still close to that dividing line. Ask your pup to “get out” and wait for them to cross the line. Don’t repeat the command and don’t click until they have crossed the line. Many dogs will try repeating the task if they don’t get the treat. In this case, they will likely take additional steps back to try to appease you. Once they cross the line, click and give them their reward.
Once you have that well established, it’s your job to lengthen the distance they need to go to get out of the kitchen and gradually add distractions so you can make that command reliable.
Being able to reliably ask your dog to “get out” of the dining room is a great way to make them pleasant around the dinner table.
All Done!
If you have a well trained dog that doesn’t beg or snoop for food, that is when you can – if you choose – start to treat them with people food. We rarely recommend people food for dogs since it simply isn’t necessary and tends to create more problems than not. But, as mentioned before, even we break this rule from time to time. One way we teach our dogs not to continually beg is through the “All done!” command.
We train “All done!” during toy play sessions. Even a 10 minute tug game in the living room gets marked at the end with us saying “All done!” At that point, the toy gets put away and we stop playing. The dogs learn that “All done!” means that whatever fun they are having is over for now.
We apply the same principle to treating our dogs. If we choose to gift our pups with a nice piece of cooked chicken, we will follow that with the usual “All done!” and our pups learn to go about their business knowing that the fun is over. If they don’t, we simply ask them to “Get out.”
The “All done!” command is a big part of what we call our dog’s “Off switch.” We own Border Collies, and if you have ever worked with them you know the absolute necessity of an “off switch.” A Border Collie, and any high drive dog for that matter, will be unrelenting in their pursuit if you don’t teach them to chill out.
Breaking Bad Habits in Dogs
Many of you reading this might be thinking, “This all sounds nice, but our dogs already beg!” It’s ok if your dog has a bad habit or two around food. There is still a lot you can do to break the bad behavior.
If your dog begs at the table or snoops in the kitchen, the first thing you need to do is go cold turkey (pun definitely intended) on giving them any people food treats. You need to stop that behavior for good to be able to make progress with your dog.
Next, you need to reestablish boundaries with your dog. This is going to be far more difficult with your dog who knows it can get treats at the table or in the kitchen. You might try asking your dog to “Get out!” and they will think “Yeah, I don’t think so. I know I can get treats eventually!”
Establishing New Boundaries
Establishing boundaries can be as simple as requiring your dog to lay in the living room while you cook or eat dinner. If your dog doesn’t have a good lay/stay, then you might need to crate them while you cook and eat. This requires good crate training – another complex but important topic – so that they don’t feel punished by the crate.
If you have a dog that steals food, the first step in breaking that habit involves one rule: no dogs in the kitchen. Period. This rule means that the kitchen or the dining room is simply not a place in the house that dogs are allowed to go. If nothing else, this removes the possibility of your dog stealing from a countertop. This sets your dog up for success rather than failure.
Leave it!
Training a dog on the command “Leave it” is a great way to develop new habits around food. “Leave it” is also an amazing part of any obedience training. A reliable “Leave it!” can actually keep your dog safe when out on walks in the city.
“Leave it” is a great way to start to break bad behaviors because it ties the intended behavior (avoiding food) with a positive reward (food!). You can start with simple kibble treats to train this. Place the food on the ground near your pup. If they go for the food, simply grab the treat away. Again, no need to use your voice since the message is clear. Depending on how driven they are, you may need to be ready to snatch the treat up quickly if they go for it. Eventually you will see your dog pause before going for the food. That is the behavior your want to mark with the clicker.
Once your dog reliably pauses, you can start to add the vocal command “Leave it.” What this looks like is: your dog pauses, you click the clicker and say “Leave it” and immediately give them a treat. Eventually your dog will learn to look to you before going after something they want.
Reminder: Make sure you don’t let them get the first treat after you reward them since that would negate the training!
Next, you can replace the treat with people food. Try placing a small amount of cooked chicken on a plate and repeat the training exercise. In this case, you may want to reward the pup with something equally enticing to get the message across.
Eventually, your dog will learn that pausing and avoiding people food means they get a tasty treat.
As with any training, getting your dog to be well-behaved around food requires time, patience and consistency. Don’t expect results overnight, these things take time and effort. If your dog slips up during the course of training, don’t sweat it. Just go back a step and reestablish the basics. Eventually, with enough time your dog will be a champ around people food. A well-behaved dog is always a welcome addition to the holiday dining room.
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