What is your routine for eating your meals with your dog around?

Question

My pup has never eaten human meals. Just his dry kibble now. What is your suggestions for eating around your puppy or dog. Mine is bored with his food I think but I always have it available. I think I will have to playpen my puppy while I eat rather than him staring at me and occasionally barking. He would rather beg than eat his food I'm finding out.

Answer 1

I feed my dog her dinner around 5 and then I don't eat until 6 or 7. By that time of day, she's tired and just lays around while we eat. After dinner I do sometimes give her a few pieces of leftover meat if there is any. She does look for the meat after dinner, but doesn't beg during dinner.



Are you free-feeding your dog? If I were you, I would stop doing that. If the food is only out for about 20 minutes, then goes away, your dog will figure out he has to eat it or starve. If it's always available, that encourages him to try to get some out of you before eating kibble.



Never feed him from the table and do NOT tolerate barking at you. That is "demand barking" and you shouldn't ever reward it. If he barks, put him directly in another room.



If you feel like the training treats make him not want to eat his dinner, try feeding less treats. You can cut the treats up VERY small, and you can also start using toys instead of treats all the time. If your dog likes to tug, a quick game of tug can substitute for treats. Positive reinforcement doesn't always have to mean treats, so get creative if you want to decrease his treats. Then he'll be hungrier for his food!

Answer 2

My dogs are allowed to act normally when I eat: they wander around, lie down somewhere, etc. They are not allowed to eat human food, so they know begging is useless. My puppy still stares at my food sometimes, but as soon as she sees me looking at her, she stops and stares at anything else other than the food.



They know that human food is just a dream, so I don't have to do much in the way of stopping them. I can leave food on the coffee table, go to the kitchen and make a drink, come back and find the food untouched. Leaving food where they can reach it overnight, though...all I find is an empty plate.

Answer 3

Try not free feeding. It may make him think twice about not eating if the food disappears after 10 minutes. It also helps to establish that the food actually comes from you, not a bowl on the floor. You can even try hand-feeding to reinforce this idea. Also, have him 'wait' in a sit before you put the food bowl down and then release him after the bowl is down.

When my dog tries to beg (by staring) I turn my back to her.This is a common calming signal that dogs use and my dog invariably gets the message and either lies down or walks away.

Answer 4

None of my dogs (or cats for that matter) have ever been allowed in the same room as me when i am eating.

They ALWAYS eat AFTER me. so i will have breakfast, then my dogs, the same with lunch and tea.

I never leave their food down, as they take it for granted that it's going to be there, so therefore become fussy eaters.

I have had dogs beg for food, but i have always found a firm NO does the trick, as i have done this even if the foster dogs were new in the house (as i train my dogs from the word go,so they know their place and are happy, and because ireward them,i don't have many probs at all).

So i would make your dog stays out of the room while you eat, and feed him once you have eaten, then once he has had enough for that sitting take up his bowl until the next one. Also don't give him food off of your plate, if you chose to do that, make sure he never sees you doing it.

Answer 5

After having dogs in the house for the past 40 years as part of the family, I feel that mealtime is for the dog as well as the humans in my house. So my dogs sit and try to stare the food off the plates, but while always attentive, they always had good manners.



Dogs have good noses, and food is food. They don't care if there is food in their dish---yours smells good now! Just discourage unruly behavior, or anything considered poor table manners, and allow your dog to hang around. My kids always slipped little things off their plates to the dogs, but that is a human issue to deal with as you see fit.

Answer 6

I have a book from the Monks of New Skete (they have raised German Shepherds for 20+years). They suggest to put your dog on a leash and simply step on it so that your dog must remain in a "down" position to train them to lie down next to you while you eat. If your dog is used to begging, you may have to put up with some whining for a few days but it will get better. Dogs are like little kids, if they think they can get away with something, they will. On the other hand, if they know you are a "wall", they will respect you. We have a 5 month old puppy and she just lies down in the dining room with us. She learned that she cannot jump up and we do not engage her while we are eating. If your dog spends alot of time with you and you remove them at meal time, he/she could take that as a punishment. Dogs are very social and want to be with their "pack", whether that's just you or a houseful of people. Good luck!



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Answer 7

My dogs are not allowed near the table when we eat. I trained them very early how to stay, and would put them in a sit/stay while we were eating, and I would enforce it, getting up 50 times during a meal when necessary. Always, as a reward for staying, I would give them one bite of what we had for dinner (a piece of steak, etc.)...they soon learned that NOT begging is what the rewards were for. After they learned that they were not to be begging from the table, we just leave them in the living room while we eat. They don't even bother to try to get food off the table anymore.

Answer 8

In my household I eat first. Then the dogs get fed. If they get obnoxious and start barking or jumping at me, then they get put in the crate while I'm eating. My own dogs pretty much ignore me while I'm eating, but some of my foster dogs get a couple of time outs before they figure it out.



They know that when I'm done eating it's their turn. They also know if they behave badly, I'll make them settle down and wait half an hour before I feed them.



Meal time is also great for working on training. Have your dog practice is sit/stay and down/stay while you're eating. Even if you have to tether him in another room the first few times.



If he's bored eating his own food, make it more fun for him. Put it in a Busy Ball or Buster Cube. Or wrap small amounts of food in napkins and hide it around the house so he has to go looking for it.

Answer 9

Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://tr.im/BIncI



A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Answer 10

My dogs usually sit or lay under the table while we eat.

Sometimes I give my dogs a treat right before I eat. Also what I'll do sometimes is that I ignore them or tell them to lay down somewhere. But the main thing that I do is have my chair pushed in so they can't jump up on my lap while I'm trying to eat.

Answer 11

Well he needs to learn that you get to eat too. We feed ours just when we are about to start our dinner. Then we have them stay in an area somewhat away from where we are eating. They pretty much have run of the house, but if we find them hovering we just tell them to go to their respective corners (they each have a special place) and to "go lie down" until we are done. Sometimes we even tell them to stay in a different room. This works pretty well. You may not get them to stop staring, but you can avoid the stalking. And of course as long as you never feed him from your table, plate, etc he'll eventually learn that there is nothing there for him and ease up.

Answer 12

Well, I make him go on his mat and make him to stay there until we're done eating. Once awhile he gets a piece of the meal on top of his food if he behaves only after we're done eating. Also my dog won't eat plain dog food..so we mix it with some other dog food. Don't fully change the food it can wreck there digestive system..

Answer 13

If he is bored with his food.. THen break the daily recommended amount up into two meals. He gets bored cause it's always available.. There's no challenge in that.



When I eat.. the dogs go lay down.

Answer 14

um i eat in front of the tv, so my dog will sit next to me and watch. i just ignore him. if i have popcorn at night i throw him a few pieces. i will share here and there, it just depends what it is. my dad was giving him veggies last night. some on purpose some not so much. i don't give him too much human food otherwise he won't eat his food. hes small so its not like he eats a lot to begin with. so i don't want to fill him up with stuff other than his own food.

Answer 15

You should never feed a dog people food, all the bad stuff that over eating can do a human can be done to a dog with less food. We change our dog's food type/flavor, she just gets Walmarts brand, or some generic brand, just switch it up.

We also tell her to go lay down or quit beggin' when she is, and she seems to get it.

Answer 16

When we first got our pup it was summertime so when we ate we would put him outside or cage him...now we allow him to go where he pleases because usually he isn't interested in us but if he is that day we just cage him again. Often times my dog doesn't eat his dry kibble either the vet said its pretty normal but if he starts seeming ill take him in...

Answer 17

only serve the dog portions don't leave the food available or the dog will grow to be VERY fat. when you eat and the dog barks while your eating POP it on top of the nose firmly tell it " NO, YOU HUSH " . if the barking continues keep telling it NO YOU HUSH and pop harder and harder until it doesn't stops put the dog in it cage or out side.

BUT NEVER GIVE A DOG TABLE SCRAPS IT CAN MAKE THEM GAIN WEIGHT TWICE AS FAST.

HEY, ... IF YOUR DOG IS ALREADY LOOKING TUBBY (THIS WORKS IVE TRIED IT ON MY DOGS) FIX A SMALL CAN OF STRING BEANS AND MIX IT (1/2 CUP OF DOG FOOD )IN WITH THE DOGS FOOD. THE dog thinks it getting spoiled but its really losing weight.

trust me it works like a charm. and NO THE DOG IS JUST GETTING ITS WAY(YOUR ATTENTION IS ALL IT WANTS)

Feed the dog Purina One dog food for a change that's what i feed me 6 dachshunds. :-)

Answer 18

I just eat in the chair and ignore him. Sometimes he puts his paws on the chair and wants to sniff and I just push him off and keep on ignoring him. He usually gives up after 2 or 3 times and goes away.

Answer 19

Mine stays in the living room while we humans eat in the dining room.

Answer 20

This is my rule for my dogs. My rottie is on his bed and my shih tzu is laying on a blanket and they are not allowed off until I give them permission. Schedule your dogs feedings.

Answer 21

Don't look at him while you're eating..that helps..it's like ignoring a child when they are trying to get your attention. At first, it's not going to seem to work..but keep trying. I have completely broken my dog of this horrible habit (it's especially embarrasing when you have company)

Answer 22

my dog stays in the kitchen just give her a bone that she can chew on and that will keep her busy

Answer 23

We share. When out she likes kids meal at McD's. We are her pack.