Tender made his first grab at food today...

[TendersDad]

We grilled brats for dinner tonight, and as we were getting ready to sit down and eat, Tender grabbed my brat right off the plate (very skillfully right out of the bun as well)! He's never done this before.

Now, I know it wasn't the right way to handle it, but in the heat of the moment I thumped him on the top of the head pretty good and yelled "Bad dog!" at him. He immediately dropped the brat and backed off a few steps and I'm sure he knows that what he did was wrong- BUT, I don't want him forgetting this. After I thumped him, I put him outside to do his usual after eating business and then promptly stuck him in his kennel.

What really gets me is that he literally ate right before this happened. After I brought in the brats off the grill, I gave Tender his nightly feeding. As soon as he finished, he walked over and when my back was turned (not even for a second) he snagged the brat.

I really, REALLY want to make sure that this doesn't happen again, so what can we do to reinforce that what he did was bad behavior and completely unacceptable?

[paigebeverly]

Don't really know what to tell you other than maybe crate him while y'all are eating. I know my boys can eat their food but when it comes to people food they would eat again.

[Sara]

Tender is a baby still... we teach our dogs a command called "place" - it's a crate pad, where ever it's put - and it's the command for them to stay on their "place" until they are released. It's a great command - Jackie (just turned 1 year old) is fine when it's just us, but he'll cruise the dinner table when we have company... and so to his "place" he goes until the food is done.

[jeann1230]

Hi Tender's Dad,

sounds to me like you have to teach your dog mine and yours.

When my boys eye my food, I tell them mine and they back off instantly and quit bothering me.

How do you get there? Well, actually through sharing. I used to make sandwiches cut them in pieces and eat some and give some to the boys. While doing this , I tell them for every piece I ate "Mine" and for every piece they ate "Yours".

Then I extended the exercise. I made them lay on their palllets. And again I did the yours/mine thing. They only got theirs if they stayed on their blanket.

[daneslave]

Hi lol take a deep breath he is a dog.I really would not be to upset only makes your blood pressure go up.I have had dogs for 30 years and if this bothers you should quit while you are ahead

[cailinarun]

I agree with Jeannette's suggestion. I trained Darwin this way after he stole sandwiches off everyones' plate (as a 6 month old puppy) during a Superbowl party.

[Shamu]

I trained mine that they're not allowed to take anything from dining table, coffee table and kitchen counter, and other places where I can leave MY food. I would purposely leave the food there, and watch the dog. As soon as she is sniffing it or trying to steal, say "No" or "Leave it"; or spray from spray bottle. I also tried bitter apple but that didn't work with my golden retriever -she just loves the taste of bitter apple

[TendersDad]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I think we'll try to mix it up and teach him all 3 of these things- keep him guessing. It's not that I never expected this kind of thing to happen, it just happened so out of the blue (especially right after he ate) that I didn't see it coming and reacted in a way I shouldn't have.

Hi lol take a deep breath he is a dog.I really would not be to upset only makes your blood pressure go up.I have had dogs for 30 years and if this bothers you should quit while you are ahead

Daneslave- it's not that I stayed upset about it for an extended period of time- it's just that this is the first dog I've owned that I've ever really had to keep such a close eye on.

[Meatos]

Hi Tender's Dad,

sounds to me like you have to teach your dog mine and yours.

When my boys eye my food, I tell them mine and they back off instantly and quit bothering me.

How do you get there? Well, actually through sharing. I used to make sandwiches cut them in pieces and eat some and give some to the boys. While doing this , I tell them for every piece I ate "Mine" and for every piece they ate "Yours".

Then I extended the exercise. I made them lay on their palllets. And again I did the yours/mine thing. They only got theirs if they stayed on their blanket.

I really like this. Funny how the simplest solutions always seem to be the best! Scarlett isn't really a food-grabber, but she is very nosy at the table, so I'd like to start incorporating this.

[ROTTI2DAYNE]

When I am in the kitchen preparing food or eating, and the Danes are on that side of the house I re-enfoce the OUT command, while I am in their they are simply not allowed in at all. They are allowed to lay at the door, but that is about it. When I have the Rotts, they are simply given a down command so that they are not tempted by what we have, and we also never feed them what we got.

[daneslave]

Hi tenders dad is that funny or what that he keeps you on your toes.After everyone told me how dumb danes are no they are not lol

[Marlo's_Mom]

With Marlo it is a sound I make that makes him stop in his tracks. Im sure we have all made it "Ahhhhtttt!"

[Virginia Dane]

Oakley pulled his first food steal this past Sunday, eating tortilla chips out of the bowl when I turned my head, lol. Until now, he's been in the kitchen with steaks on the grill and I'll leave the room and he won't touch them. The chips were totally my fault. I left them on dog level and walked away! LOL

[firef2005]

I guess I'm lucky, (knock on wood). When we are eating, Titan lies quietly some distance away from the table and doesn't bother. If it stays this way, great, if not............ I haven't really done anything to make him do this, I guess he just knows that this is one place he is not allowed.

[Virginia Dane]

With Marlo it is a sound I make that makes him stop in his tracks. Im sure we have all made it "Ahhhhtttt!"

I know that sound well! All the neighbors used to tell me they could hear when I had to use my "dog voice".