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?

[lene1949]

Begging or grabbing food is the one thing I don't allow...

When I first got Ben, he would lie on my lap, while I ate... He never looked at me... Just relaxed..

These days he's too big for my lap, while I eat, so he's on his $2000 leather sofa, and completely ignores me...

Sometimes I can't eat everything I cook (wasn't as hungry as I thought I was), and I just put the food in the fridge, and Ben gets it mixed with his kibble the next day..

Some meat has too much grizzle on it, and I take that off before I cook, and Ben gets it neat, before I clean the bench... These very special treat he works for...

[cailinarun]

I can't stand begging- so I never reward it. As long as you don't reward begging, and you enforce that your guests don't reward begging, the behavior disappears. Well, everything but the drooling, and I don't think that any dog can help that!

[ekim]

So let me get this straight- you're actually going to eat your dogs kibble to practice "mine" and "yours"?

Haha... I know you're probably not going to do it... I just had to throw that in there.

It's made with blueberries, it can't taste too bad. ^_^

[TendersDad]

So I'm going to see if the "mine-yours" works with her kibble....

So let me get this straight- you're actually going to eat your dogs kibble to practice "mine" and "yours"?

Haha... I know you're probably not going to do it... I just had to throw that in there.

[jeann1230]

OK, I understand the no begging thing. I do not like it either. But in my opinion it does no stem from the kind of food that is offered, just from the respect a dog should show.

My dogs are spoiled rotten, the are fed raw, get table scraps, and extra high value food (fried liver, ham, chicken etc.) during obedience class.

But when I tell my dogs something is mine, they avert their eyes, drop their ears, and go to their pallets. End.

If I have something over, I go bring it to them, and they enjoy this. So to make a long story short, in IMO it does not have anything to do with what is being offered, but how.

[ekim]

It's just a pet peeve of mine. I REALLY don't like it when a dog begs, or even just begs with their eyes. IMO I think that begging stems from allowing them to eat human food. The dogs that I have met that have begged the most are the ones that owners give scraps to. I could be wrong, but not letting my dog ever eat human food is definitely not a bad thing.

So I'm going to see if the "mine-yours" works with her kibble, and her area to stay when we're eating will be her couch unless we have a ton of people over. If that's the case, and we're all eating; I'll probably just put her in her kennel.

So far though, she has been really good about not even being interested in human food. We even have low tables!

[sminturn]

Tender made his first grab at food today...

With my Dane he loves chicken. I gave him a small piece once, and yes it was small. He has grabbed twice but only from the coffee table, he has never tried from the dinner table.

I like that "mine", "yours" I will have to try that myself, and also with the mat. I have a training mat for him, I think he would lay on that.

My biggest problem with my Dane with my other two dogs, is that he likes to go wherever they go so, I will have to train them too.

[jeann1230]

I guess it would work, if your dog accept and likes his kibbels. But most dogs would give the food you eat a higher value, mainly because it smells better. And I guess he would recognize that he is not getting really the good stuff.

But you have me curious, why do you think eating human food is unhealthy for a dog? Aside from obvious food, like choclate, chilly, cooked bones or other harmful stuff?

[ekim]

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.

Do you know if this would work at all if I used my dane's kibble as "yours" and my own food as "mine"? Or would it have to be the same food that I'm eating? It's my own personal goal to never have my dog eat human food. With exceptions for health reasons, of coarse.

[TendersDad]

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

I think I know which sound you're talking about as well. Megan uses it almost all the time when we're trying to teach him something. It always reminds me of the episode of Family Guy when Peter refuses to eat Lois' cooking.

[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".

[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]

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

[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!"