CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Puppies => Topic started by: Sheepscheeks on April 01, 2010, 12:58:49 PM
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Freddie, 5 months, is always shut in the kitchen when we are eating our main meal because he jumps up continuously if he is allowed near the table. I am happy with that but the problem is if anyone is trying to eat anything at all in any other part of the house - a biscuit with a cup of tea whilst sitting on the sofa for instance. He jumps up, barks and is generally a bit manic. I try diverting him using a command he knows such as sit but that only lasts a moment or two. Do I have to give an off command and treat every single time until he learns not to do it? We are going away in our caravan on 10th April and I plan to give him a kong while we eat but need to have a plan of action for things like ice creams and any other times we are not sitting down for a proper meal. Any advice would be appreciated.
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We too always keep the dogs in the kitchen when the kids are eating but have found its not necessary when we eat. A firm 'down' and a gentle push down works ;) You have to be firm and consistent but it has worked with both our 2 (12 mths and 12 weeks) Belle 12 mths will no longer pinch food from the kids either she has learnt if she bothers them she ends up in the kitchen so she doesn't bother and she is a real greedy guts :005: Monty though (12 weeks) will still try it on with the kids so a few more months before he can be trusted methinks. It sounds simple but it really has been , they are not perfect in everything but because we have been very strict about the 'around food' issue they have learnt ;)
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Shutting him out only works if you can say with certaintly that your always going to have somewhere to shut him out 100% of the time which as your finding isnt always the case, expecially with snacks
My oldest used to be a nightmare. We used to have to eat standing up as he;d go from sitting nicely to diving at my plate.
We tried not feeding him while we're eating but he soon worked out that he had 2 choices, sit nicely and not get anything or dive at our dinner and occasionally get lucky. So we change tactic and did the thing that most people advise against. We fed him while we were eating. We put a lead on him and asked for a sit and wait and treated whenever he managed to stay sitting for any length of time. It started that he'd need a treat every min to keep him place but we slowly made him wait longer and longer till he could go through a whole meal and only get a treat at the very end. Then we got him to lie down rather than sit and now we're working on getting him to sit on his mat till the end.
Long process and I know lots of people advise against ever feeding while your eating but our way got us there in the end. Some people would say Im encouraging begging but if he sits on his mat in view of us occasionally glancing over Im ok with that. And it me and it means he does the same thing whenever we eat snacks or grab a bite to eat while out walking with him.