What to do when we are eating??

[*Lucy*]

Hi everyone

Just a quick question about what we should be doing with Honey when we are eating.

At the moment we either have to put her in her crate or keep her in the kitchen behind the baby gate.

This is because she jumps up at the kids when they are eating a snack, crisps for example, until they drop some or she pushes Max (2 next month) over and then grabs the packet!

When we are eating at the table she jumps and tries to grab food off your plate

Should we be keeping her locked away or should we have her in the room with us and teach her not to jump/push?

If this is the case please could i have some advice as to how to keep her sitting down and away from the table.

Also do you think its a case of her being hungry or is she just greedy?

Thanks in advance

Lucy x

[emms]

I had similar problems with Isabelle 'joining in' at meal times.  This is the thread:

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=19508.msg240866#msg240866

It seemed to be something she grew out of over time, when she realised she was not going to get anything, and now will sleep happily in her bed (in the same room) while we eat.   

She does always keep an eye open just in case i drop something though   

[Jan/Billy]

Should we be keeping her locked away or should we have her in the room with us and teach her not to jump/push?

Personally if it was me I wouldn't lock her away, I'd teach her not to jump up.

Have you taught her a " down" command? billy used to be a swine for jumping up at the worktops and taking a swipe of food   , I taught him "down" & he's fine now. every now and then he may push his luck and put his paws on the work surface but I just point at the floor and he knows to get down.

 Do your children give her their food? If so then I'd put a stop to this right away, as if she thinks she's likely to get a crisp or something then the more ikely she is to beg and try and steal the food.

Is she hungry a lot? what do you feed her?


I had a dinner party once when Billy was younger. Before asking people to come and sit in the dining room i put a nice hot freshly baked bread on each side plate. Two minutes later when everyone was sat down OH said to me "where is the bread" ( I was in the kitchen at this point) so I shouted back "It's on the side plates" he replied " erm no it's not"   billy the greedy monkey had stolen 6 breads in the space of around 4 minutes !  

[Boof]

I had the same problem with Bonnie (retriever) as a pup. I learned from that and taught all the dogs since to go to their beds (which they already knew for training purposes) and it worked a treat. It may take a while but perhaps it's something to consider? 

[Cob-Web]

When Molo was a young pup, we used to have him in the room with us in his crate, so he got used to the idea of settling when we were eating 

As he grew older, we began to leave the crate open, and spent a few weeks with indigestion as mealtimes were interrupted by him and we returned him to his settled position in the crate.......but it didn't take long for him to learn that when we all sat down, it meant that he had to settle - and now we can eat TV dinners on our laps in the living room with no interruptions 

[*Lucy*]

The kids dont feed her, she has just learned that Max is an easy target!!

She is being fed on Butchers Puppy and has 1 1/2 tins a day with a Mixer.

Honey has still to master the 'down' command

[cazza]

When Molo was a young pup, we used to have him in the room with us in his crate, so he got used to the idea of settling when we were eating 

As he grew older, we began to leave the crate open, and spent a few weeks with indigestion as mealtimes were interrupted by him and we returned him to his settled position in the crate.......but it didn't take long for him to learn that when we all sat down, it meant that he had to settle - and now we can eat TV dinners on our laps in the living room with no interruptions 

Exactly the same here 

The kids dont feed her, she has just learned that Max is an easy target!!

She is being fed on Butchers Puppy and has 1 1/2 tins a day with a Mixer.

Honey has still to master the 'down' command

Ok firstly (please note this is my opinion, and may not be the same as others  ) I would change the food you are giving Honey, their are numerous food threads with good info on them 

I would then get the 'down' command and 'stay' command instilled into Honey to the extent that she does not move from that spot till you say she can  This can be done over time with clicker training 

[Cazzie]

I started off with good intentions with daisy, she never mootched for food, till i left her with my brother in law and all his mechanics fed her scraps at lunch time, so all my good work went out the window in 2 weeks 

My dogs all sit under my breakfast bar hoping something drops, but if I have people for dinner they go in there cages. 

[Nicola]

Because it's just me in the house I eat in the living room. The dogs are allowed on the settee at all times except when I am eating and they know and respect this and have perfected their routine. Tilly will give me a soulful look as she lives in eternal hope where food is concerned then she'll lie down at my feet with her best martyred sigh. Alfie assumes his position sitting right in front of me staring at me in case something magically jumps off my plate but he doesn't jump up or paw at me or anything so that's fine. Rodaidh has only been here a week but he has learned already that he does not jump at me or get on the settee when I am eating and his adopted tactic seems to be to roll around on the rug on his back trying to entice Tilly to play with him     He did try to jump up for the first couple of days but a firm 'no' and putting him back on the floor every time he did it did the trick.

If there are people here and we are eating at the table Tilly will lie under it and Alfie will sit or lie beside me as per usual but as long as he stays with me and doesn't bother the other people then it's fine with me.

[claireandmartin]

we always put bailey in her crate while eating because she jumps up and steals food  tbh im propper sick of her stealing, she will do it when ever she can i wouldnt mind but she dosnt even eat it she just runs out of the cat flap and puts it in the garden, again she targets my 3 year old for anything and everything but my daughter has learnt to tell her no being firm and bailey listerns to her

[Bluebell]

I crate my one year old pup when we are eating. She does know stay ,but the smell of human food is just so irrisistable to her, I feel that it is kinder to her. That way she does not get it wrong on a daily basis I know that when she is a little more mature ,her stay will be more reliable - even with the smell of freshly cooked roast dinner whafting through the air! My four year old dog now just stays in his bed when there is human food around - I did exactly the same with him , so guess it works for us

[*Lucy*]

Thanks everyone!

I will keep on crating Honey until i have trained her properly and see how it goes from there!

I'm going to look into changing the dogs food, on my way to PAH now!