The owners of many dogs often face the problem of educating their pet. In particular, one of the main problems is begging and stealing dogs food from the table. Then the owners are faced with the question of how to wean the dog from the table.
First you need to understand the reasons for this behavior of your pet. Dogs, just like people, take food when they are hungry. However, often the animals have a desire to eat in reserve, because for many centuries the accumulated experience of past generations indicates that the food appears irregularly and not necessarily at the moment when you want it. Young dogs actively gain weight and grow, so their appetite, as a rule, is very good. Sometimes the cause of food theft or picking it off the floor is the lack of certain nutrients, that is, the dog simply needs to feed more or more often.
How to disaccustom a dog to steal food and beg
If all possible reasons for stealing and begging have already been considered and measures taken, and the dog has already formed a habit of this, you should try a few of the techniques described below.
Take the rule of feeding the dog before you sit yourself eating. If the dog is full, she will hardly be tempted to ask you to eat even very tasty food or try to steal it directly from the table.
It is worth remembering that a dog can and should sometimes give goodies. This is a very good method of encouragement, which helps in the upbringing process. However, do not forget that the dog should know that the delicacy it can get only after you yourself will eat and (which is very important) to take it can only from its bowl. Also, teach the dog to go to his place, as soon as one of the family members sits down to the table. If the dog has performed the command and all the time of the meal is sitting quietly in its place, then it can be rewarded for good behavior by treating it with delicacy from the hands of the owner or from a bowl.
If your pet is used to picking food from the floor, try to develop a negative attitude towards such food. For example, you can grease pieces of food with something sharp (pepper, etc.) and scatter them around the apartment.
An alternative way to wean a dog off the table is to use harsh and unpleasant sounds. It is necessary to make a loud noisy object, for example, put a handful of coins or small pebbles in a tin can and seal it tightly. And now, when the preparations are over, one can proceed to form a negative reflex to theft. When your pet tries to steal a piece - throw the jar next to him (but by no means in it!). Make sure that the bank is always at your fingertips and throw every time you notice an attempt at theft or begging. When the dog learns not to steal in your presence, do the following: arrange something on the floor like a signaling (for example, tie a treat to the same bank so that it falls and thundered if the food is removed from the thread). And if the dog tries to sneak food in your absence, then the bank will fall and will zagremit, scaring away the animal. To speed up the learning process, you can make several such "scarecrows." In a few days, when your pet is firmly assimilated that nothing can be selected from the floor - proceed to place these traps on chairs and tables. Gradually, the dog will understand that you can not steal food from anywhere, even if people are not in the room.
As a source of noise, you can try to use the so-called Fisher discs, specially designed for training. This is a bunch of copper plates, shaking them, you can get a sound, for a dog like a leader's roar, which is dissatisfied with the behavior of a member of his pack.
As soon as the pet begins to behave the way you need, that is, does not beg, does not try to steal food from somewhere - be sure to immediately encourage it, best of all by a separate delicacy, which you put in a bowl.
Finally, it is worth noting that teaching a dog not to steal food and not begging for it will be much easier if you spend training with the dog on training the main teams, primarily such as "You can not!", "Fu!" And "Place!".