Stay Away From the Kitchen Table! - Page 2

I have to say something here. My dog is very well behaved while we are eating. And after eating, yes, if there are scraps he gets them, but only in his bowl. What is somewhat amusing is, he will be very well behaved while we eat, and when we finish. 

BUT he knows, when we are done, he usually gets "something" (never offered at the table, delivered to his bowl). And if we forget, he will help himself. 

I find this a thinking dogs approach to what he thinks is his! LOL

Sunsilver, Possedion and Vixen. We are EXACTLY in the exact mindset. Words could've came from my mouth. BroncoK, I think, (could be wrong), Sunsilver's comment wasn't made for you to defend yourself. It was a comment of "matter of factly", kind of "it is what it is". We as readers can only go on the info the OP types. The action (dog taking food FROM table top), has happened more than once. It wasn't a one time thing. Since the action has happened more than once, with either no correction or correction to the proper level, the dog thinks it's either okay to do the unwanted behavior OR it thinks he has the RIGHT to do the unwanted behavior.

My dogs can not be in the kitchen when I am cooking. PERIOD! If they down and are relaxed, they can be near the table when eating. They can not BEG, PERIOD or they will leave. I see over and over on these threads where people think like humans with the dogs..........DON'T. For me..... the dog EARNS things. Everything is not a given. Rewards or things they enjoy are not a given. Doing their little cutesy tricks or sitting like a statue for (INTENSE) the entire meal are not givens for them to get what they want all the time.

If there is more than one person, have a leash on him and a correction at the appropriate level at the right moment. For the amount of yanking on the leash one of your entries stated and definitely not to the proper level, he has built up a resistance and it appears he isn't phased.  

With my dogs I can even give a certain noise for displeasure and they know whatever they were about to do or did, did not make me happy! And at times when I am "talking"/ commanding or disciplining one dog the others will hear the tone in my voice and obey the command as well.  

Sunsilver, Possedion and Vixen. We are EXACTLY in the exact mindset. Words could've came from my mouth. BroncoK, I think, (could be wrong), Sunsilver's comment wasn't made for you to defend yourself. It was a comment of "matter of factly", kind of "it is what it is". We as readers can only go on the info the OP types. The action (dog taking food FROM table top), has happened more than once. It wasn't a one time thing. Since the action has happened more than once, with either no correction or correction to the proper level, the dog thinks it's either okay to do the unwanted behavior OR it thinks he has the RIGHT to do the unwanted behavior.

My dogs can not be in the kitchen when I am cooking. PERIOD! If they down and are relaxed, they can be near the table when eating. They can not BEG, PERIOD or they will leave. I see over and over on these threads where people think like humans with the dogs..........DON'T. For me..... the dog EARNS things. Everything is not a given. Rewards or things they enjoy are not a given. Doing their little cutesy tricks or sitting like a statue for (INTENSE) the entire meal are not givens for them to get what they want all the time.

If there is more than one person, have a leash on him and a correction at the appropriate level at the right moment. For the amount of yanking on the leash one of your entries stated and definitely not to the proper level, he has built up a resistance and it appears he isn't phased.  

With my dogs I can even give a certain noise for displeasure and they know whatever they were about to do or did, did not make me happy! And at times when I am "talking"/ commanding or disciplining one dog the others will hear the tone in my voice and obey the command as well.  

Sitasmom, You mentioned mousetraps. Couldn't that do some serious damage to a dog's nose? I need to do something about my boy and counter surfing. He's a perfect angel when I'm in or near the kitchen or eating dinner. He doesn't beg or show any interest in the food and doesnt display any inappropriate behavior. He stays at the perimeter of the kichen in a down, usually without being asked. When we eat, he lies down near the table, expressing no interest. He clearly knows what is expected of him. It's when I completely leave the area and am in the study or my bedroom that he will occasionally steal something off the counter. He is such a compliant boy 99.9 percent of the time, but I know I need to stop this behavior because if he ever eats the wrong thing it could mean a trip to the vet's office or worse. It is not something that happens often- only if something super yummy is on the counter will my boy cave and be disobedient. This thread reminded me that I really need to address this. When I saw your suggestion about the traps my first thought was that I'd try that, but then came my concern about injury. Have you tried this technique and were any if your dogs ever injured?

Starrchar, you are supposed to put something like a newspaper on top of the trap, so when it gets set off, it won't actually catch the dog, just scare the bejeezus out of him. A trick used for keeping them off the furniture, too.

When I got my first dog, I avoided having her beg at the table by feeding her just before I sat down. My logic was you can't expect a hungry dog not to be interested in what you are eating.

It worked very well until my future husband arrived on the scene....

Even then, she was very unobtrusive. She'd hang out underneath the table, hoping something might magically 'fall' on the floor!

I don't follow the same rules with my current dogs, but if one of them so much as sniffs at the edge of a plate, they are banished to the bedroom, or put in a down-stay on their dog bed.

And the same thing happens to guests who dare to feed the dogs from the table!

Thanks Beetree! Sunsilver, It's just my husband & I living in the house and he knows he'd best not sabatoge my training the dogs :) When I am around cooking or eating Josey acts totally uninterested in food because he knows it's off limits. Sometimes temptation just gets the best of him and he's smart enough to know he'd best not do it when I'm around. Last time he got huge chunk of cheese and it affected his digestive system for a few days. I told my vet about it later and he said I was lucky Josey didn't get pancreatitis. Yikes!

Oh, and one more thing. If you ever do use the traps, and are successful, you can eventully just leave the mousetrap out, unset and the sight alone will deter the dog. The only problem is, make sure you remove them before company comes over, or you'll find your curious friends might think you have a rodent problem. 

Good advice Beetree!