How to Get Your Dog to Stop Begging With Simple Steps
Teaching a dog a new behavior is about giving positive verbal cues and rewards, consistency, and a lot of patience. It’s not an overnight matter, especially if your pet is used to eating scraps or gets table treats by begging for them. The first order of business is to stop feeding your dog from the table or kitchen.
Here are a few suggestions for curbing the begging.
Just remember, as with any training, avoid punishing or scolding your dog. Just stop what you are doing, get them to settle down and become occupied with something else, then try again. Persistence and consistency are the keys to good training (and lots of rewards).
Ignore and Redirect a Begging Dog
The worst thing you can do when your dog begs for food is to give in to those adorable big puppy-dog eyes. You are essentially teaching your dog that if she asks you for food, you’ll give it to her. And, scolding pups simply gives them negative attention.
“If the goal is no begging, then my suggestion would be to ignore this behavior,” says McGrath. “But also make sure there are other options available for alternative behaviors like having a frozen stuffed KONG around for your dog to chew on or your pup’s dinner to eat available in another room.”
Giving pups an acceptable alternative like a toy or a delicious Purina® Beggin’ Strips® original with bacon dog treat also sets them up for success because they will still have something to occupy their time once they see begging isn’t going to get them attention or food.
By teaching your dog basic obedience commands like “Sit,” “Stay,” and “Leave it,” you can then use these commands to discourage impulse-based behaviors like begging, recommends McGrath. For example, if your dog is always jumping up on your lap and begging for food while you eat, simply tell your dog to “Sit” and “Stay.” This stops the obnoxious behavior.
If someone accidentally drops food on the ground and your dog attempts to get to it, give your dog the “Leave it” command to prevent that. “You want your dog to actively disengage and move away from the stimulus,” recommends McGrath.
When training your dog, do so after a walk or other exercise so the pooch will be less energetic and better behaved, says McGrath.
Send Your Dog to a Cozy Spot
If your dog does come over to beg for food after she finishes her meal, the best way to get her to stop is to send her to a cozy spot near the dining area, recommends McGrath.
“When I’m in a client’s home, and they want the dog to not beg, we would first break down what the dog could do instead, and train an alternative behavior while also managing the behavior I don’t like if necessary,” she says. One such alternative behavior is sending your dog to a designated spot like a bed, crate, or mat away from the table with a command like “Go to Your Spot.” This way, pups can still feel like they’re socializing with the family and they get a nice cozy spot to hang out.
“If the dog already knows a solid ‘Stay’ command, I would use it — if not, we’d train that behavior first,” McGrath recommends. This ensures that your dog remains in the designated spot throughout the meal.
How to Stop your Dog From Begging for Food?
Begging comes naturally to our dog’s, and they’re so good at it that we often give in. I think we’ve all said things like “Oh, look he’s starving” and handed our dog a bite of our dinner. And without realizing it we’ve just reinforced their behavior even more.
I’m not going to lie — I find it hard to resist those puppy dog eyes. But if you really want to teach your dog not to beg you’re going to have to learn to stop giving in.
To put it simply dogs beg because they want food. Begging is a natural behavior to dogs, so it takes a lot of consistency to undo that behavior if you’ve been reinforcing it.
Wolves began scavenging for human food many years ago. They started hanging around humans for scraps, and the tamer the wolf the more they were rewarded with extra bits of food. Begging isn’t rude or weird to your dog; it’s instinctive.
Domesticated dogs are hard wired to seek out opportunities to obtain food from humans. And because they’re observant they quickly learn that begging produces results. It is one of the most common complaints of pet owners, but there is hope. You can keep your dog away from your food while your eating, you just have to be consistent.