Begging

My dogs never beg from me, but they'll occasionally beg from other people. It's easily explained. They know it NEVER works with me. But it sometimes works with other people, so they give it a try.

They know they'll probably get my table scraps eventually, but they are able to wait patiently until I'm done eating. They keep an eye on me so that if I have a donation for them they'll be ready.

Begging at the table is one case when it's extremely important not to make any exceptions to the rules. NEVER! Dogs learn easily. Sometimes what they learn wasn't what we meant to teach them.

If begging until you're really anoyed finally gets them the desired results, they'll learn to be persistant and beg until you just can't tolerate it any more. It's called "creating a monster."

When a dog looks at me with those sad hungry eyes I usually tell it how cute it is, then go back to my meal. If it actually touches me I ask it to stop, with as much enthusiasm as is needed, then go back to what I was doing, without noticing that he's there starving. Usually a gentle push away is all that's needed. And possibly another push, not quite so gentle.

This is where the command "get back" comes in handy. I don't care how cute and starving they look, just so they don't touch me or sit so close they can drool on me.

Teaching a dog not to beg isn't the goal here. It's just that you have to NOT teach it to beg. Or if it already knows how to beg you need to never reinforce the knowledge. When it understands that begging never works and often causes you to send it away it won't bother to beg anymore.

Sister sites:
Auntie Donna's Dog care and training tips

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