Prevent Dog Begging Behavior - Don't Share Your Food!

Conventional wisdom typically indicates that every behavior practiced in dog training is an all or nothing venture. Either you let your dog on all furniture or you let him on none of it at all, not even your bed at night.

Your dog is permitted to chase all cats, yours included, or he must leave all of them alone, even that pesky neighborhood stray that gets into your trash. Conventional wisdom would say that the same would go for food. Either you let him beg from you at all times or you forbid the behavior completely.

Permitting the dog to beg whenever he wants food can be risky on your part. (Warning: He might just develop dog begging behavior.) In the most literal sense of the word "risk," he can get in the way while you are cooking, potentially creating a hazard. In addition, he may develop "resource guarding" behaviors; that is, he might grow possessive of the food that you are preparing.

If another dog or another family member comes into the room, that individual might find themselves under attack. Food is a valuable resource in the mind of any carnivore, given how much work they must do to get it in the wild.

It is possible to control and prevent dog begging behavior, without resorting to any negative punishment for the behavior. Three possible solutions are: 1) crating the dog while preparing, cooking, and eating meals, 2) provide the proper place in which to beg, or 3) put the dog begging behavior on a command and reward it at that time only.

• Crating: Crating your dog removes him from the situation entirely. If the dog is not present in the room during food preparation, cooking, and eating, then he can not beg. This solution takes some effort as some dogs may resist crating while food is out. It is, however, the most reliable method and also has the benefit of preventing fights due to resource guarding.

• Provide a begging place: This solution requires you to determine what you feel is an acceptable distance at which your dog can beg from you. You must also determine how much begging behavior is deemed acceptable and what the consequences are for exceeding it. This behavior requires that you teach your dog a "boundary stay." Your dog must stay in one particular area, not a single position, to be successful. Many good training books include instructions on teaching a boundary stay.

• Behavior on Command: Teach the dog that he must work for his treat by putting the dog begging behavior on a command. Use "beg," "treat," "pray," or whatever command you feel is acceptable. The dog should be placed on a boundary stay at all other times. Putting the begging behavior on command works best away from the dinner table. If you only permit the behavior away from the table, then no member of the family should feed him on demand at the table.

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