If you are a dog owner, you know just how cute and sometimes infuriating it can be when your furry friend begs for food.
While begging from humans is an instinctive action for dogs, continuous begging can be an issue.
Fortunately, there are effective ways to halt this yet still make your dog feel loved and well looked after.
Understand the Behavior
Do you have any idea on how to stop your dog from begging? Well, before discussing how to stop the begging, it’s important to understand why dogs beg in the first place.
More often than not, begging is a learned behavior. Dogs quickly learn that by pleading with their big, soulful eyes, they can get tasty treats or scraps from the table.
Furthermore, dogs are creatures of habit; if they get food when they beg, they will continue the behavior in hopes of getting more.
Establish a Routine
One of the best ways to get your dog to stop begging is to put him on a feeding schedule. Dogs are creatures of habit, and knowing when their food is coming can help them be less anxious about it.
Feed your dog at the same times every day, measure his food to prevent overfeeding, and do not feed him table scraps. This helps them understand when to expect food and reinforces that begging will not yield results.
Ignore the Begging
Some pretty brutal-sounding advice can involve just ignoring your dog in any case of begging. Never for once will an action sound cruel, but ignoring your begging dog altogether turns out to be extremely beneficial among all solutions.
Simply ignoring him with eye contact, speech, and certainly no feeding him surprisingly gets your dog realizing that there isn’t any kind of reward, be it in any form for begging by seeing no attention provided nor any food given.
Positive Rewarding
Instruction to your dog is to reward its energy for something else, more positive behavior rather than punishing it for begging.
In this light, train your dog to sit or stay at command and rewards through treat or praise. Provide chew toys or even interactive puzzles that can serve as a distraction during dinner time.
When your dog does not beg during meals and is calm, give him a treat afterwards.
Create a Designated Space
You could also assign your dog a designated area where it is to stay while you eat, and this is another great way of reducing begging at the table. Train your dog to stay on the mat or bed while you eat.
This makes them feel secure and keeps them away from the dining area. Gradually, increase the time that your dog remains in his place before rewarding him with treats or playing with him.
Consistency is Key
Every training needs to be consistent. Make sure that everyone in the family understands the plan and stick to the same rules as far as feeding and begging are concerned. Mixed signals will confuse your dog and lengthen the begging behavior.
Wrap-up
Stopping your dog from begging isn’t something you do on the spur of the moment. It requires time, consistency, and patience.
Having a set routine-going on ignoring the act toward your dog; having positive reinforcement, space, and family consistency-will help work through minimizing that behavior over time.
Training takes time, so don’t forget that but through dedication and love, you will help the furry little friend learn better habits and, at the same time, strengthen your bond the two of you have!
