[MollyOwner]

I know this may be a stupid question considering I am talking about a beagle, but my Molly (6 months) gets tough to deal with whenever we are eating in the living room. She will lunge and try to snag food out of our hands and tries to reach food on tv trays (which, when she is fully grown, shouldn't be a problem). My young children are frequently victims of this behavior.

Do I have any hope that she will calm down and grow out of this or have any of you found a training method of dealing with this problem behavior? When I had a cocker spaniel, she eventually learned not to even try to get my food. I knew not to leave something in her reach unattended and she would beg a lot, but I didnt worry about her snatching from me or jumping to take food off my plate.

As it stands now, we have to put her in her kennel whenever we eat anything so I would appreciate any suggestions (if there are any)!

P.S. NO, we do NOT feed her off our plates in case anyone is wondering. She gets dogfood and dog treats ONLY.

 

[MollyOwner]

Another picture of my Molly.

 

[dudley]

quick spray from a water bottle in the face or shake a can full of pennies when she shows interest in your food. i have had pretty good luck with both methods.
(they do like to eat dont they!)

 

[star0513]

If I am going to be eating on the couch, I usually put Sebastian in a down-stay. He stays there until I am finished, and depending on what I am eating, I take the last bite to his food bowl in the kitchen. Does Molly know the "leave-it" command? That could also be useful...I use it when I have something on the coffee table he is not supposed to have. Otherwise, I would continue to use the kennel during mealtimes. I did that with Sebastian when he was younger, and now that he is 2 and has more training, he is fine when we eat on the couch. Hope that helps!

 

[RosCole]

First of all, love the pics, Molly is gorgeous!

Keeping her from jumping up on tables, etc. is correctible, it just takes consistency (from all family members) and positive reinforcement.

We never reward jumping on the table (you stated that you didn't), and make them sit if they are going to stay near us. If they sit the whole time while we are eating and do not bother us, we take them into the kitchen (or any place away from the table and give them one of their treats). We taught them "Off" command and at first it was admittedly annoying but it worked!

Keeping her out of the room altogether isn't a bad idea either if you don't mind doing that all of the time.
Good luck!

 

[Tucker]

Make firm rules about what they can and cannot do when you are eating and stick to them always. Tucker knows that you don't bug Mom and Dad when they are eating. THe girls are still learning, but they are getting better than they were.

 

[MollyOwner]

Star,

Molly knows the "leave-it", sit, and stay commands but requires a lot of attention to maintain in a sit-and-stay position. The lunging and trying to get food occurs so quickly though that there usually isn't time to correct it with a "leave-it".

These are good suggestions though and I guess I need to be more proactive and get her to sit rather than standing at our feet awaiting her opportunity! So you mean it is really possible to get a beagle to sit and stay there for that long of a time??? WOW! Maybe there is hope!

 

[star0513]

LOL, yes there is definitely hope, it just takes some time and effort I never thought I would get mine to sit still at first either! Since we spend a lot of time practicing stays in different situations, this is what works best for me. I know some people who have taught their pups to stay in one place (like a dog bed) during meal times using a phrase like "place" or "go to bed" and this works for them. That could be another option for you. Good luck!

 

[Sniffer]

I had one beagle that would do the same thing. I know it sounds mean, but the way I got him to stop grabbing food out of my hand is I just stood with a juicy hot pepper in my hand. He came up and grabbed it, and boy did he spit and sputter! He never tried to take anything he wasn't offered after that.

 

[Faiers]

I must admit I haven't resolved this issue either. Penny is great when we eat at the dining table - she learnt her table manners very quickly (don't bother us whilst we are eating). However, if I have a snack on the lounge - she sits next to me, nudges me and if I ignore her, she will "worm" her way around the back of my neck (lying across the back of my neck like a scarf) so that her head is resting on my shoulder, next to my head. It is my fault really, I usually get the giggles when this happens and find it hard to scold her - however, I don't give her any of my snack food. Our deal is that I don't bother Penny for her food, so she shouldn't bother me for my food! I also have to work on this because it will only get worse if I don't!!!

 

[Jesslyne]

Willie has to either be gated in another room when we eat, or put in his crate. We adopted him from a refuge that does foster homing, and his foster mom fed him table scraps, so we have a dog that now thinks people food is his rightful property, unfortunately.

I really can't snack while watching a movie on the couch (if I have a bowl of popcorn, he won't leave it or me alone), so owning him has really cut back on my eating between meals, since I don't want to be tossing him in the crate left and right so that I can snack, unmolested.

 

[rad]

I know this may be a stupid question considering I am talking about a beagle, but my Molly (6 months) gets tough to deal with whenever we are eating in the living room. She will lunge and try to snag food out of our hands and tries to reach food on tv trays (which, when she is fully grown, shouldn't be a problem). My young children are frequently victims of this behavior.

Do I have any hope that she will calm down and grow out of this or have any of you found a training method of dealing with this problem behavior? When I had a cocker spaniel, she eventually learned not to even try to get my food. I knew not to leave something in her reach unattended and she would beg a lot, but I didnt worry about her snatching from me or jumping to take food off my plate.

As it stands now, we have to put her in her kennel whenever we eat anything so I would appreciate any suggestions (if there are any)!

P.S. NO, we do NOT feed her off our plates in case anyone is wondering. She gets dogfood and dog treats ONLY.

Beagles tend to have a strong pack instinct about them, and this behavior is just normal dog pack politics. In the pack, if a dog can take away anothers' food then he's at a higher standing in the pack pecking order. Your job as the alpha dog is to make Molly understand that in the family pack she's the last in line. It will take some time and some punishment to get her to learn that, and expect her to challenge you every once in a while even after she's learned it.

 

[araine]

I have always crated my dogs during meal time. I would until she matures more as well. Now, if you actually have time to train, you can always train it the spot method.

 

[sheiser]

We crate as well. We tried the training for one spot, but that only worked for about 2 days! We hope to work on 'her' spot again, but we'll wait until she's a bit older.

Ironically (and thankfully), her table/food manners are perfect when we are any where other than our house!

 

[Leptiric]

mine is 6 months and is ok while we are on the table. i learned her to sit in her place while we eat. but she jumps on children if they have anything in their hands and tries to steal it (beagles or fruit). what do i do with that?