Begging

[BlackDogWhiteCat]

Just after any advice/tips really.
We have a 6 month old Lab who is very food obsessed as Other Lab owners will know! We have NEVER fed him from our plates.
When we are eating he will wander around from person to person pushing his face into you looking for food.
The only solution seems to be to shut him out at mealtimes but then he will never learn to not beg will he?
I've tried giving him as treat while we eat but as soon as he's finished it he's up pestering again

[billybagpuss]

We’ve had the same problem she’s now 18m and getting better. Try giving a kong while you’re eating to distract him and constantly telling him to lie down and pushing him away if he persists, with time outs ever 3 push aways. It may take a while billypup still tries but is much better. She was worse if we shut her out as she’d bark.

[BlackDogWhiteCat]

thanks billy I'm.glad it's improved!
We've given him pigs ears, kongs, licky mats, hes fine until they're gone
will persevere. Sometimes he's worse than others, he always seems ravenous

[Veterinari]

You need to train him with an alternative behaviour. Which probably means having a few interruptions until he learns.

Kongs etc are good for distraction but he’s not learning. He need to be given a lie down and wait command and trained to stay in place, then rewards given intermittently to extend the duration of the wait. Once the wait extends to a useful duration of time you can give a jackpot treat such as a kong

[BlackDogWhiteCat]

Thanks vet that's useful.
He's so good at his other commands, sit, wait, roll over, I guess it's just patience. He could never wait for a treat but now I can balance a treat on my knee and he will wait until I give him the 'go' command. So he is improving!
So should I get him to lie down and then give him a treat? and keep doing this every time he lies back down?

[sillysmiles]

What I had started doing with our lab is putting him back on his bed each and every time he begged. It started to work but DH also started giving him bits off his plate so I gave up! But if it something you really want it can work.

[BlackDogWhiteCat]

He's actually been better tonight! I told him to sit when he started to nose about, I told him twice and he went and laid in the hallway with his head facing us so he could still see us

[Veterinari]

Good work OP. Try and reward him for that behaviour. So when he takes himself away, he gets a treat.

[BlackDogWhiteCat]

vet I took him over a treat when he went to lay down and he got up and followed me back so we did the whole cycle again. #work in progress