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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

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Original poster

Do you give your dog scraps

23 replies

Imsosorryalan · 31/10/2013 08:34

Or human food? I'm trying to gauge if it happens a lot. My MIL always gives her two dogs any scraps at the end of meals, bacon bits etc left over. But my dsis doesn't give anything, saying it teaches them to beg.

I'm on the fence. On one hand, a few scraps aren't going to do any harm and may make the same boring food a bit more exciting but a lot may mean an unhealthy diet. Alan dog would love scraps but alas, it means she immediately refuses her food for a few days after it.

OP posts:

colditz · 31/10/2013 08:37

I do give my dog scraps, and she does refuse her food for a few days after. That's her look out, she can regulate her own appetite. She's a healthy weight, so I can't be doing too badly.

killpeppa · 31/10/2013 09:17

my MIL dog only eats human food!
he has allergies and can't eat dog food even the type for allergies!
she makes him a big pot of dinner everyweek and freezes batches (buys off cuts of meat from but butcher and cooks with rice and veg, plus anything else needing used up)

he also gets left I overs but he is not allowed them until everyone is finished and washed up.

neepsandtatties · 31/10/2013 09:34

I do. Any leftovers from the meal will be given to him. I hadn't thought about the begging thing - we give it to him before we wash up so would never feed him from the table (and he doesn't beg, just lies in his bed while we eat).

Whoknowswhocares · 31/10/2013 09:46

Not scraps as such, no. She's food obsessed enough already!
Although human food for training is a definite yes! Today's session will involve leftover roast turkey leg........I predict she will comply with just about anything today!

GlitterFingers · 31/10/2013 09:50

I do feed him leftovers and he is a terrible beg he only begs from me though because I always give him stuff not off my plate but in his bowl after I finish. He also sits underneath the high chair and waits patiently for something to come flying lol. He is currently following the baby round waiting for her to drop her cheese he might be out of luck today she loves cheese more than she loves him

throckenholt · 31/10/2013 09:51

We do - but not much - we rarely have many scraps because generally I manage to not over cater the amounts we eat.

Feeding scraps from the table - yes that does encourage begging. I suspect DH and the kids do that when I am not around because the pooches seem to think that sitting with their paw on my knee with a longing look in their eyes will result in food (they must have go that idea from somewhere !).

We never have a problem with our dogs not eating their own food - so hopefully we have the balance about right.

Branleuse · 31/10/2013 09:57

yes, and she doesnt beg. We never give her anything whilst we are eating though. Shes not even allowed to stare at us while we eat

Original poster

Imsosorryalan · 31/10/2013 10:19

Branleuse, how do you teach your dog not to stare? I'd love to be able to do that!

The vet has told us to only give her, her food for 15 mins then take it away. She has no interest in dog food at all ( we have tried lots) and eats it as sparingly. She is also underweight

OP posts:

throckenholt · 31/10/2013 10:20

We used to feed our dogs after our meal. Big dog has over time decided he should be fed during (or preferably before our meal). And he gets very miffed if we eater later than usual (he doesn't like the clocks changing ).

He tends to bang his foot on the little plastic stool we have in the kitchen (for the kids to stand on) and push round the floor in a very noisy fashion. And if that doesn't work he does a single loud bark - repeated at intervals. Little dogs just lays quietly watching it all intently.

Big dog has succeeded in pushing me into moving his feed time to between (human) main course and pudding - mainly because it often takes quite a while for us to get round to pudding and I get fed up with him nagging. He has also succeeded in pushing his "toothbrush" treat thing to straight after his meal - which used to be an evening treat. For some reason though he is happy to wait for evening chews until we sit down in the living room in the evening. But only until then - after that his patience wears very thin and his paw on the near and insistent body language gets very obvious

It is a battle of wills in our house.

throckenholt · 31/10/2013 10:24

hey - another one with an underweight dog ! My little dog eats twice as much as big dog (who is physically about 10kg more than her but same breed) - and is still as skinny as a rake. The vet mentioned it at her yearly checkup recently (commented how she normally has to talk to owners about overweight dogs !).

My one is just a bundle of energy (both nervous and physical) - she does everything at full speed and just doesn't sit still long enough to grow fat.

ClaimedByMe · 31/10/2013 10:25

I always make a little extra for the dog there's never much waste in this house, the humans are all too greedy, so a do the dog her own wee portion, tonight we are having fish from the fish van and I'll get her a wee bit fish!

She's not a beggar, she knows her place when we are eating, she is also an excellent hoover.

Branleuse · 31/10/2013 10:35

I dont know. Shes a smart staffie who dp taught all sorts of useful stuff to before i met him. Probably by shouting at her to stop staring.
when we are eating, she has to sit down. Shes not allowed to stare at us, or pace up and down to the kitchen looking for scraps, shes supposed to just lie down when we eat and sleep or something.

ClaimedByMe · 31/10/2013 11:09

Ours is a staffie too and she tries and wants to stare and beg but the minute you send her out the dining room she just goes to sleep in the living room, she is totally ruled by her stomach and if she was allowed to stay in the dining room when we are eating she would stare and beg constantly.

Branleuse · 31/10/2013 12:18

she does this silly thing where shes facing away, pretending not to look, but you can see her looking, while trying hard not to. Its funny

Lilcamper · 31/10/2013 12:21

I taught my dog to lie down quietly while we eat by randomly chucking him bits off my plate when he was doing just that. No begging here, he knows he gets rewarded for not begging so he doesn't bother.

SnakeyMcBadass · 31/10/2013 12:48

Mine get scraps if there are any as well as their kibble. I put their food down in the morning and top it up in the evening. They eat when they're hungry. Neither are overweight.

TombOfMummyBeerest · 31/10/2013 12:53

We do. And she's a huge mooch. It's actually kind of embarrassing when people hear her "moo" for our dinner.

vjg13 · 31/10/2013 14:28

Only mixed in with their dry food and never from the table whilst we're eating. Can't vouch for the kids though if I'm not there!

mintchocchick · 31/10/2013 18:51

Bran - that made me laugh so much! Your description of your dog pretending not to look. Our dog when I was a teenager used to do that and I loved it - he would be told off for watching us eat (my mum just used to give him the eye, no more was needed!) and he'd turn his head to the side but I could see his eyes casting quick little glances at us, so funny! He was a great character - we used to give him the plates scrapped into his bowl after the meal had finished - meat, veg, gravy the lot!

I also used to call in at the butchers on the way home from school every now and then to ask for a bone for my dog - but that was just really cos I fancied the butcher and he used to wink at me!

GemmaTeller · 31/10/2013 18:58

Ours aren't allowed to beg at the table, they have to stay on their beanbag whilst we are eating.

They do get our scraps, either added to their tea or in their breakfast the next day.

We get the sidelong 'I'm not really looking' glances as well

clam · 31/10/2013 19:09

Ours gets a few here and there - the rule is to put them in his bowl, but blasted dd breaks this all the time. He's a cockapoo, and they are prone to sensitive tummies, so we have to be very careful.

He's a perfect weight, however. The vet said last night he was beautiful, brag that it's no bad thing if they're not particularly keen on the food you give them as they're less likely to scoff and over-rate meal-times. Ours will eat his (James Wellbeloved) after a while, once he's sussed out there's nothing better coming along.

Original poster

Imsosorryalan · 31/10/2013 19:26

Good to hear, I think I will allow some scraps..in her bowl. If she's off her normal for a feed days then so be it.
Alandog will go in her bed at meal times but can't help herself staring if me and dh fancy lobbing on the sofa with TV dinners occasionally. Must try to teach her not to stare if only to see the hilarious sideways looks!

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SallyBear · 31/10/2013 23:31

My Labrador puppy eats human food. I make him a big pot every three days of meat, potatoes, root vegetables and stock. He has that with some mixer for crunch. He has three meals a day as he's only 18weeks old. Anyway he seems to be thriving, eats well and has a beautiful coat. The vet agreed that it was agreeing with him. We did start him off on puppy food for the first five weeks that we had him, but it made him very ill. I fed my old labrador on our food and she lived till she was nearly 15.

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