Begging/scrounging

[insanityscatching]

Eric is ten weeks old tomorrow and seems to be doing well. He has four meals a day a mix of fresh and puppy food just as he had at the breeders. He has goats milk with two meals and access to water at all times.He also has morsels for rewards.
The first couple of days home he wasn't interested in food whereas now it seems to be the be all and end all.
He goes in his crate during our meals because the begging and and scrabbling at whoever is eating drives me mad even so the crying and yapping whilst he is crated, purely because he knows there is food on the go, is nearly as bad.
He also cries when I open the fridge, go anywhere near the food cupboards or make a cup of tea.
I'm sure he is eating enough, he's growing at any rate but I don't know how to address the begging.Any advice please?

He's hungry, I'd guess.

What breed is he, what are you feeding and how much does he weigh?

He's a poodle shih tsu cross, he's nearly 3kg. He has half a tray of Butcher's choice puppy food with mixer twice a day and for the other two meals he has fresh meat (turkey/chicken/mince) or fish with rice and vegetables sometimes with a sprinkle of cheese or scrambled egg which is what the breeder was feeding him. Then he has the goats milk twice and tiny morsels of turkey etc as rewards.
So today's meal time was typical, he was fed at 5 o'clock and ate as much as he wanted leaving probably a third of what was in his dish but he ate all breakfast at 9am and lunch at 1pm. He has gone bonkers from me starting cooking until the plates were cleared from the table. Now he is as happy as larry although if I pick up my mug of tea he'll start whining.

Tbh it sounds a bizarre diet but if its working for you ,at least he will be easy to train if he is so food orientated .

If I'm honest I didn't envisage feeding him fresh food but the breeder feeds her own dogs fresh and Eric does prefer the homemade stuff and it's not that much trouble as it's mostly from me cooking a little bit extra of our meals .
I'd just like to be able to cook and eat without him whining and barking though.

If I'm honest I didn't envisage feeding him fresh food but the breeder feeds her own dogs fresh and Eric does prefer the homemade stuff and it's not that much trouble as it's mostly from me cooking a little bit extra of our meals .
I'd just like to be able to cook and eat without him whining and barking though.

Do you know what? I think his diet isn't giving him all the nutrition he needs. It really is a bit of a bizarre diet.

I'd try him on a good quality pre made puppy food, and feed four small meals a day for another week or so, then drop it to three meals. Try Burns, Simpsons, Lily's kitchen or similar.

Also, completely ignore the fussing from him. No eye contact, no speech, no tutting, no huffing, nothing. If you give him any reinforcement, even a bollocking, it will cement the behaviour even further. You could also give him a food stuffed puppy kong or similar to work at in his bed while you eat or prepare food. It'll will teach him to concentrate on something other than food prep/you eating.

Also, when was he last wormed? And what was the breeders worming schedule?

Thank you......so I have a plan, change the food to one recommended, have got a kong (what do I put in there?) and work on the behaviour because worming is up to date.
He's an incredibly smart little dog, even my ignoring him at lunchtime has reaped rewards in so far as he didn't pester me at dinner time (he did dh but got no response) and he slept whilst I made pancakes which is pretty amazing considering previous performances.
Can I ask what I should be doing about the mouthing? He's not nipping intentionally he just gets a bit carried away especially when he sees dd.

For ideas about filling kongs, see here www.kongstuffing.com for some ideas. A raw carrot would also keep a young puppy occupied for a v long time, as would a milk carton with a few bits of kibble in it.

It is very clear your pup is very quick to learn - and v bright indeed. He will have picked up on some cues you probably don't even know you've given. The trouble with bright puppies is they often put 2 and 2 together and come up with 10. He will be constantly trying to please you by attempting to guess what you want him to do, and will not know, at this stage, the difference between positive and negative reaction from you. At this stage, any reaction is good for him.

He needs you to show him what you expect him to do when you're eating/prepping food, so give him something to do, and encourage him to be wherever is convenient before you start and then ignore him as you have been so far and I expect the behaviour will be very quickly knocked on the head.

Also, make sure you're no tolerance at all with feeding him scraps from the table, or leftovers in the kitchen which can be associated with your meal. If you must do it, wait a good few hours between food and giving so he doesn't learn to connect the two.

We have seen such an improvement already I wouldn't have believed it was so easily sorted. Mealtimes are back to being pretty much peaceful affairs, he tries an odd yelp occasionally just for effect I think but the lack of response means he settles down pretty much straight away and cooking seems to be uneventful now.
He knows the routines of the house already which amazes me, he knows I get up first but after a quick greeting and a pee he goes back to bed only considering getting up when the rest of them start stirring.
He knows when I take dd to school and that he is fed when I get back because he sits yapping at his food bowls then. I think he is going to be a really wonderful dog with the brains of the poodle and the lovely gentle nature of his mum the shih tzu.
I really want to get it right so that he can be the best he can be so really appreciate all the advice, thank you.