Puppy stealing food becoming a real issue

[puppydustbin]

Puppy is driving me mad.

He is constantly trying to steal food from counter tops and while we're eating. Our living room is open plan so he's either around or we can put him in his crate or in the garden.

If he's loose he's constantly jumping up at the table

We've never fed him from the table but he has successfully managed to steal things.

I've tried doing the whole 'giving him a treat when he's lying down or away from the table' but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Everyone is getting really pissed off with him.

Should we just put him in his crate when we eat? It feels mean and I don't want to use the crate as a punishment.

Chairs right in and arms round the plates. Actually body block the food.
We had to do this with ours who's nose topped the table!!
Totally ignore ddog and no eye contact.
Have cuppas at the table and fake meals of just sitting down and getting up. . Ddog will get bored of not getting anything..our ddog doesn't come anywhere near the table now. Gave up!!

He seems quite persistent!

He's also started to try and steal other things to distract us from the table, then will double back and try and get at the plate.

As you have a crate, I would definitely put him in when there's food around.

Clear the benches every time. Or take turns leaving 1 person on patrol. A sharp aah every time he goes near the bench. Then ignore and no eye contact . We use aah (hard a sound ) works brilliantly.. We have 4 ddogs!! No thieves now! And it was just the youngest as she is so tall tables are soooo tempting!

Thank you.

DH is being really annoying and won't change his behaviour at all, so keeps leaving things within reach - chopping boards close to the edge etc.

And he's the one getting most annoyed.

Maybe I need to put DH in the crate.

Cracking plan!! It really doesn't take long. Just 100 % constistacy over a few days.
Clean up with anti bac. The smell will help deter him also!!

He doesn't get ANYTHING until you've finished eating. No treats for behaving while you eat until you have finished eating.

He will understand humans eat first IF you keep teaching him. Crate him if necessary.

It is not cruel to deny him food for a time while you are prepping, cooking and eating. He doesn't need to steal your food and he can control himself if you help him to understand there is no other choice.

By blocking him with chairs you've essentially created a game or a challenge, if he beats the chairs he is rewarded by the stolen food.

Crating him is not cruel, if he stole another dogs food he would get bit.

Crating him and feeding him when you are finished will not be a permanent thing because he will simply accept he gets his after everyone else, he won't feel sad about that.

Anything left within reach of pup is fair game so you have a dh problem there not dh
Set pup up to succeed so either in the crate or as pp has said fake meals and be boring so when you’re sat down pup chills in his bed. You could use a chew or kong with frozen treats to keep pup busy initially to help settle
We have always ignored our dpup when eating at the table and she takes herself to her bed and sleeps because she knows she won’t ever get food or fuss whilst we sit at the table and it didn’t take long for her to suss

Dh problem not dpup*

We can eat take away in the lounge with 4 ddogs asleep near us. Never come anywhere near!! Even when dh sits on the floor!

He’s clever, the stealing other things is really ingenious! Crate him and then once you are finished eating give him a treat.

Santa, that's just showing off!

We taught our dog to stay in his bed whilst we are eating.

Teach the command and gradually build up the time. Takes time but worth it.

Our dog can reach the counter tops too. Have never found an effective way to stop him, we have open plan too. Best thing is not leave out anything for him to punch.

Put him in crate when you eat and buy another crate for your most annoying DH.He is the one who needs the training.I am being quite serious here.there is nothing more confusing and actually cruel for a young puppy to get mixed messages.please unite fir the sake of your puppy.

Ours has been taught to go to his bed while we eat - so he has to sit there and wait nicely while we eat our meals.

You can't really complain the dog is stealing things when you've left them in his reach and haven't taught him an alternative behaviour

So, never leave anything on the counters that the dog can get to. Put him in his crate or in another room while you eat your meals until you've trained him to settle in his bed or on the sofa.

By leaving food out that he can steal, you've made the behaviour self-rewarding, so he's going to keep jumping up to see what he can find, because last time he managed to lick a plate or steal some bread etc. if he never succeeds in getting anything from jumping up, he'll not bother to jump up.

Thank you. Crate it is.

I was teaching him a place command but he began to wee/mark on his bed/mat (he doesn't do this in his crate) so we were advised to removed it.

I need to find an alternative though.

We made a point about giving our pup a chew when we ate. Now she'll go to her mat when we start plating up, and she'll stay on there until we finish, even if she finishes her chew. Would this be an option? We also used a room divider at the beginning (stretched out puppy pen) so add a physical barrier.

We've tried that but he snaffles and is then back! Maybe need longer lasting chews!

Ddog will try to steal food and jump up at the counters and to our shame he has succeeded once or twice although we try to be careful

He will prowl around the dinner table initially but no-one makes eye contact with him and we all actively ignore him. It doesn't then take long for him to slope off and lie down and then he gets a click and a treat. I also try to pre-empt mealtimes by giving him a Kong in his bed whilst we are having ours but it rarely lasts long enough.
That combination is quite successful for actual meal times.

Our main issue is jumping up to steal food in unguarded moments and because he has occasionally succeeded it's worse. Our trainer said it will stop if he never ever gets anything out of it but that is hard to achieve in a busy family house. He's managed a slice of quiche, a ginger biscuit and a couple of licks of a cereal bowl but even just those are enough for him to think it's worth trying. Bloody open plan kitchen.

Jumping in on this thread....our dog is perfect at dinner table. I can sit on the floor with a take away and he stays where he is. If I'm in the kitchen he doesn't jump up.... however as soon as my back is turned he steals. Generally I don't leave food out because of this but does anyone know if you can train this out of them? Harder to do the ah thing if he can see me as then he's good as gold!