Noisy dog at mealtimes

[longtompot]

Our 12 year old show cocker spaniel has always been very food focused. She usually whines a bit at the dinner table, but then settles down and we can enjoy a meal in relative peace.
Historically dh has always given her tidbits and she then expects them. We have told him not to, and for a while he'll stop giving her anything, but then she looks at him with those big spaniel eyes and he can't resist.

She is losing her hearing now and when we are trying to eat dinner she is whining and yelling, mainly at my dh. When he's finished, if he puts his plate away she is calm and we can finish dinner in peace. But it is making mealtimes, especially outside, intolerable.

A few weeks ago I was trying to keep her quiet when we were eating and held on to her muzzle. I know that was wrong, I haven't done it again, but that time she went for me. The first time in her life. Proper growl, teeth showing and followed my had but no contact made. She is usually fine about me holding her muzzle to get rid of eye gunk, or when trimming her face etc

Shutting her indoors just makes the howling worse, so we can't do that. Where she can't hear me tell her to be quiet or enough I think is making it harder. She has never been this bad, so I do think it's linked to the hearing loss, and I suspect she thinks she is t making a noise as she can't hear it so therefore is stupid humans can't hear it either so she gets louder and it lasts longer.

Can anyone suggest what to do to help make this better?

Feed her her meal when you eat. I use a lick mat bowl to slow my terrier down. Works really well. If she finished before us then she wanders off to play as she’s not hungry. I have never fed from the table for obvious reasons.

At mealtimes, distract her with a stuffed Kong, snuffle mat, lickimat, or whatever puzzle toy she likes, or treats scattered in the grass if you're outside.

@Newpeep shes my first ever dog and had I known how important it was not to feed her from the table we never would have allowed it :( She has a slow feeder bowl which does slow her down a bit. But not enough.

@spiderlight We do throw things onto the lawn for her to find but might actually do her dinner that way, or at least half of it.

Thank you both for your suggestions, it's really appreciated

https://www.westpaw.com/products/toppl-treat-toy

These are excellent - I feed my terrier some meals from them. They are less frustrating than a kong but slower than a lick mat.

Feed her at the same time as you're eating - scatter her meal in the grass, give her a long lasting chew or a frozen kong. Basically, teach her that mealtimes means she gets good things - but not from the table, she needs to learn that it comes from elsewhere.

As an aside, I don't actually think there's anything wrong with feeding from the table if it's done properly and with appropriate boundaries. My dog gets table scraps but he has to sit quietly on the sofa (or under the table at a restaurant) and he gets food on our terms only. Some meals he gets nothing, so he never expects it and knows there's no guarantee.

We were careful never to feed ddog from the table but because we have allowed him to have scraps when clearing/ washing up he is completely silent and settled during meals but a complete bloody nuisance as soon as he can see you are finished.

He is the washing up police! You can't sit and chat for 5 mins after eating as this will be accompanied by a cacophony of barking and whining. He can be told to go and wait on his place but he is like a coiled spring waiting for you to release him and can only last 5 mins before he starts up again.

I think we'd have to stop feeding him any scraps at all ever and put up with the extinction burst to solve that one and so far no-one has the nerve for it.

Washing up police

@ThePure aww he's very handsome washing up police. Looks like he takes his role very seriously 😆 The noise you mention he does I suspect is the same noise as mine does. It's deafening. She too does the coiled spring thing, and as soon as dh gets up, she's leaping and bounding around like a puppy.

On Sunday I decided to brave dinner in the garden. I fed her half in her slow feeding bowl and took out the rest in a small bowl. When she came out I sprinkled it on the garden and she spent a good while finding it all. She did start to come to the table and make small noises, but we just said find it to her and she went off. When she started to get a bit more unsettled dh got a small handful and she went hunting again. We will keep doing that when eating outside, esp with dh.
The start of dinner, when he wasn't at the table and it was just me and my two dds, she was really quiet, so it is an association with him. I am sitting out here now eating my breakfast and she is asleep under the table. Oh, and she does eat when we do 99% of the time.