How to stop your dog from begging at the table

Begging is a learned behaviour that can be considered either endearing or a nuisance depending on a person’s viewpoint and situation. If standing outside and a friendly dog approaches, sits in front of you and looks longingly at your edibles, it can seem rather cute. Some people even train their dogs to beg for food or treats.
Occasional begging for food by dogs isn’t the biggest behavioural problem and could possibly strengthen the human-animal bond. However, such behaviour can develop into dogs that wont leave their owners alone at mealtimes to the point of ruining a meal.

Begging can take the form of sitting next to the table, possibly whining, focusing on the food. Sometimes a more proactive role is taken and may involve pawing, jumping or barking. Whatever form the begging takes place in is proof that it has worked in the past. This learning involves classical Skinnerian reinforcement of an operant behaviour. Because beggin is a learned behaviour, it is best not to encourage/train it in the first place. Some owners don’t have to put up with it because they never encouraged it. If an owner never feeds their dog from the table and never gives it human food, then this behavioural problem should not arise.

The owners that do have the problem must have rewarded it at some point, either unintentionally or on purpose. Often, owners might think that giving their dogs food from the table will occupy them for a while or feel that it’s easier than saying “No”. Dogs are very persistent so never should mean never. It doesn’t mean one time in a hundred since they will remember that one time and the begging behaviour will continue.

As well as classical Skinnerism conditioning, anthropomorphism may play a part in the development of this behaviour. If a dog associates rewarded begging with the human dinner time, it may feel that it should also be fed at that time with everyone else.

A follow on problem to this behaviour (esp at human meal times) is the quality of food the animal would be having. Many human foods are simply not good for dogs especially in the long term and even in the short term, can cause health problems. Most dogs will eat anything but this doesn’t mean that the things they’d eat are good for them. Obesity is a big problem and giving food that isn’t meant for them can contribute to health problems.

Curing a begging problem is not complicated at all but it does require strong commitment from every family member. This means that not one person will feed the animal from the table. At first the dog may respond by showing other annoying behaviours such as pawing or barking. In order for the therapy to work, this behaviour must be ignored, - if the owners give in, the dog has learned to be even more obnoxious.

If this new behaviour continues, one of the best things to do is to remove it from the eating area or send it to another room. However, if the dog behaves and shows no signs of begging, then praise should be given. If a dog knows the ‘sit’ and ‘stay’ commands, then these can be applied to help.

All of these practices are most effective when combined along with having set feeding times for the dog, - this will make him understand that that is when he is fed and not when the owners are at the table. If done properly and unyieldingly, this should stop a dog from begging. In this case, punishment is not an option as the dog may not know why it is being punished and could get confused.