Thank You for *Not* Begging
I’ve never told any of my clients this, but I actually feed my dogs (occasionally) from the table. Whaaat? I can hear you saying, How can a trainer encourage begging?
What is begging, anyway? Like aggression, it means different things to different people.
To me, begging is when you’re eating and your dog is actively trying to get you to hand over some of it. That would include pawing or nudging you, vocalizing, or standing up---or actually trying to take food off your plate.
For some people, it includes being stared at, sometimes accompanied by profuse drooling.
If you eat on the couch, right next to your dog, grabbing a mouthful would be very tempting and very easy. Don’t let that happen even once if you really don’t want more of that.
Scout, my 14-year-old Labradoodle, had learned early on that kicking my chair leg would cause me to look at her and occasionally feed her. My 7-year-old Goldendoodle, Torre, did not. I was a better trainer by the time we got her.
The old advice to deal with begging was to never feed your dog “people food.” But food is food, and ours is simply higher in value. A begging problem is actually created—or prevented—by where and when you feed your dog any of that high-value food.
By the way, if you enjoy feeding your dog from your plate, go right ahead. Begging is a problem only if you aren’t okay with it.
Like any other learned behavior, if begging at the table (or on the couch) is successful (i.e., reinforced) it will get stronger. If Bailey has a habit of pawing, whining, or standing up on you in this context, the first thing you might be doing is giving him a look. Then you might say No, Bailey, you just had your dinner. Go lie down on your bed. Or you might give him a bit of food to make him stop bugging you. But he wants more, so you give in again. And then you get more annoyed and repeat your command to go lie down over there. But Bailey has learned that whatever he did paid off, and therefore will do the same successful behaviors at the next meal, and the next . . . .
When I took the life-changing course with Dr. Susan Friedman, Living and Learning with Animals, several years ago, one of my assignments was to change an unwanted behavior by replacing it with an alternative, preferably incompatible behavior. I chose to change Scout’s kicking my chair to lying beside my chair. Oddly, this happened only when I had a cooked breakfast, not at dinner. While she could still kick from that position, it was more effort. And if she was positioned a bit further from my chair, it was not possible.
My strategy was to move her into that spot in a down (with a signal) before I started eating my eggs and ham, and before she decided to kick my chair. Acting pre-emptively by rearranging the environment is often the best strategy.
Once she was down, a little further from my chair, I immediately praised and rewarded her. I continued to do that as long as she remained in place. If she stood up and kicked, I ignored her, and she would usually lie down again. That was reinforced with more praise and food. It was only a few days before the chair kicking stopped altogether. It didn’t work for her anymore. (But the principle of spontaneous recovery means that an unwanted behavior could pop up again in the same context before it ends completely.)
Meanwhile, Torre never developed a begging habit while I’m eating at the table. She gets attention, praise, and occasionally a bit of my meal for just lying near the table and never once whining, barking, or pawing at me. I want her to know that Not begging pays off!
If you have a problem with habitual begging at the table, I recommend stationing your dog—on a tether if necessary—some distance from the table but still able to see you. Management is necessary to prevent an undesirable habit from being practiced (and reinforced).
And, this is just as important, to prevent frustration, give them a great chew that will last at least as long as your meal. Instead, you could provide a Kong or Lickimat with something your dog really loves. It doesn’t have to be peanut butter, if you’re worried about weight gain. Other yummy spreadables include wet dog food, baby food, plain yogurt, pumpkin, cream cheese, mashed banana, and any combination thereof.
Trying to end begging (or anything else) with scolding is often inadvertently reinforcing for your dog. Changing behavior requires (1) management and (2) replacing the current behavior with a desirable behavior that pays off as well or better than the undesirable one. Win-win!
Copyright Lisa Benshoff 2024
