Many of us can relate to the above scene. Perhaps some people welcome the begging dog. Yet, most people would like to say their dog is well trained and gives them a time of peace while they eat.
I'd like to share how my dog was trained to stay away from the family dinner table while we ate. Did she never beg once trained? Of course not! But she learned to stay away while we ate and was smart enough to know when to come beg for leftovers.
My dog was a hyper puppy...well hyper is somewhat mild. It was hard to get her to calm down. But like most dogs, she was a smart puppy. How we trained her to behave at dinner time was very simple:
We tied her nearby where she could see but not reach us. And we repeated this process every time we had dinner, until she learned we expected her to stay away.
There came a point when we didn't have to tie her. She knew when it was dinner time. She learned to find a place to lay down. She also learned when we were done eating and just hanging around at the table talking. That was the appropriate time to come and get her goodies.
Now she did bark when tied, so my dad would splash her with water. Water does not hurt the puppy, but it does take them back and make them think.
I hope this simple method will be of help to you. Patience and repetition are of great importance when training a puppy.
