My dog is always scavenging

milliemonster

My dog is fab in every way except he is constantly scavenging for food and it drives me mad, even though he eats his own food and is in great health, he is constantly around you when you are eating looking for crumbs and has even snatched food out of my children's hands when I haven't been looking (which I have chastised him for)

I am a novice dog owner but have had him from a pup and he is now 2years old, he is well trained in every other way but how can I stop him doing this or do I just have to put up with it?

elsien

How good is he at going to his box when told, or settling down in a corner? You need to teach him that when there's food around, he has to stay in one place and not shift until you give him permission to.
Also do your kids "accidentally" drop food or give him bits when you're not looking - I know I used to when I was little with our dog. You need absolute consistency from all of you, otherwise it's going to be almost impossible to break the habit.
My dog is a horrible scavenger ( worse when we're out), so she only ever gets food in her bowl, never from anyone's hand or plate; when we're eating she has to lie down behind the chair. If she won't stay put, then I put her out of the room and she doesn't come back in till we've finished. When I'm cooking she's not allowed in the kitchen and has to stay in the dining room or in her box until I tell her otherwise.
She still tries it on ( she can recognise from the language when something has landed on the floor and hoofs it in at speed!) but at least I don't have a slobbery dog drooling all over my plate any more.
It is possible to train him, but it will need the whole family to understand and do their bit.

hethmar

Id agree, it sounds like from a pup someone, probably many - people/kids have been giving titbits to the dog and now he is in a habit of wanting constant tit bits. All you can do is make sure no one in the family does this. He would gradually get to understand that he wont get them and his behaviour will modify.

Of course, Im assuming he is wormed regularly? And you have spoken to your vet to see if its a health problem?

milliemonster

Thanks for your replies, I can honestly say that he never has had any titbits as we don't agree with it, he is a dog and eats premium dried dog food and that is it, he gets a bowl in the morning and at teatime and no other food or scraps in between, the kids know they musn't give him any 'human' food at all and I know that they don't.

When we eat at the dining room table he always tries to come in to see if we are going to drop anything, but we make him stay out, if he continues to try to come in then we shut the door but then he starts scratching at the door to get in! although we don't give in.

He is good at sitting and laying down in a corner when told but will move again without permission, so I make him sit again but this is a constant battle with him.

I guess sometimes the kids accidentally drop crumbs from packets of crisps etc which he will pounce on but not if I am there as I make him leave it and remove the dropped the food, but then he will lick the floor anyway to pick up the tiny scraps that may be left!!!!

Whenever I go in the kitchen he will immediately get up and follow to see if he can get anything. I really don't know what else to do, he obeys me when I tell him to lie down but then he sneaks back, so I'll tell him again, then he'll sneak back again.

Not sure how else to deal with this really

hethmar

What breed is he?

Sammy_Girl

My dog too is a scavenger and will eat absolutely anything if allowed. What we have done to tame this in the home is to ensure that any leftover scraps, treats etc are always given to him in his bowl in the kitchen. It took him a while to get used to it but it does work.

Wish I could apply the same principle to outside of the home! Just this morning we got back from our walk, and I didn't notice anything in his mouth but he ran straight into the living room and started to hide something in the throw on his chair (he's a rubbish hider!). So I went over to see what it was, thinking it was last night's pigs ear - and it was this really crusty mouldy bread roll that he must have picked up!! He didn't look too happy when it went straight in the bin!

In your situation, I guess it is just perseverance until he understands that he will never get anything from begging and scratching the door. He is still young so is probably just trying his luck!

Raksha

OK, you recognise he likes to find his own food - wo why not make him find his own food? Either scatter feed his dried food in the garden, or give him a food dispensing toy like a Dog Pyramind, Tug a Jug or Buster cube so he can use his mental powers? Alongside this, set up a routine of 'family have food then dog goes on his bed' (and nobody goes near his bed with food unless it's for him) and you will have the problem sorted.

hotlondon

Does your dog actually like the food that you give him? It may be that he needs a bit more variety.

I am relatively strict with my dog, but there was a point when he was younger where he was contstanty trying to eat other peoples food. Once we changed his own diet slightly so that he had a mixture of dried food and wet food, that made all the difference. Now he gets a pack of quality wet sachet food in the evening and dried in the morning. I think he was bored with constantly getting dried food. May be worth a try.

elsien

The other thing you could try, as well as the training is to top up his food with veggies, if he'll eat them ( and it sounds like he probably will!) As long as you leave out the carbs, it'll fill him up without putting on weight. I started off with cooked veg for mine, but now I've realised she'll scoff anything, it goes in raw.

rev229

My dog is the same although never begs while we are eating but does wait in hope. She always has her nose in the bins! She will take out wrappers and tissues to tear up. I have just this minute put the waste bin on the desk, so she yhen went straight to the recycling bin in the stud, and she has just been fed We have a council compost bin which we can recycle all food waste, it has a locking handle but even she has managed to unlock that one:rolleyes: so we have to keep it empty. When out walking she is in all the hedges looking for food, loves saturday walks as the drunks discard half eaten food in the park, however we now use a halti and we are winning:j . She has a really sensitive tummy which doesn't help!

ajaney

If it is a Labrador, then it is fairly normal behaviour! Not the food snatching but generally looking for food all the time. I have a Black lab coming up 4 & as soon as she sees plates of food, she will sit right next to you, looking up with the big brown eyes!

I think it was Dr Bruce Fogle, the vet dad of Ben who said 'Labradors are essentially a support system for a stomach'!

When my dog was younger she would try to get food from our platesso we would put her away before we got any food out. We also ate our food before we fed her & this seems to have sorted out the worse of it but she still waits in hope of food being dropped or a titbit!