# What am I doing wrong?



## KPoos (Aug 29, 2009)

Can you put up a baby gate blocking off the kitchen when you are eating so that when you are done you can give her a bunch of praise for staying out? That's how we trained Harry to stay out of the kitchen when we eat.


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## MakeShift Heart (May 2, 2009)

KPoos said:


> Can you put up a baby gate blocking off the kitchen when you are eating so that when you are done you can give her a bunch of praise for staying out? That's how we trained Harry to stay out of the kitchen when we eat.


No because there's 2 different entrances to the kitchen and one would work perfect for a baby gate, but he 2nd one has such a large doorway that literally no baby gate fits there. Otherwise I'd have done that to begin with lol.

Also not everyone eats in the kitchen, they often go into the living room to eat and that's where she starts to beg again.


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## KPoos (Aug 29, 2009)

Could you gate her off in another room until you guys are done? Like your bedroom or something along those lines?


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## MakeShift Heart (May 2, 2009)

KPoos said:


> Could you gate her off in another room until you guys are done? Like your bedroom or something along those lines?


That sounds like a good idea but there is another issue with that. Belle has some minor separation anxiety and howls whenever she's locked in a room away from me. Even with a gate up and the door open she does this non-stop screeching. She doesn't calm down until an hour or 2 sometimes even 3 hours later.

My mom and I are well capable of dealing with the howling (since we both worked for boarding kennels/vet clinics we've grown immune to it.) but my grandpa and dad both can't seem to understand that if you ignore the dog she eventually shuts up. So they're always hollering at her and giving her what she wants..attention. hwell:


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## spoos4us (Sep 3, 2009)

We feed our dogs the same time we eat breakfast and dinner and when they are finished they sleep under the table you might try putting her food down when the family eats there meals


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## Mj's Legacy (Dec 19, 2009)

I agree try feeding when you eat. You also may want to try a wire crate - so that she can see you and not get so up set. My mini stud dog always want to come into the bathroom with me, as though something will come from the tub and eat me. lol

I have gotten him accustomed to sitting at the door way, not comming all the way in with liver treats. Now my cats think if they sit out side the bathroom they get some too.:rofl::rofl:


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## AgilityIG (Feb 8, 2009)

MakeShift Heart said:


> My mom and I are well capable of dealing with the howling (since we both worked for boarding kennels/vet clinics we've grown immune to it.) but my grandpa and dad both can't seem to understand that if you ignore the dog she eventually shuts up. So they're always hollering at her and giving her what she wants..attention. hwell:


You have hit the nail on the head here (with the barking and the kennel). If you ignore a behavior, it WILL go away. Dogs only do what works for them. Belle has a history of begging that works for her. She may have gotten food in the past or she may have just gotten attention while begging (negative attention is still attention). It does take longer to extinguish a behavior by ignoring it, but it does work if *everyone* in your home is on the same page. Don't talk to her while you are eating, don't feed her from your plate and don't even look at her while you are eating. Ideally, this would be my preferred way to stop the begging.

Otherwise, I prefer management of a problem: babygates, a wire kennel in the area you are in, or give her a kong stuffed with really good things to work on while you all eat.


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## flyingduster (Sep 6, 2009)

I hate a dog around my feet when I'm sorting food in the kitchen. My foxy X is good enough that if I go 'uh uh!' she'll back up and make sure her toes are behind the edge where the carpet of the living room changes to the lino of the kitchen. I simply kept pushing her back with a verbal command ('out') and body language (stand tall, and stomp her back!) if she crossed the line with any boundary I didn't want her to cross (door ways mainly, or gates or whatever) so she has a good sense of boundary and will easily push back to the edge now.

Paris isn't so great, she wants to SEEEEEE around the corner, and so I put a bed into another room that has direct line of sight, and put her there. She's happy to stay on a comfy bean bag and watch us, and she gets corrected if she gets up.


Basically consistency is *the* key! If you REALLY want her to stay out of the kitchen when you've told her to, then she must ALWAYS stay out unless she's been allowed in. No giving up cos you're too busy to keep her out at the moment or just giving up cos it's easier than pushing her back out constantly. Give up once, and you've just told her that sometimes it IS ok to be in there without permission, so she'll _always_ think that she can be allowed in without permission!

Try giving her somewhere to be like a comfy bed near the door so she can be there, out of the way, but still in sight and comfortable? Be consistent, put her back onto the bed every time she gets up, even if it's only been a few seconds and she pops up as you move away from her, put her back. Tie her nearby if you're busy and can't keep her there. Better to tie her to a chair or something than let her get in around your feet once and then have to work on it from the start again!


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## wishpoo (Sep 12, 2009)

Yes, if baby-gate is not practical, than crate her while you eat and give her nice treat IN the crate . Otherwise, if you give her food while you eat it is almost same thing - she gets food from the table or out of the bag - same message to her - "begging equals food" !

Many trainers suggest dogs being fed after people eat so they get the message who is in charge in the house. That teaches them that they have to listen to "alpha" individuals in the home (all people LOL) and take commands and behave.


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## KPoos (Aug 29, 2009)

I agree with this method as well. I'd never feed my dogs when I ate. There needs to be an order to who is most important in the food chain. Dogs are dogs afterall and they only know their own language.


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