OK, so I'm eating pizza for lunch, and I'm feeling guilty b/c I've been neglecting my poor pup for a couple days due to being sick (me, not him). Right now he's running around getting attention and exercise, (if you can call it that) in the kitchen. So anyway, I start thinking - cheese is ok for dogs in small amounts, meat is definitely ok for dogs, a little crust never hurt anybody.....so, I give him a "down" command, which he obeys, and reward him w/a small piece of pizza.

Holy crap - the dog won't leave me alone now! What have I done??? LOL! Let this be a lesson to all of you......

 Quote: Kori Bigge

Holy crap - the dog won't leave me alone now! What have I done??? LOL! Let this be a lesson to all of you......

Subconsciously, you knew that's what would happen but your mothering/spoiling instincts got the best of you... this is why I have NEVER allowed Oscar even ONE PAW on ANY of our furniture...

~Natalya

I had to put the fear of god into my BF, who single-handedly turned 2 of my cats into chowhounds due to this kind of thing He's wised up and is leaving the dog alone.

Ugh, there is nothing worse than a nosy, begging dog or cat.

hahahahahaha - I did the same thing just last night. Wait til it comes out of the little turkey.

Yikes, Frank! I have to admit, I hadn't thought that far ahead....LMAO

Hah, Kori just teach him the "off" command.

I share table scraps at just about every meal with the dogs. In fact I'll call them over to feed 'em stuff as I'm eating (yes, as I'm eating, shoot me! lol).

I just don't tolerate begging or sticking around once I'm done giving them their scrap and I say "off".

It's not even that much of a training issue; if you have good pack structure in place and you have a "I'm eating, don't disturb" attitude the dog should know to stay back.

I correct my dogs (even as puppies) as hard as needed if they get in my face while I'm eating. Look at how a pup's mother corrects her babies when they try to steal her food. She's not the least bit subtle about it

If I have something for them I call them BY NAME (if a dog whose name I didn't call comes over they get corrected) to give them a morsel. Even then, they are to sit politely and wait to be fed - if they try to stick their nose into the place, they get corrected.

All it takes is a whispered (or sometimes growled) OFF for them to retreat to a more respectful distance.

So far it's always worked for me, maybe you can try too... just be firm about it, dogs don't nag at eachother when guarding a meal, they're pretty forceful about it. Try to mimic that, good luck

How did you train your Off, yuko?

I feed my dog some scraps.. but she knows very well not to disturb me while I eat. She only gets her little treat if she behaves nicely, doesn't push me to get to anything, doesn't lay the sad eyes on me, doesn't touch me. She can sit by me, but she can't stare at me while I'm eating.

I can't help my parent's chihuahua from begging at me, she'll jump onto my pant leg and let me know she wants something, but I just push her away. I can't break her of the habit, since they won't stop her from doing it, so I don't bother.

My dog defiantly knows how I feel about the situation, though.

My dogs look really cute sitting at the table staring at me waiting for scraps.

 Quote: David Eagle

How did you train your Off, yuko?

Say it like you mean it and shove the dog/pup out of the way if he doesn't back down.

If that doesn't work, just raise the correction level to something that they respect.

As I said, I don't really see this as a training issue, it's more of a pack structure issue.

When low-ranking dog gets in pack leader's face while pack leader is eating, low-ranking dog gets his butt kicked by pack leader.

This isn't like teaching the sit. Dogs instinctively know to stay back when a higher ranking pack member is eating. If they push you on this issue, they are pretty much challenging your rank and you shouldn't tolerate it.

(PS: rank stuff like that is really easy for dogs to understand. You should get it through their heads after 1 or 2 sufficient corrections, assuming that you already have a proper pack structure in place )