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Permalink Reply by Julie on May 7, 2009 at 4:24pm

Have you tried teaching her the "place" command?

http://www.lcph.us/placecommand.html

Caleb and I are working on the place command right now. Caleb staring at me while I eat doesn't bother me (as long as he's silent), but greeting new people when they come to the front door can be a little exciting, so we're using the place command for that.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah C. on May 8, 2009 at 12:30pm

This is a great idea. Another spin on it is to instead of having a place, have a place she CANT be when you're eating. Like say, when we're eating in the kitchen, she can't be on the kitchen tile, which puts her a good 4 feet away. When we're sitting in the living room, she can't be on the inside of the ring of chairs and couches. Since my command in it is "We're eating." now when I eat anywhere she goes a respectful distance away. She still watches, but not with boring eyes from 2 inches from your leg.

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on May 7, 2009 at 6:16pm

This is a subject my husband and I don't agree on. He insists on being able to give them some of his food. At least I have gotten him to keep the amount very small. So I have dogs that stare too. I won't allow barking, whining ,or jumping while we are eating but they stare. Unfortunately Sparty also drools! Not dainty little drools but great big bubbly gobs! It is disgusting! If it was up to me they would have a place to go to at meals and they would not receive table scraps but this is the price I pay for having 3 dogs when if it was up to my husband we would probably not have any! So good luck with the begging! They really don't stare at me much when I eat.

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Permalink Reply by Boo Buchheit on May 8, 2009 at 10:06am

Leo will watch me eat and smack his lips (lick his chops loudly) but does not whine or jump up. He doesn't get involved when I am cooking however. Randy has no interest at all in my food yet.

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Permalink Reply by Patty & Frodo and Crystal CWCs on May 14, 2009 at 10:57am

I crated Frodo when we ate, at first, since he did stare and whine a bit. (I think his breeder spoiled the pups!) I hate begging dogs or cats. After a couple of weeks he got to be out while we ate .. but if he begged, he got put in the crate again. Gently, no scolding, I didn't want to make the crate a place of punishment, but simply an indicator that standing over us was not allowed. Eventually he learned that we didn't like begging, and the fact that he NEVER EVER got food helped too; the behavior faded. Now he pays no attention to us eating, but he WILL beg when the cats get treats ;) That's ok though, that's something I allow. I make him AND the cats do tricks for treats :)

Never ever giving him human food also helped in the kitchen. Same thing, eventually he stopped even trying.Now, if we drop something while cooking, he looks at us first in confusion, and we pick it up without comment. Sometimes we'll even go give him a treat afterward for being good.

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Karen on May 14, 2009 at 1:36pm

You could try body blocking her and making her back up that way. Then establish where you would like to stay when you are fixing food or eating. Use the command back for this as you body block her. Body blocking is using you body to make her back up, just walk toward her and she should more backwards from you.
When I was fixing food or eating we crated our corgi pup as I had read what notorious beggers they are. Now she is out when we are eating or cooking but as she knows that food doesn't come from our table for her so she doesn't beg
To see examples of body blosking you Victoria Stillwell does it very well on her show It's Me or the Dog. It's on Animal Planet every morning.

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