Is A Dog Begging For Food Bad?

Dog Behavior – Begging for Food and Attention is a Bad Idea

Unless they are trained not to do so, most dogs will form the natural habit of begging for both attention and food. Some dog owners except this behavior and think it’s cute, but most people get annoyed very quickly when their dog starts to beg every time he wants love, attention, and especially when he smells something tasty cooking in the house.

What is wrong with begging you might ask?

Begging in simplicity is form of demand. You have to remember that your family and household are a pack with you as the top dog in charge of it all. There is a specific hierarchy to the whole unit. When you allow your dog to beg, you allow him to have a form of control within the pack and while it may seem cute and adorable, it can eventually lead to aggression and a challenge for leadership of the pack.

Just how aggressive can a dog possibly become?

If you do not think that your dog could ever possibly bite your hand because he expects you to give him food every time he begs, think again. For years a friend of mine would hand feed his puppy pieces of food at any time of the day he was eating. If it were breakfast, his dog would get a two pieces of bacon. At lunch time my friend would hand feed his dog a few bites of his sandwich. The same went for dinner.

A dog who is given a bit of scraps at ever single meal assumes a dominant role, this control that you give him in his mind shows that he is the dominant one while you are the submissive one and will give into his demands. As the dog grows and becomes larger, this behavior and control continues until the point in which the dog is capable of challenging for leadership. One day if you decide not to give the dog anything at all, maybe it is because you are not in a good mood, the dog will start with his simple begging routine, then on to barking and growling until finally he will choose to take the food whether or not you have given it to him.

Eliminate the begging through training.

The above example may seem a bit extreme and you still probably could never imagine you’re adorable dog biting you in the attempt to get food that he was expecting. However, the problem is real and you must start early in your puppy’s life with instilling the rules when it comes to begging.

During your meals, you need to train your dog to sit and stay in a specific area when the family is eating. This may take some time but eventually he will remain in a sit position until after your dinner is over and then of course you should praise his actions by offering him up a nice hot meal that he can eat in his own food bowl, and only after everybody else is finished eating.

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