Has your dog developed a naughty habit of stealing food from the table? Perhaps your puppy sees unattended food as fair game? In this blog, we will discuss how to stop your dog from stealing food from the table, including corrections that use positive reinforcement techniques to reward good behavior with treats and praise.
Stealing food from the table can be self rewarding
Unfortunately, stealing food is a self rewarding behavior, since your puppy gets a delicious meal every time they grab food from the table. This makes it more likely that your puppy will continue to grab food off the table or counter.
Fortunately, this behavior can be addressed encouraging more positive behaviors during training sessions. Let’s explain how we can correct this behavior through training.
Correcting this behavior through training
You can teach your dog commands incompatible commands that help prevent your dog from with jumping up to steal food from the table. It’s important to reward your dog with praise and treats for doing these commands. After all, by rewarding your dog for behavior that doesn’t involve jumping on the table, they are more likely to choose this behavior in the future.
As a training exercise, you can encourage incompatible behaviors, including “place”, “down”, and “wait”. This can include performing this training exercise through the following steps:
- Put some highly valued food on the table. This food should be large enough that your dog can’t swallow it in one bite.
- If your dog goes towards the table but does not jump up, or performs another behavior such as sitting or lying down, praise your dog and give them a treat.
- By rewarding your dog for displaying good behavior, you are discouraging them from stealing food.
- If your dog jumps up on the table and tries to steal the food, you should clap your hands and give them a verbal reprimand such as “no”.
- You can then let your dog try again and repeat the correction if they try to steal from the table.
You should repeat the training session daily to help reinforce better behaviors.
You can transfer these positive behaviors when exploring Tampa Bay together.
These corrections can help teach your puppy to be better behaved when having a meal at one of Tampa Bay’s dog friendly restaurants.
Practicing these training exercises at home can help your puppy learn positive behaviors that transfer well to outdoor patios at Buddy Brew Cafe, Trip’s Diner or another dog friendly restaurant in Tampa Bay. Having your puppy in the “place,” “down,” and “wait” command will help prevent food theft, making dining out a more enjoyable experience for both you and your dog.
We are here to help
Would you like help with teaching your dog not to steal food from the table? Or looking for dog obedience training, manners, and treating any problem behaviors such as resource guarding or touch sensitivity?
Beyond the Dog Tampa Bay offers personalized one-on-one training sessions, including training at your home and local Tampa neighborhood, board-and-train programs, and virtual training programs. You can schedule a free consultation with our Pet Behavior Team to receive a personalized recommendation on your training goals and any questions you may have
We use scientifically proven training methods, backed by over 20 years of hands-on experience. Beyond the Dog Tampa Bay is led by our co-founders, Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage, a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) and Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and Sean Savage, a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA).
