[FirstOwnerofLucy]

Hello all

Alright so.. Lucy does fine at her own meals, sits and waits patiently, eats when told to.
Then, when the humans eat, she jumps up on the table, licks crumbs off the surface, and doesn't listen to a word? How should I approach this?
Don't want company thinking she's an awful dog :/.. She also likes jumping up on new people...
She's started to improve on walks, sticking together more etc. but when she sees a human, it's the end...
she'll try anything possible to go meet her "new friend" :doh: Advice?

 

[Bentley's Mom]

Have you tried feeding her when you sit down to dinner? Bentley never jumped on the table but when we eat we completely ignore him, no eye contact, no talking. He usually lays VERY close though in case something should happen to jump off the table. As for the walks I can't give any advice, as soon as the leash comes out his hearing stops working.

 

[Deb_Bayne]

Bayne is crated during our meal times, occasionally we will eat with him on the loose and we say NO and he'll stare at us for a bit then wander away. Do you feed Lucy your food at any time? If so, you are telling her that your food is her food too. We never share our food with Bayne so he doesn't make the association that our food is his too.

 

[nolefan]

My last golden, Duncan, learned "place". During all meals, he was sent to his "place" a mat several feet away from the kitchen table and that is where he stayed until released. He learned this before he was a year old. It is an excellent command that comes in handy whenever he needs to be out from under foot.

My current puppy hasn't learned 'place' yet and so he is crated during sit down meals so he doesn't learn bad habits. You will be amazed at how quickly a smart golden will learn 'place.'

 

[BriGuy]

As nolefan said, teaching a place command is really one of the best things you can do. It comes in handy whenever you want Lucy out from underfoot.

In the mean time, if you don't want to crate Lucy, you can make a short tether to keep her near you while eating, but not allow her to jump up on the table. When Cookie was a puppy, I made one by drilling a hole in a tennis ball, and tying a short tie out to that. Then the tennis ball can be slipped under any door to hold the tether. This is also handy when visiting people, so your dog can hang out but not be able jump up on the table.

Jumping up and scoring food on the table is a huge win, and it doesn't take many of these jackpots to make dogs keep trying.

 

[wmag]

OMG I had a horrible time getting my pup to stop jumping on the table! She would jump up and try to grab everybody's food. I tried feeding her at the same time but of course she eats alot faster than us so it didn't last long enough. Then I tried putting her in her crate but then I had to watch her every second because she would poop everytime I put her in there. She didn't do this when we went out only when we were home. Now I make her sit by me and I feed her green beans. I am the only one that feeds her because I don't want her walking around the table. This way I know where she is at all times! If she stands up she doesn't get anything I only give it to her when she sits. This actually worked for us. She does not move from her spot until I get up and take my plate to the sink. She is 6 and a half months old now and it has been a couple months since she has jumped up. She will still steal food off the table if we are not sitting there but I learned not to put anything where she can get it. I didn't want to feed her when we were eating but I also wanted to be able to eat dinner in peace!

 

[Rainheart]

I taught Beamer a 'mat' command where he sits and doesn't move while we all eat. It is either is bed or a small mat by the back door. He can still see us, but he has to stay in that one place. It works pretty well for us.

 

[fostermom]

I am training a 4 month old puppy in my home right now and she is extremely food motivated. I was able to teach her the very first night "out of the kitchen". We don't allow the dogs in the kitchen while we are eating. It takes a lot of follow through, you can't just give up halfway through or your pup will get confused. I had to get up about 10 times and tell her "out of the kitchen" (while pointing in the direction I wanted her to go in) and as soon as she left the kitchen and sat at the doorway, I would praise her. The second half of my dinner I didn't have to get up at all.

 

[Sunrise]

Until my dogs learn settle, they are crated while I eat. They do learn settle fairly quickly and then part of the proofing process is my eating at the table, then on a chair and finally working sitting on the ground. The funniest is usually in the car, since somehow they each think the rules do not apply - I plan a ballistic moment for this one - where I yank my hand away and exclaim in complete surprise, 'What ARE YOU THINKING? Have you forgotten your manners - You go settle' or similar. At this point I consider the training complete - they will settle while I eat LOL A priceless moment for which I plan on having a slice of pizza - the looks on their faces is precious LOL

And I can (and do) feed scraps from the table where they all line up once released from their settles - they usually get about 1/2 my breakfast (cube steak or almonds) this way. But, they need to wait to be invited and keep those butts planted.