Teaching Your Dog Table Manners
Does your dog gobble his food down before you’re able to put his food bowl on the ground? Check out our tips and video focused on teaching dogs to wait for meals. Polite behavior is a good thing!
Why Does This Happen?
When you’re hungry, you’ll inhale your meal the moment the plate hits the table. Dogs are the same way plus they never read the pet parent guide for polite dog manners so let’s teach them. If your dog is a resource guarder, meaning he guards his food bowl, then teaching him to wait for meals is a huge plus. Not only is teaching dogs to wait for meals polite behavior, it also teaches hyper dogs how to calm themselves.
How to Teach Your Dog Table Manners
It’s pretty simple to teach. All you need is a food bowl with a few treats in it and your dog. Remember: When your dog tries to mug the food bowl, it goes away. When he waits, he’s rewarded with the bowl on the floor with treats.
- Lower the food bowl slowly toward the ground. If your dog tries to get the treats, pick the bowl up so he can’t get the treats.
- Try again and lower the bowl again. Same boundaries apply. If your dog mugs the food bowl, it goes away.
- You’ll notice your dog sitting or lying down. This is not required, but he may choose to perform these behaviors instead. He’s trying to figure out what will make the food bowl lower. Plus, “sit” and “down” keep your dog’s nose out of the bowl so it’s a win-win.
- Now, you can ask your dog to “sit” or “down” before lowering the food bowl. It’s up to you. Personally, I prefer the appearance of the food bowl as the cue for polite meal behavior.
- Practice each meal and make sure the entire family is on board. Consistency is important.
Check out this video, which demonstrates how to teach Sobek, my Rottweiler, polite meal behavior. You’ll notice him hopping when I pick up the food bowl. He’s getting a tad frustrated and hence the hopping. This is the first time I taught him this behavior.
VIDEO: Teaching Dogs to Wait for Meals
READ ALSO: Keep Your Dog From Pulling
please could you explain how to obtain the same result , but feeding 4 dogs at the same time.
They are labs.
thanka a lot
debbie
Hey Debbie! Practice with one dog at a time, until he or she learns to wait for the food bowl. If your dogs get along at the food bowls (no resource guarding), as you’re placing bowls down (one at a time), play the same game until all four dogs are waiting politely. Keep the other three dogs in another room or outside, until it’s their turn to practice. Sometimes, one dog needs a refreshers (it happens!), so practice a bit more with him or her, and then add back to the group. By teaching each dog individually, the group process will go sooooooo much smoother. 🙂 If any dogs resource guard (guards food), separate them with barriers and practice individually. Hope this helps!