In the past week Jessie has started jumping up at the table and at 2 mealtimes now has managed to take food off a child. Whilst the look of total indignation on my 4 year old's face was sort of funny as she raced off with his cheese sandwich, I really really don't want her to continue to do this. I know I could crate her, and I do, but my kids are slow eaters, so she is potentially in there for a while and often crated again after as we go on the school run or I put them to bed. Most days I try and do some training to sit and stay whilst they are eating, but the minute I stop she is at the table again. Does anyone have any thought on this? I did think maybe giving her a kong, but she gets other Kongs during the day when she is left and lots of training treats and I worry about over feeding her!
Train your dog to lie quietly on a mat during mealtimes. Because she is still very young, and won't be able to manage to stay on a mat for the whole time, you can either just do a couple of minutes, then put her in her crate, or have the mat at the side of your chair, your dog on a shortish lead (not too short but short enough so she can't be a pest), tie the lead to your chair, and ignore her. If/when she settles, give her a treat on the mat (try to do that in a way that doesn't disturb her, which is difficult tbh ).
Oh, the lead is a great idea, I will give that a go. I haven't yet started to train her to lie on the mat, I was trying sit for a while and then putting her into her crate. We start a puppy class on Saturday and I am hoping we will start 'lie down' there. I guess it is just trial and error!
Keep what you ask her to do short, she is still a baby. The first time she settles on her mat, perhaps get up, reward her and give her a kong. Or even start with giving her a kong. Staying still is a lot to ask of a small puppy.
If your puppy is kibble fed make her some Kongs from her food allowance. Soak the kibble in hot (boiled water that has cooled down a bit), fill the Kong and freeze them. That way you won't be giving extra food. I put my thumb over the small hole, fill the kong then wrap in cling film to freeze them.
