Larks (13 weeks on Friday) is driving me mad with her barking every time I try to make/eat my dinner! I have never given her food while I am preparing or anything off of my plate while I am eating. For now I have just been completely ignoring it and treating/praising as soon as she gets calm and lays down, but is there anything else I should do?
For your food preparation follow the advice about 'attention barking' on the main site. If she barks during her own food preparation step away from the dinner preparation area, without comment, when she's barking, step back when she stops. Keep it up however long it takes. Continue to treat for calm/relaxed. In a week or so the barking will have stopped. Twiglet did this and it took a while to train her to stop, but she did. It also helps to get her to wait once her own food is on the ground, then give a 'take it' cue (or whistle). At first you need to hold the collar and make it only a few seconds. Once she's doing it we'll get her to wait, vary it up to 15 seconds max.
I have a "no dogs in the kitchen" policy while I'm prepping food. There's no door, so I have had to train it rather than using a gate or similar. I did this by, at first having a piece of vet bed at the threshold (it goes from wooden to tile floor there, so a clear demarkation for them). I'd pop them on the bed and do lots of clicking for staying there, so they got the idea. Then, I'd start prepping and treating them intermittently for staying on the vet bed. At first, this was every few seconds, and it took a long time to get any cooking done! But, I spread it out as time went on. If they wandered off away, that was fine and I didn't bother them, but if they stepped into the kitchen, I'd put my knife down, stand stock still and look into the distance, completely ignoring them. They learnt that, if they came in, then they get nothing at all. If they stay out, they get a lovely tasty treat from time to time. I now no longer need the vet bed; they just know the line they're not to cross. It's still a challenge for Shadow on occasion, and he can't help but come in. As soon as I stop, he bounces backwards to where he should be again. Willow just sits there, drooling. She's funny, though, because I find, the higher value the thing is I'm prepping, the farther back she sits. Sometimes, she's actually around the corner in the living room and I can't see her - but she's sat there, staring through the wall at me, making two little drool-puddles by her feet
I always make her wait for her own dinner. She doesn't bark while I do that and I do make her sit and wait to get her food. The barking is only when I am making/eating my own dinner, so I'll try the attention barking post! Thank you.
She probably doesn't bark when you're making her dinner because you have established a pattern or system: she knows what her role is (sit and wait) and she knows that a reward is coming for doing it (dinner). If you 'give her something to do' (wait on a mat or behind a line) while you make your dinner, and then reward that, that will work in the same way.
Our house is tiny and open plan so there's no getting away from the kitchen -- it is the centre of the house and where we spend all our time. Snowie lies on his bed and stares at us while we cook. We say he's "watching the cooking channel". We often take him bits of food to his bed -- he lies there like an emperor!
Ha ha Coco will come and sit between me and the counter while I'm prepping, without fail. He's not really causing any trouble so I allow it. I suppose it doesn't look very good, but I don't prepare food in front of an audience so no matter. His dinner bowl is just next to me too.
