# Is your dog allowed in your dining area during YOUR meals?



## wencit (Jul 15, 2018)

Finley is doing awesome on the potty training front, and we are slowly increasing the amount of area he has access to in the house. Soon this area will include the kitchen/dining room. I'm wondering what to do with him while we eat our meals. My husband is not thrilled with the idea of a dog sitting on the floor by our feet, waiting for the next morsel to drop so that he can act as a doggie vacuum cleaner.

Do you crate/ex-pen your dog while you eat your meals? Did there ever come a point where the dog was allowed in your eating area while you ate? Does the dog still try to eat whatever you drop, or did that stop being an issue?


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## kodiakken (Oct 25, 2018)

Danny just lays on the floor he doesn't really beg or anything. He will eat crumbs that fall on the floor he got that from grandkids being around. We try to remember to send him to the living room to lay down till the meal is done when the kids come over.


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## ShamaMama (Jul 27, 2015)

Shama doesn't beg as she doesn't get human food from the table. She doesn't really pay attention to me when I'm eating. DH frequently puts his hand down to let her lick his fingers when he's done eating. As a result, she tends to sit near him while he eats, but she's not obnoxious. If we were having small children over for a meal with food dropping to the floor, Shama would be in her ex pen. In one of their books, the monks of New Skete show their German Shepherds all lying down at a short distance from the table while the monks are eating. They're well trained dogs.


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

Maybe it depends on your tolerances, too. My Hav is enormously food motivated so he “gazes” at me while I’m eating. It does have a hopeful feeling about it, but he just lays until he’s bored. When we have dinner as a family, most of the time he will sniff around the kitchen to see if he can find something and then flop himself down near us. Usually we feed him at the same time and sometimes he will take a minute to check out the competition but then he’ll go eat his own food. 

However, my husband does BBQ and smoke meat frequently, and sometimes it’s too much for our dog to handle. He’ll lay by the patio door throughout the day because he can smell what’s cooking, and follow my husband when he’s in and out. At dinner, after a long day of anticipation, he’ll sit near the table and try to show everyone “sit,” and “lay,” over and over. If he whimpers, which he does on rare occasions when BBQ is involved but ALWAYS when we have ribs, we ignore him and move him to the sofa in the next room and he stops. The times he has managed to get into the trash can or climb up on the table have all involved ribs so we are extra careful and take everything to the outside trash right after dinner. My husband has a few lean pieces of unseasoned meat but he gets them after dinner when he’s being really good.


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

I had part of my lunch on an end table a couple of weeks ago and he didn’t try to touch it, he just laid ridiculously close to it. After a minute of gazing he closed his eyes, maybe so he could dream about eating it!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

It totally depends on what YOU decide you want. Our dogs are loose while we eat, but they don't get fed from the table. But there is no magic to that, just what we decided we want to do. If you want to crate yours at meal time, that's fine too!


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Willow is allowed to roam. I'm sorry to say my hubby has taught her to beg as he'll give her a little piece of vegie from his plate. I finally gave up trying to train him!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Jackie from Concrete said:


> Willow is allowed to roam. I'm sorry to say my hubby has taught her to beg as he'll give her a little piece of vegie from his plate. I finally gave up trying to train him!


Our guys all get left over veggies, but they know they don't get them until after we finish eating. then they get them in their own dishes.


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## Cassandra (Dec 29, 2015)

No problem for us...Cassie eats at the dining table! Just kidding, although she would probably like to. Someone left their chair pushed out and she hopped up to see if her dinner was ready yet. She hasn’t done this for a long time, but everyone tries to remember to push their chairs back in so she doesn’t have the opportunity. As an almost 4 year old girl, she has better manners these days, although she is a dog at heart. She has always been allowed in dining room when we eat, but isn’t fed from table..everyone knows that is a no-no. Grandkids dropping crumbs is a different matter and she knows to be alert for opportunities when that happens. As they age (grandkids I mean) it happens less frequently...


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

Jackie from Concrete said:


> Willow is allowed to roam. I'm sorry to say my hubby has taught her to beg as he'll give her a little piece of vegie from his plate. I finally gave up trying to train him!


ound::nono::brick::whip::fear::yield::kiss: Havapopis, what are you going to do with them? Can't live with them, can't live without them! Momi has discovered that if you don't feed HavaPopi, behavioral training happens very quickly! :wink2:

I agree 100% with every reply here. We practice all of those things in our house.

Ricky's Popi


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## Vshort (Aug 20, 2018)

Our dog is free while we eat and roams around/under the table a bit in case someone drops crumbs, but we don’t feed her from the table and she does not beg. Sometimes we’ll put a bite of meat in her bowl after we eat.


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

We have a whole pack of Havanese loose when we're eating at the table, or in our chairs. They know not to ask.

Do anything once that is to their benefit, and they'll expect it again.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Here are our dogs while we ate dinner on the deck tonight. Well, you can't see Pixel, because she was lying down under Dave's chair. But she was more or less in the same position!


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## cishepard (Apr 8, 2018)

Tom King said:


> We have a whole pack of Havanese loose when we're eating at the table, or in our chairs. They know not to ask.
> 
> Do anything once that is to their benefit, and they'll expect it again.


So true. My dogs never get fed from our plates but when I bring the dishes to the kitchen for washing up, they each get a pan or plate to lick clean (no food, just drippings). DH and I have gotten into the habit of watching Jeopardy while eating dinner, while the dogs just lay quietly in the same room and I swear, Bingo sits up when he hears the final Jeopardy theme music! His excitement builds as the program ends, and you can just see his little brain thinking "THE LICKING PLATE! THE LICKING PLATE!!". 
Sometimes, if we're not quite finished, we carry on with an Antiques Roadshow episode and the disappointment in the room is palpable.... lol!


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Sounds like my husband is the only one that needs training! And he wonders why she only begs from him! :frusty:


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

Jackie from Concrete said:


> Sounds like my husband is the only one that needs training! And he wonders why she only begs from him! :frusty:


Sounds to me like you did a great job! He doesn't beg from YOU > My son is kind of like your husband, he has occasionally let our dog eat from his plate because he wants to share and he thinks it will make him our Hav's favorite. If he leaves his plate unattended it is immediately noticed and scavenged. I can leave my food completely unattended and he'll just sit by it and wait for me. It's amazing how well they can read and adapt to individuals! He does drink my water sometimes, though, if I leave a glass of ice water unattended on the end table.

My dog is so highly food motivated, he does care if people are eating, but 99% of the time he is quiet and doesn't bother anyone, and the flip side is that I can get him to do anything for a treat. Maybe 97%, is that 1/30 days if we have bbq 1x month? Good enough for me  I get a little overexcited anticipating bbq, too.


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

EvaE1izabeth said:


> Sounds to me like you did a great job! He doesn't beg from YOU > My son is kind of like your husband, he has occasionally let our dog eat from his plate because he wants to share and he thinks it will make him our Hav's favorite. If he leaves his plate unattended it is immediately noticed and scavenged. I can leave my food completely unattended and he'll just sit by it and wait for me.


Well.......I bet if I left my plate with food on it at doggie level, it would look like a clean plate by the time I got back to it!


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

krandall said:


> Here are our dogs while we ate dinner on the deck tonight.


Yep, this pose looks familiar to me. When we sit down to eat, Ricky will take a position next to our chairs and give us the stare down. When we ignore him he will voluntarily do his "roll over" or "sit pretty" tricks to earn something from our plate. We do not reward him under those manipulative circumstances. When we have had enough of his shenanigans, we give him the "down" command and he will assume the position of Karen's charmers in the photo. Ricky will just lay there in disgusted disbelief, refusing to look at us!

Ricky's Popi


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Ricky Ricardo said:


> Yep, this pose looks familiar to me. When we sit down to eat, Ricky will take a position next to our chairs and give us the stare down. When we ignore him he will voluntarily do his "roll over" or "sit pretty" tricks to earn something from our plate. We do not reward him under those manipulative circumstances. When we have had enough of his shenanigans, we give him the "down" command and he will assume the position of Karen's charmers in the photo. Ricky will just lay there in disgusted disbelief, refusing to look at us!
> 
> Ricky's Popi


These guys have just given up. They know we are cold-hearted, horrible parents who are NEVER going to feed them, so they are just going to lie there and slowly die of starvation, just so we can see how cruel we have been.


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

krandall said:


> These guys have just given up. They know we are cold-hearted, horrible parents who are NEVER going to feed them, so they are just going to lie there and slowly die of starvation, just so we can see how cruel we have been.


Ain't that the truth! I'm surprised Ricky hasn't reported us to the Humane Society yet. These poor doggies have such a miserable life!

Ricky's Popi


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## RIstream (Aug 21, 2008)

We have never fed Ollie from our plates and he doesn't beg while we are eating. If we are going to give him something we are sure to do it way from our plates and either put it in his bowl or give it to him where he eats. We don't really give him any table food except some boiled chicken occasionally and fruits and veggies. His favorite fruit is blueberries! He LOVES'EM and would eat them every day! I give him 7-8 every other morning.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

RIstream said:


> We have never fed Ollie from our plates and he doesn't beg while we are eating. If we are going to give him something we are sure to do it way from our plates and either put it in his bowl or give it to him where he eats. We don't really give him any table food except some boiled chicken occasionally and fruits and veggies. His favorite fruit is blueberries! He LOVES'EM and would eat them every day! I give him 7-8 every other morning.


Blueberries are Kodi's absolute favorite things in the world. He thinks it is a HUGE waste of HIS blueberries when we put them in pancakes! LOL! If we are at a trial, and he's getting a little tired, if I whisper to him that "We're working for blueberries, you know!" He perks right back up, as hppy as can be, for the rest of the run! LOL!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Oh, and they do get “people food”, but only steamed veggies, fruits, and lean meat, poultry and eggs. Fish would be in there too, except that Kodi is so terribly allergic that he can’t even lick the remains off another dogs face without reacting. But they NEVER are fed from our plates. Only in their own dishes, after dinner is over.

I do have to say that they are not NEARLY as polite WHILE I am cooking, because I do “happen” to drop veggies to them as I cook. 😉


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## Mikki (May 6, 2018)

Patti roams around the kitchen while we're fixing breakfast,lunch or dinner. She's particularly interested in dinner smells and gently taps the frig door with her paw, then sits and stares at the door for a mini-carrot. Grandkids and daughter are responsible for this. We don't feed her at the table and generally don't give her people scraps. But if we do, we put it in the doggie bowel after eating so she doesn't learn to beg. Patti either lays downs or if the smell is enticing she'll sit and stare up at us. :grin2:

And she's been known to jump on the kitchen table chairs to see what's up there, or flat footed jump 2ft on the kitchen stool, up to the counter top to check out the smells.


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## RedSoxFan (Aug 22, 2017)

What @krandall said is spot on. Our Hava is free to be in the dining room. However, we have Never Evah (as they say in MA) fed our Hava from the table. Therefore, she never begs and she is extremely motivated by food.

The best advice for dog relationships AND people relationships is... "Start the way you plan to continue."


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

I have no idea how this came to be, but our Hav loves blueberries...without skins. That’s right, apparently a blueberry does have a skin that DD now loyally removes for our dog when she’s in a doting mood. At some point he figured out how to do it himself and I occasionally find empty blueberry skins on the floor. I’ve never actually seen him do it but I think it must be so much work! DD says he just chews it up and spits out the skin, but I think that has to involve a lot of concentration and coordination. 

Snap peas are his absolute favorite, and once in a while he’ll do the same thing, eat the peas in the middle and leave the pod. But with peas he always goes back for the pod once he’s eaten the prize.


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## RIstream (Aug 21, 2008)

krandall said:


> Blueberries are Kodi's absolute favorite things in the world. He thinks it is a HUGE waste of HIS blueberries when we put them in pancakes! LOL! If we are at a trial, and he's getting a little tired, if I whisper to him that "We're working for blueberries, you know!" He perks right back up, as hppy as can be, for the rest of the run! LOL!


That's so funny that Kodi loves blueberries too. I read that they are good for doggies as long as you don't give them too many. Too many could lead to loose stools so I try not to give him a lot but he LOVES them . And yes, while cooking, Ollie gets in his down on the rug in front of the range :grin2:


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## Mikki (May 6, 2018)

Oh! how could I forget. Patti's favorite thing is cleaning the food dishes. She sits on the dishwasher door and licks the plates and spoons.


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## Marni (Apr 1, 2017)

While I prepare human plates in the kitchen I give blueberries from salad or a bit of fish. It makes for enthusiastic canine sous chefs, though it will be a while before I trust them with knives. :surprise:


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## Barbara Levy (Apr 22, 2016)

We do a lot of the same things mentioned in these posts. Loki has never been fed from out plates so he doesn't beg. When we eat in the family room, he can sit on the sofa with me and not try to get to my plate. I usually feed him at the same time we eat and will add whatever veggies we are having to his bowl. His favorites are broccoli, roasted carrots and zucchini and yellow squash. He sometimes will jump up on the sofa and look at me, when I tell him I have nothing for him and to go eat his food, he usually jumps down and goes to his bowl. He just has to make sure something hasn't changed and I am suddenly going to feed him from plate. 

DH will give him little pieces of cheese so every time DH goes to the refrigerator Loki goes too. But not with me because I don't feed him from the fridge. 

He does usually goes outside when I start cooking - I don't think he likes the exhaust fan! But when I make eggs on the weekends, he goes nuts. He knows when I crack the eggs. He always gets an egg with a little cheese. Spoiled pup!

If we do eat in our dining room, or at friends, or he goes out to eat with us, he just lays under my chair. I think he is mostly happy to be with me.


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## Mikki (May 6, 2018)

/Users/macbookpro-2/Desktop/Patti Dinner Table.JPG


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## ShamaMama (Jul 27, 2015)

Can't see your photo, Mikki . . .


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## Mikki (May 6, 2018)

ShamaMama said:


> Can't see your photo, Mikki . . .


I don't know how? :crying:


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## Marni (Apr 1, 2017)

Mikki said:


> I don't know how? :crying:


 My Mac makes things difficult. I have the best luck with pictures saved on my MacBook mini (which is a disaster for any other use). Try saving pictures where you download and export. Send them to yourself as email attachments first.


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## Mikki (May 6, 2018)

Will try again to post a photo inside the Message Board. I looked up Facebook photo sizes which is 820 x320 pixels and 72dpi for WEB viewing, figuring FB sizing would work here. This photo is sized at 820x680 pixels and 72dpi (dots per inch). The first photo I tried to upload was a much larger photo. It worked this time.

Patti jumped up on the kitchen chair to check out what daughter was eating. Yum! Patti would like to give it a taste. Daughter is Vegan and I doubt her highly seasoned beans and veggies would be something Patti would be interested after the first lick. It's Not safe to leave food on the kitchen table.


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

*human food*



krandall said:


> Oh, and they do get "people food", but only steamed veggies, fruits, and lean meat, poultry and eggs. Fish would be in there too, except that Kodi is so terribly allergic that he can't even lick the remains off another dogs face without reacting. But they NEVER are fed from our plates. Only in their own dishes, after dinner is over.
> 
> I do have to say that they are not NEARLY as polite WHILE I am cooking, because I do "happen" to drop veggies to them as I cook. &#128521;


Perry does not beg, but when he sees me carrying a plate into the living room he gets very excited and hopeful. Since we usually eat on the couch, he does jump up and sits beside me and looks at the plate eagerly, but lies down as soon as I tell him to and doesn't try to get to it. He is a very smell oriented dog though and so he really really wants to smell the plate before I start eating  He doesn't try to touch anything on it, but he does get his nose pretty close! I do occasionally give him something off my plate, but NOT if he's begging for it, so he knows to lie there quietly. If we're sitting at the table and eating he knows to lie down beside it and not beg for anything - though he will get something at the end of the meal.

Karen - I do the same in the kitchen, cooking is also Perry veggie time (red peppers especially, snow peas are a favorite, but even zucchini will do if there's nothing else)... but even if I give it to him somewhere else in the kitchen, he knows to take it over to his mat to eat it.


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

*veg*



Mikki said:


> Will try again to post a photo inside the Message Board. I looked up Facebook photo sizes which is 820 x320 pixels and 72dpi for WEB viewing, figuring FB sizing would work here. This photo is sized at 820x680 pixels and 72dpi (dots per inch). The first photo I tried to upload was a much larger photo. It worked this time.
> 
> Patti jumped up on the kitchen chair to check out what daughter was eating. Yum! Patti would like to give it a taste. Daughter is Vegan and I doubt her highly seasoned beans and veggies would be something Patti would be interested after the first lick. It's Not safe to leave food on the kitchen table.


I'm vegetarian and Perry loves my food  (though he usually gets some of it before the seasoning is added)


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

Melissa Brill said:


> He is a very smell oriented dog though and so he really really wants to smell the plate before I start eating  He doesn't try to touch anything on it, but he does get his nose pretty close!


Mine does this too! Like you said, he knows not to touch, but sometimes I think just laying next to me and smelling the food makes him happy! We were picking up take-out the other day and DS was just holding him in the back because it's less than a minute from our house. He laid his head next to the bags, sniffed them, and closed his eyes like he was dreaming. When we got home a minute later, he hopped right out of the car, ran inside, and did "sit" for everyone individually. He didn't get anything but "good boy" so then he laid nicely until we were finished eating and he got a little treat.


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## Mikki (May 6, 2018)

Melissa Brill said:


> I'm vegetarian and Perry loves my food  (though he usually gets some of it before the seasoning is added)


I'm, also, vegetarian but VEGAN is a whole lot different than vegetarian. Something I've come to learn living with one. No oils. No cheese. No eggs. No meat of any kind. No dairy. No animal by products of any kind. My kitchen is full of smells, I've never smelled and the cupboard is full of spices I've heard of. Many of which are hotter! than Hell! >

And, both daughter's Golden-doodle and my Havi loves the raw veggies and fruits she gives them.


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