Most dogs seem to have the begging habit where they beg for attention, love and food and continue to do so until they are taught not to beg. Some owners find this behavior cute while others blow up easily whenever the dog begs and especially when they can see and smell delicious food.
Is it wrong for a dog to beg?
The dog may look cute while begging, but it is not good to encourage the begging for it is actually a demanding or aggressive behavior in disguise. Besides, it helps the dog to slowly gain control over the pack which is the family here. The dog sees itself as a member of the family pack. Hence, it may look amusing to see your dog rolling over its back and expecting you to rub its belly whenever it sees you or it may look painful to see the dog looking sadly at you, while you are eating but this behavior can become hostile and aggressive.
How much hostile can the dog become?
If you have an impression that your dog will not bite your hand if you refuse to give a small food morsel every time it begs, you can be wrong. As in the case of a person, who always fed the puppy something by hand at the time of eating be it pieces of bread at breakfast or sandwiches at lunch or bacon at dinner time. It was a routine done daily.
With the passing months, the puppy grew up into a dog and larger too. As it is the person did not expect that the dog would develop a dominant leadership by feeding it whenever it begged, but later on realized the gravity of the situation after a painful and shocking incident. Once, the person decided not to feed the dog as usual during the meals and ignored its pleas and whines. The dog became aggressive and barked ferociously. Then, suddenly without warning the dog jumped at the persons plate and snatched the food along with a piece of the persons finger. This was unexpected but it happened.
Proper training can make the dog stop begging
The above incident may look far fetched, but it shows what a dog can resort to if it does not get what it wants. Hence, this is a serious problem and needs to be looked into and checked as early as possible. The dog needs to be trained on the rules of begging.
Therefore during the meal times, train your pet dog to quietly sit and wait in another separate area while the family eats their food. It should not neither come near the table nor beg for food. This will take time but slowly the dog shall learn to sit at one place until the end of the meal. After the end of the meal and when everyone has had their fill, you can give the dog its meal in its own food bowl. Also remember to praise your dog for following the rules.
