How to stop your dog from food stealing

You leave some food on the counter while you finish preparing dinner and in an instant, your pooch has somehow scoffed down anything within reach. If you’ve ever been in the company of a food thief, you will know what a nuisance it can be.

If your dog stalks and steals food it can be a serious source of frustration, particularly when you have guests or children around.

Stealing food is an instinctual behaviour for dogs because they are scavengers by nature. Taking the opportunity to eat unguarded food is how they survived.

The good news is there are ways to change this behaviour, you can train them to leave food alone by replacing the excited emotional state they feel when they see food, with a calm and submissive one.

1.    Teach your dog the ‘Leave It’ command

Teaching your dog to ‘leave it’ (particularly if you catch him in the act) will snap them out of their excited state and concentrate on your commands.

2.    Teach your dog to lie down

Before you begin cooking or eating, get your dog to lie down and reward them with a tasty treat. Do this every time you prepare food until they associate lying down with being rewarded.

3.    Remain disciplined 

Once they have been trained not to steal food, you need to remain disciplined and ensure no family members are feeding them scraps off their plate or from the kitchen counter. This will reverse all of the good work you have done.

You should also remove all temptations, particularly when you’re not home.

·        Don’t leave food on the counter or bench

·        Clean the counter and dining table after each meal so there are no delicious leftovers for them to mop up

·        Remove access to the rubbish bin if your dog is a known dumpster diver.