Oh, those big brown eyes! Or the big black eyes that you could get lost in! When they look at you longingly begging for a bite while you are eating, how can you resist? Should you resist? Wait, what?? Don’t you have to teach them not to beg?
The answer is, of course, it’s entirely up to you. Your house, your rules. But, you can control when and where your Chihuahua is allowed to ask for food. Some people think that if you give your Chihuahua people food he/she will develop a taste for it and will beg for it from then on. This is not true. For one thing, giving your Chihuahua healthy people food is a good thing. Feeding your Chihuahua people food is not how he/she becomes a little beggar.
How a Beggar is Born!
We’ll start at the beginning. Here is a scene that may be familiar; You are sitting at the table eating your lunch. Your Chihuahua comes up and starts whining. You ignore it. He begins to whine louder and paw at your leg. He gets pretty persistent. Finally, you just can’t resist those big brown/black eyes pleading with you. You think, well, maybe she/he is hungry (even though he had his usual amount at the usual time earlier).
What you do then will determine whether your Chihuahua becomes a beggar. 1. You look down and say, “okay, just this one time. Okay? Only once.” Then you give him/her a piece of your turkey sandwich. OR 2. You “firmly say, no!”. You then either completely ignore all his efforts to coerce you into giving in or you walk him to a bed, rug, or somewhere away from the table and say, “stay”, also firmly.
I think it is pretty obvious which reaction is the correct one if you do not want your Chihuahua to beg for food from that time on.
What you reinforce will become a behavior, whether a good one or a bad one. In scene 1, by giving in you unknowingly reinforced that behavior. Food is a good reinforcer or reward. If you reward a behavior your Chihuahua will repeat it, hoping for more food.
The Key to Prevent Begging
Understanding that reinforcing a behavior (or not reinforcing) is key to preventing and stopping any unwanted behavior. To put it simply, if you don’t want your Chihuahua to beg at the table, then don’t ever (not even once) feed him from the table. If you don’t want your Chihuahua to beg for food when you are in the kitchen, then don’t ever give him food when you are in the kitchen. Why?
Because your Chihuahua will figure out that there is no benefit to hanging out in the kitchen or at the table.
TIP: Make sure that everyone in the family understand this and is on the same page!
Just This Once?
Dogs do not understand the concept, “just once”. If everyone in the family is on the same page, your Chihuahua will better understand what is expected of him. You all have to agree to the house “rules” and then stick to them, period. Here’s a guide
- If you don’t want your Chi to ever eat people food, don’t ever give him any. (although some fruits and vegetables are really very good for your Chi to eat, just make sure it’s not one that is toxic to dogs).
- If you don’t want your Chihuahua to beg for food at the table, don’t give him any food while he is next to the table … ever. (not even his own food).
- If you don’t want your Chi in the kitchen while you are cooking, don’t give him any food while he is in the kitchen, ever. Instead, decide where it is okay for your Chihuahua to eat and reward him for being in that spot.
- While teaching him this new rule, decide where it is okay for him to be while you are eating at the table or when you’re in the kitchen and give him something to do while he is there. Make it a fun place to be with his favorite toy or a treat-dispensing toy.
- If your Chihuahua already is a beggar and you want to correct the behavior, restrict his ability to beg. Do this by using a crate, a tether, a baby gate, or in another room, whatever you are comfortable with, while you are eating or cooking. Again, give him something to do while waiting. This is until he learns the new rule.
- If you decide that you do want to share your food, decide where you want him to eat that is close to the table or kitchen and toss the food to him there. You can reinforce this by going to him and rewarding him whenever you catch him in that place.
Tossing him food is okay, as long as he is in the designated place when you do. If trying to correct his begging, don’t toss him food to move him away from the table or the kitchen. Why? Because you would be rewarding (reinforcing) the wrong behavior.