My Mom and Sister Feeding the Dogs

[Greenday]

My mom is much worse though. They are always feeding the dogs human food. I don't care if they are "hungry". I don't care if they like it. Dogs do not belong being given human food. There's no reason our dogs should be given steak or chicken or ham off the table. There's no reason to encourage the dogs when they are on the couch eating off your plate because it's "cute". They are beagles. They will eat almost anything. They will eat until they puke and then keep eating.

There's a reason our first dog is kinda overweight. I get home from Afghanistan and our new dog who was really skinny when we first got her is now chubby. Let's not forget that beagles can be prone to back problems which isn't helped if their owners overfeed them.

Did I mention how we can't eat a meal in peace? Ever? Both dogs will set next to my mom/sister and howl until they give them table scraps. Notice how they don't do it around my stepdad or I. It's because they know who to beg for scraps. When we have parties, we have to take the dogs over to my grandmother's because they will snatch food out of people's hands and will just grab people's plates from them. All habits that are encouraged by my mom and sister giving them human food.

And every time I call them out on it, my sister gives me an attitude like I'm an asshole and my mom has the attitude that she doesn't give a fuck because that's how she's always raised dogs.

[Andara Bledin]

A PSA on the subject by the man who gave us Simon's Cat.

I've never had a fat dog. And if a dog had ever taken food out of somone's hand, they would have gotten a swift reminder that they are not the alpha of the house.

Actually, it really sounds like you have the typical "small dog problem" in that most people give small dogs really confusing signals about their place in the household.
An article on Pack Behavior
More info on how to establish that the humans are the alphas
We never actually follow much of that, as my household is a human pack, not a dog pack, but my family never had issues with the dogs not knowing their place in the pecking order. The "humans eat first, dogs eat after" rule is one of the really important ones.

^-.-^

[BlaqueKatt]

Dogs do not belong being given human food.

unless it's a raw food diet biologically accurate for the animal

There's no reason our dogs should be given steak or chicken or ham off the table.

Agreed, animals should not be fed from the table or at the table, it keeps the humans from being the "alpha members" of the pack.

There's no reason to encourage the dogs when they are on the couch eating off your plate because it's "cute".

It's disgusting, not cute, dogs eat their own feces, and their mouths are LOADED with bacteria harmful to humans. Salmonella and e. coli won't phase a dog, but can kill a human. Dogs can also carry tetanus in their mouths....

When we have parties, we have to take the dogs over to my grandmother's because they will snatch food out of people's hands and will just grab people's plates from them. All habits that are encouraged by my mom and sister giving them human food.

that's actually just bad training. I know several dog owners that will on occasion give their dogs table scraps as a treat. It does reinforce the pecking order as in the wild the alpha, or pack leaders eat first, the rest get scraps. However the scraps are placed only in the animals food dish. You can leave a plate heaped with food on the floor in front of their dogs, leave the room for an hour, and it will not be touched. Heck I give my cats human grade food,(chicken, tuna, cheese, shrimp) they don't beg, and they won't take anything off a plate, they know better, I am the Pride leader, I eat first. I once put their canned food on a plate because I had to wash their dish, they wouldn't touch it, I had to wash and dry their dish and transfer the food over.

[tropicsgoddess]

I'm okay with once in a while spoiling the dog with some human food but indulging them all the time to the point they will BEG for people food or snatch it out from you and/or others when they get the chance is not only ridiculous but bad for the dog no matter the breed.

[blas87]

My parents occasionally make a special dinner (when all 4 of us are together), say ravioli or a full on spagetti, meatballs, breadsticks meal, and they make a small plate for Bear the dog.

She's always gotten tons of treats. She gets scraps at every meal, even if it's just a thin slice of ham or turkey or chicken. I give her pieces of bread to lure her outside to use the restroom if I'm the last person to leave the house and no one will be back for hours.

And she was obese for quite some time. She's finally started losing some weight, but now we're at a problem where it's too hot to walk her very often, so I have been screaming at my parents to NOT feed her scraps or overfeed her dog food.

Now, Tiger the kitten.......he is HORRIBLE. He is WORSE than any dog.

I was watching him at my parents' house Saturday evening (not full on cat-sitting but just making sure he didn't make a mess while my parents were gone, I was in and out of the house and did a few things elsewhere in town) and while I was making a pizza and breadsticks, he was stalking the oven.

When I was eating the breadsticks while the pizza was still cooking, he got up by the table and stuck his little face on my plate.

[insertNameHere]

I'm pretty sure to much people food is how my gf's step mom killed TWO of their cats, sure one has always had health problems, and the other was old. but once cat 1 died, cat 2 started being the one to get scraps and met his end too.

I USED to have my dog trained, I could leave a sandwhich on the coffee table and not worry thanks to my dad always feeding her scraps and the rest of the family off the regular plates she will beg and actually jump up onto a chair and start going at the food if it is left out on a much higher table

[Racket_Man]

my dog is a begger but he has been taught limits. he will sit back and not get in your face so to speak. he will wait patiently for some scraps of fat, cooked meat or scambled eggs (good for the coat so I am told)

he knows NOT to (and does not) go after unattentended plates and stuff in people hands (99.9999% of the time). he knows not to put his paws on the counter and take stuff off the counter like thawing meat or bread or a pot that that has had something yummy in it and needs to be washed.

he does get, on very rare occasions, a cheeseburger as a special treat.. for the most part he gets standard amount of dry dog food once or twice a day.

he does however, have this thing for used Kleenex in the trash can. we are not sure WHY he does this.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Back when we had the family dog, we got her as a rescue dog. Her old owners had taught her to beg from table and had given her nothing to eat but people food. We actually had to pay for the dog's teeth to be fixed, cuz some were loose and two had to be removed cuz they were rotten all the way thru; this was cuz of her old owners' charming habit, apparently, of giving the dog a bowl of icecream.

Dog was six when we got her, so she had had six years of being taught bad habits, being fed at table, being the alpha of the pack. It took us about six months to train her out of these; we fed her after we ate dinner, and if she tried to assert herself (seeing as her old owners had made her think she was boss) we'd tell her off and roll her on her back. She was always sternly told off and sent to her basket or outside if she begged from table, and taken for tons of walks to get her weight down.

Eventually, we were able to start giving her titbits occasionally; ie, a couple of scraps from the Sunday roast, but these were always given to her after we'd eaten dinner, and always put in her bowl. The dog was a lot happier and better adjusted after learning her place (ie, at the bottom!) and we went on to enjoy her company for about ten more years.

So basically, it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks; but before you start training the dog, you need to train your mum and sister. Perhaps you could take the dog to the vet? If a professional tells them off and says that they're damaging the dog's health, perhaps they might listen better.

[MaggieTheCat]

My parents have 2 dogs, a bigger-sized lab mix and a smaller-sized miniature poodle mix. They've had both dogs for about 2 years, since they were puppies. The little girl (the poodle mix) eats nothing but human food. They claimed she was "picky" when she was a puppy and wouldn't eat the dog food they offered her, so to make sure she got food, they gave her bits of their food. Now it's all she eats. If they don't have any leftovers to feed her, my mom has to make her something, like a pan of ground beef and potatoes.

I have told them time and again that it's not healthy for her, but will they listen to me? Noooo. "She won't eat anything else! What are we supposed to do, starve her!?"

When they came to see me earlier this year, they left the dogs at a kennel. They brought "special food" for the poodle for the kennel to feed her, but I don't think the kennel fed her that, they tried to give her regular dog food. She didn't eat much the entire time she was there and lost like 3lbs (which, for a 12 or 14lb dog, is a friggin' lot.) When my parents got home, the people at the kennel told them that they need to work on feeding habits with the little girl. Put the plate of food (dog food) down, leave it down for a few minutes, then pick it up if she doesn't eat it all. Do this twice a day, once in the evening, once in the morning, to get her into a routine.

Of course, my parents didn't listen to a word the kennel folks said. "They don't know what they're talking about."

[Glados]

I dislike this too. I have two dogs and they are both very well trained. My in-laws love to spoil them when they are here. My FIL permits them to jump and sit on his lap (80 lb dogs) as well as both MIL and FIL giving them human food. My dogs have learned that when we have visitors they are free to go nuts and not listen to me or hubby. We have had to start putting them upstairs when we have company to prevent them jumping on our guests and trying to take their food.

[Andara Bledin]

We actually had to pay for the dog's teeth to be fixed, cuz some were loose and two had to be removed cuz they were rotten all the way thru; this was cuz of her old owners' charming habit, apparently, of giving the dog a bowl of icecream.

Actually, that's probably because the dog didn't have anything hard to eat. All that soft food from people's plates does nothing to keep their teeth clean, which is why they need bones or chews of some sort.

We have had to start putting them upstairs when we have company to prevent them jumping on our guests and trying to take their food.

Maybe arrange to have some friends over to help train them out of that behavior? Explain what you plan to do, have them come over, then when they display that behavior, you can assert your alpha status and help them learn that such actions aren't acceptable. And, since your friends will be expecting it, it won't freak them out when you do it.

^-.-^

[Shangri-laschild]

This is something that frustrates me a lot. My best friend's mom lets the dogs beg and she gives them treats at the table. You can't leave any food where they can reach at all. Not to mention way too many treats are given (dog treats and human food). When my best friend was finally able to take his dog back to stay with him, she wouldn't eat for 3 days because his mom had basically trained her that if she didn't eat her food she could get sympathetic treats. I'm pretty sure the treats were supplementing her food completely. She also trained the dog to expect a treat before eating supper. Yeah that's right...the dog got a reward, as a bribe to eat her supper. It's going to be fun training all of the bad habits out of the dog. He tried a lot when he lived with his mom but his mom and brother wouldn't follow the training and so his efforts were basically useless until he could get the dog moved out.

[Sleepwalker]

Man, I feel better about my cats now. Sure, I let them walk on the tables and counter tops, but at least I don't have them trying tos teal food off my plate!

[Boozy]

You can't train cats to not walk on counters and tables anyway. They might avoid it while you're around, but they'll be up there again the second you leave the house.

That's why I don't have cats. They're too difficult to train. They just don't care.