[Alolkoy]

We have had Norman the pug for about two weeks now and he seems to have some food issues. When we feed him breakfast and dinner, we make him sit before we give him his food because he barks, jumps, and scratches us when we are holding his food dish. Sometimes he barks for so long he tires himself out. He also barks when we are making food for ourselves. If we are cooking in the kitchen, eating in the living room, drinking something in our bedrooms, whatever resembles food that we are not giving him, he barks. He also barks at treats. Say we give him one treat, he will bark and bark to try to get us to give him more. Any ideas??

 

[loosie]

Hi, First & foremost, you must ensure you NEVER reinforce/reward the behaviours like this that you don't want him to do. If he even occasionally gets reinforced for the behaviour, he will learn it's not 'wrong', because it works for him sometimes, so it's worth 'trying' harder if it doesn't at first succeed! Then it becomes harder to teach him not to.

It's helpful that you get him to sit before giving him permission to eat - because he can't sit & jump up at the same time, for one! ;-) Dogs learn from *instant* associations so ensure you don't inadvertently reward his barking(or whatever 'wrong' behaviour) by, say, asking for & getting a 'sit' and then he barks as you hand him the treat.

While it might be persistent, he won't be barking, jumping etc constantly, so you can just wait it out until he's quiet - even if momentarily to begin with. As soon as he's quiet for a second, 'catch' that 'good' behaviour & reward it! Yes, it may be irritating to begin with, having to stop repeatedly in the middle of making your own food to treat him for 'quiet', but like sitting & jumping, he can't 'quiet' & bark at the same time, so if you reward him for this opposite behaviour, he will learn quiet behaviour is more profitable for him.

Once you have rewarded the momentary quiets a few or more times, he will start to link the 'cause' with 'effect'. When he obviously does, you can *gradually* ask for longer 'quiet' before rewarding(remember, if it's worked for him in the past, he will naturally 'try' the barking again in between times ~ you just wait it out). And attach a 'cue' to the behaviour, so that later down the track, you can tell him 'quiet' & he will.