do you feed your dog (or other pet) table food?

[brendacs]

We have created a monster! My son gave our puppy table food a few times and now everytime we eat shes at our kitchen table. She sits there and cries and whines because she wants our food. She now ignores her dog food most of the time. The other day we went to the grocery store and she smelled fresh baked tortillas in one bag and went crazy, we cant even go thru a drive thru anymore if shes in the car....

I feel so bad about this because im sure its not a good thing for a puppy. my husband doesnt think its a big deal, says that in mexico most dogs only eat table food...what are your thoughts?

[sweetzsour]

I give ours table scraps...but they are outside dogs...but just not no-no foods for dogs like onions..etc... it will take time...but u can train her back to dog food...good luck! Remember if she gets hungry enough-she willll eat the dog food... just me-but I think alll people food all the time can't be good for a dog...especially a puppy...??

[aldo219]

i also give my dog table food, not always , he eats his normal food all the time, but once in a while ill through him some food or mostly the beef bones.

I do have to lock my dog outside sometimes when we are eating though, lol, i want to eat peacefully

[aliciajei]

I have an outside dog, and he eats his food, but I do give him left overs as well. I got him from Mexico while hubby was there so pretty much he'll eat anything even chile!!!

[cynan_81]

I try to feed my dogs, dog food only but once in a while i catch my mom or my little sister giving them pieces of meat, never a whole meal or anything, i guess it depends if your dog is an inside or outside dog.

[laury]

Table scraps won't hurt your dog - I've been feeding ours for years. I don't give poultry bones, onions, chocolate, or really spicy foods, but pretty much everything else is OK. As a matter of fact, a pork chop bone or a steak bone will keep your precious one from chewing on your ankles! You can train them not to beg at the table - ours isn't allowed near the table when we're eating and he knows it (still teaching our puppy that one!). He will patiently wait in the living room until we get up from the table, then it's fair game - he knows he's getting something. A few tricks to teaching him - lock him in his kennel during dinner time. When dinner is over, let him out and give him his scraps. Especially for puppies, who have little impulse control, this teaches them that the table is your domain and that they only go when invited. Once your dog learns to "stay" or "wait" you can teach them that food is only eaten when given permission. For example, my dogs (even the puppy) know "wait", and I will tell them "sit", "wait" and put a bit of meat in front of them. They won't touch it until I say "good puppies". So, if they are in the car or I bring groceries home (especially that store baked chicken, they love it!), I tell them "wait" and they know the food is not for them until they are invited to eat. Key though, is that your kids can't feed them randomly or the dog gets confused and will do things like obey when you're around but steal food from the kids or just start ignoring commands from everybody. It's not really fair, anyway, to have the kids offering something and then the dog get reprimanded for begging at the table! I'm still working on my 2 year old not feeding the dog at the table....

As for them ignoring the dog food - well, yeah, wouldn't you?!? That stuff is dry and nasty, IMO! But really, they will eat it when they get hungry. My dogs have turned down dog food, but not for very long! They always eat it when they get hungry (even if I do get those "how could you feed me this crap?" looks....)

[ALONSO]

We try not to give them table food but we do cheat. But again maybe a piece of meat or something to that nature. But we make sure it has no bones. The reason we try not to give them table food because their stool gets runny and who wants to clean that. Again this is our dogs as it effects their stomachs!

Your puppy will eat his food again. Just don't give him anything to eat, and he will go eat it when he is hungry!

[Azul y Vampy]

I don't. I feed my dog dry kibble mixed with canned food, he really likes it (it actually smells pretty good). When we eat, he usually lays under the table or somewhere near us, but never begs for food (not anymore!). His previous owners (we got him 3 yrs ago when he was 2 yrs old) did feed him table scraps, so at first he would ignore his dog food and beg at the table. A few months later he learned that table food is off limits, and all he's getting is his dog food.
This year we stopped taking him to family picnics because my dumb family didn't care what we said and would feed him table food behind our backs!! His stomach is not used to that, he would have a stomach ache for days, and soft/runny stools!! Once I actually called my stupid cousin and asked him "did you give Coco meat? well you need to get your a$$ to my house and pick up his crap!" He thought it was funny but I was being serious.
But I digress, I don't think it's wrong to feed your dog table food (that's your decision) but in our case dog food worked best for us. Like Laury said, if you are going to continue, you just need to teach/train your dog when/how to ask for food... sounds like she has a good handle on her dogs.
Also, like mentioned above, there are some foods you shouldn't be feeding him, such as chocolate, grapes, onions, etc.

[brendacs]

Thank you for all your tips! we have a Lab and shes probably just over 2 months old. She will primarily be an inside dog. Right now because Texas is at 100 degree weather we dont leave her outside for long anyway. I give her a mix of dry and canned dog food. She loved it until she had table food! I think im going to send her outside when we eat at first, then do the crate thing. I honestly thought about getting those baby gates and putting them near our 2 entry ways to the kitchen! (hey im having a baby in 2 months so we'll need them anyway!) Im going to have to teach her to wait also because she has no patience. the minute we walk in with food (like yesterday my husband bought a chicken strip meal) she ran to him at the front door, jumped around him in the kitchen and just begged until she got food!!!

[Liadan23]

yea i feed my dog table food occasionally. just no cooked bones or chocolate, etc. but the other stuff won't hurt them usually. unless they have a sensitive stomach my grandparents lived on a farm and their dogs never got dog food, just table scraps, and they were healthier and lived longer than any other dogs i know who eat nothing but kibble. mostly my dog does get the kibble though, but i don't worry too much about the table scraps health-wise. i HATE begging at the table. and i do not allow that. she is allowed in the dining room, but she cannot beg or try and crowd me to get food, that gets her put in her kennel. she had been broken of that habit for the most part, and still is with me. i never feed her food during dinner while we're sitting at the table eating. if i decide to give her something she gets it in her dog dish after dinner. and she has to lay down and stay until i tell her she can go get it. i have a big problem with my husband who thinks it's funny for her to stand on her hind legs and whine for food until he hands it to her off his plate. but she's learned. she'll do it to him, but not to me. and the baby has started feeding her now too. sigh. at least she still leaves me alone cause i won't stand for it. now that my husband is coming back though, i'm making us all go to puppy training school again. the dog has already passed the intermediate class and was very well behaved, but then she went down to live with my husband in mexico, and he completely ruined her training. grrr. i hate ill-behaved dogs. anyways, rant about my dog over in summary, unless your dog has a bad reaction to the table food, i wouldn't worry too much about the food itself. but definitely train her that it's not ok to beg while you're eating. she's still young, so it'll take time, just keep working at it