Let me introduce you to my dog, Gizmo, a true to form Beagle. Gizmo, I am sorry to say, has bad table manners. Not because he doesn’t use a fork when he eats, or a napkin to wipe his chin, no none of that, it’s because Gizmo whines and barks
during our dinner hour.
This problem was created by everyone in the family. We all had a bad habit of giving Gizmo food as we ate dinner. My father, the worst offender, had a habit of just throwing him a few morsels, Gizmo would snatch it up like catching fish. This little habit of dining has been going on for about 12 years. Yes, we all successfully trained Gizmo to be this annoying, whining dog always begging for some food.
It got to a point were we could not just sit down quietly and enjoy a meal in peace. We had no real control over Gizmo. We all love Gizmo, but not when he begs for food, and makes annoying sounds. We tried and tried to get Gizmo to stop, but to no avail. How were we going to get him to be a good little dog when we were eating? This was the battle over the years.
Needless to say the situation just became worse and worser (if there is such a word). Even when we had dinner guests Gizmo did not stop being his beagle self, he would beg, beg, and beg some more.
Then one day I saw a show called, Dog Whisperer. The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Milan, is a trainer of dogs. Not just a trainer he, Cesar, appears to have some connection with the dogs as he is training them. According to Cesar when a dog is not behaving properly it is necessary to remove the dog from the area until the dog learns to act properly. Gee, I wondered, would, could this work for me. Cesar made this training seem so easy. Would it be easy for me?
First day of training , not easy. Gizmo barked, whined, whimpered relentlessly and when I carted him off to his gated area he barked louder. Days past. Once Gizmo would begin his whining I would get up and remove him. I really thought Gizmo would never stop , but then all of a sudden I noticed that his whining did start to get quieter. This was definitely a step in the right direction. Even my husband commented how Gizmo was slowly stopping his bad behavior.
It was a long haul getting him to conform, but we did it.
Now dinner time is a lot quieter, and Gizmo has begun to behave in an appropriate manner. Gizmo just lies down and patiently waits for the meal to end.
Thank you, Dog Whisperer, you rock.
mb