Dog stealing food

i put my dog in the kennel for 15 minutes for timeout but he knows when he’s in trouble

It's a hierarchy thing. The baby came after. So is at the bottom of the pack. I separate my dog when he's eating and only let him eat at the table. If he runs away, then it means he's done and then no more food until the next meal.

@Lynette second this my baby’s too small but all 4 of my dogs try to take my friends kids food when they’re over they alway get told no and out cause those are their commands and get put up for a few mins and then we try again but i typically try and put them up anytime kids are over and have food in general they know not to touch our food but still try every now and again it’s typically cause the smell drives them crazy and dogs also go through regressions so if this is new behavior they may just need to go back and refresh on training they go through regressions at all different ages just like kids do

Whenever there's food out we'd put the dog in the crate. He's not allowed in the kitchen or table especially while there's food out. When my son would walk around with food & the dog would follow I say his name in a stern voice & he walks away bc he knows he'll get in trouble.

We have a baby gate that separates part of the house & the dogs go in there whenever there is food around. Our dogs have never been aggressive towards kids but I definitely don’t take any chances

Thank you everyone for the advice. We don’t have a kennel for her, never felt the need to have one so she can just go outside when we’re eating. Do you recommend me feeding him at the table only?

I've had this same issue with multiple dogs. Dogs are opportunistic. They'll take the opportunity to steal food unless you've very solidly trained them against it, and correcting the behavior twice isn't enough to teach anything. It doesn't matter if she has her own food and water, people food is much more appealing than dog food (think about it, if you had the option which would you eat?) so they'll usually take the chance over eating dog food. It's much easier to teach them not to steal food by preventing the behavior than punishing/correcting it after, so that's the key. If you're punishing after, she's already gotten what she wanted and most dogs are willing to take a minor punishment for a high reward like getting to eat the food first. I second separating while your toddler eats (either outside or get a kennel or whatever works best for you), that'll prevent it from happening more because if she keeps doing it that'll just reinforce that it's okay.

If she's going after your food on the table push her off with a foot (not hand, dogs usually associate hands with playing so won't take it as seriously) and keep it up if she keeps at it. Keep treats with you at the table and once she stops immediately reward her with a treat (use something really good, like cheese or meat or something, not a regular dog treat. The goal is to reward her with something just as good if not better than the people food she's trying to steal so she has more incentive to want the treat) and just stay consistent with that. If she ever manages to steal sometime immediately separate her until you're done eating and try again later. Once she starts to learn that staying back from the food and waiting calmly means she gets a treat, slowly start extending the time you make her wait for the treat, just by a couple seconds at a time.

She'll probably backslide a little when you extend the time but that's normal, just go back to pushing her away and making her wait until she figures out the new time. Eventually you'll be able to wean her off getting a treat every time and most likely she'll learn to just start to ignore the food. It can take a long time with some dogs but consistency is the key, don't give up and keep changing approaches unless you've been consistently doing it for like weeks or a couple months with absolutely no progress.

No I think it'll be good for your son to walk around freely with food & the dog just has to learn not to snatch food or beg. It's hard trying to keep toddlers in one place for too long anyways

You need to teach the dog the baby is over them in the pack. They think the baby is lesser than them. I’d work with a trainer.

You need to teach the dog to not do that, it sucks but baby comes first. We have a dog too that was going that and he even caught my sons hands once in his mouth and left his teeth printed in his tiny hands, so scary, ever since then we have separated him from our son. It sucks but I can’t take chances with him anymore when my baby is eating

@Selena I tried to teach her. Tbh she doesn’t listen when it comes to food. For the past couple days I been putting her outside while he eats. Then I can’t get her butt cuz then he might think it’s ok. I’m just going to keep putting her outside while he eats.

That’s fine, I do the same thing, I put him in the basement while he is eating or have food. Can’t take chances because dogs are opportunist