Jedi is stealilng food!

Just when you think you have your puppies all figured out (like that's ever going to happen!) they go and learn something else. All has been really good here until a few days ago when Jedi realized he's tall enough to reach the table. If the kids get up from the table he jumps up and steals their food. We've caught him the act everytime and tell him no and take it from him but he'll try again as soon as he gets the chance. We've told the kids to make sure they push their chairs in but that doesn't really help b/c he's tall enough to reach w/o the chairs. UGH, it is very frustrating. I get they are getting into the "adolescent years" but am open for any suggestions to help curb this.

We just repeated 'off' everytime Boris would steal something from the table. And we used a spray bottle on him when we could too. Now he doesn't steal anything, but he's still a dog and would still steal food if we left it in his reach when we are not looking though.

I feel like I should just have a tape recorder with "off" over and over again! We do tell him off and he will but it's just like a child, in one ear and out the other! It's just so funny how in a couple of days they went from doing really good to this new stage. And we have a lot more to go through...

A loud, unpleasant noise can make that urge to table surf a lot less rewarding . . . Not that it's ever worked with Shiva, you understand, but she's the only dog I've ever found it impossible to stop from foraging - or marauding as the case may be

Does Jedi know "leave it"? If not, teach him. I believe that's one of the most useful things to teach a dog. Maybe if would help if you made your dining room, or the area around your dining table, into a dog-free zone. For instance, Zeus is not allowed in the kitchen/dining area at my parent's house, and he knows to stop in the doorway and not go any further. He seems perfectly content with sitting in in the doorway and watching.

Does jedi know leave it? HMM, I guess it depends on if he wants to listen or not! When he is on the "light side" he knows what it means, but when he goes the "dark side" he doesn't (kind of like my son, hehe). For the most part he does drop what he takes when we tell him but I still would like him not to be up there at all obviously. As for making it a dog free zone we can't b/c the patio door is through the dining area and that is how we get outside. Now, when we are eating a meal together they sit or lay quietly and ignore us but it happens mostly when the kids are having snacks. I guess he knows who to go after...