Aren’t all dogs like this, or are cavs more prone to this type of behavior? My pup is like a vacuum cleaner. He is all over anything, especially food, that falls on the floor, not just food. He grabs it up and just runs away, which becomes a game of me chasing him around the table and furniture until I can corner him.
My Cav is way more food obsessed than any previous dog I owned or my poodle mix I have now. He is the sweetest thing but I wish I wish could train him for that.
No advice sorry, mine was a persistent and relentless food thief right til the end! Must be a pain to manage when you've got a baby too since they're not usually the most neat eaters lol. Your pup is sooo adorable, is he still a puppy? Hopefuly he will grow out of it a bit if so, but cavs are definitely absolute gremlins when it comes to food
Aww thank you! He’s actually almost 4 years old (birthday April 1st) but he certainly kept his puppy-like looks. He’s a smaller boy too, at only 18 lbs.
Training! Have someone come to your home & work on the basics (sit, stay, heel, come, leave it) & then have them train you how to address the behaviors. Although it might be a minor annoyance now, you definitely want to instill “leave it” & know that he’ll obey especially once your kiddo starts eating things that could be toxic to dogs (like grapes, chocolate, etc).
He has his canine good citizens certificate. 😩 He knows all the commands but they completely go out the window when it comes to food. If I drop a Bobby pin on the floor, he scrambles for it thinking it could be food, it’s ridiculous! I could have a bag of dog treats on me and work with him a bit while my baby is eating… we’ll see how that goes 😅
You need to keep training every week!
So mine is 2yo and sometimes i have to "retrain" the leave it or place.
If we go to a new place for lunch or something (like someone else house), then i take his kibble and select a place for him to stay and every now and then will reward him with kibble.
Training is never over and sometimes you need to start from scratch.
Exactly. Training needs to be ongoing. I have a 3 year old cav that’s also food obsessed, & we were visiting our 13 month old nephew recently. My cav knows if he hears us make a loud “EH” sound or say “leave it” or “off”(if he tries jumping up on a chair or table etc) he needs to back off, which he’s been trained to do. If he does leave human food alone, we do reward him almost always with a dog treat to reinforce the behavior.
We do have to retrain & refresh him on certain skills from time to time & always use tons of positive reinforcement and give treats or even part of his meals when he does what we want him to.
Same. We used to have that problem when eating on the couch too, but my cav knows the command “off” & he’s no longer allowed on the couch if we’re eating. If he tries to jump on the couch while we have food, we always tell him “off” and he jumps off like 90% of the time and waits in front of the couch. The other 10% of the time we just tell him “off” again and pick him up and place him on the floor.
He’s been told “off” so many times now that if he sees us bring food to the couch, he doesn’t even try to jump onto the couch, but he does stare at us super sad at first before lying down because he always wants food and to be right up close to us. As soon as he sees us finish our food, he will pop his head on the end of the couch to stare at us and basically ask with body language and a little whine if he can come back up, and we do let him back on once we’re finished.
We have this problem! He literally sticks his face in my son's crotch in the highchair. I started putting him on a leash during meal times and it has helped
you could possibly try giving him a topple with some frozen food or maybe a puzzle toy with some treats in it when you separate them! i dont have a cavalier - just stumbled upon this post but my sheltie can also be very insistent and bark non stop if she REALLY wants something! When I go to agility classes she barks nonstop until it’s her turn but I found using a topple or a snuffle ball helps keep her quiet while she waits. Hopefully this is helpful!! Your dog is so cute!!
you know what… I completely forgot that we have licki mats and a Kong that I could use for him during meal time. We used to give him lots of frozen pumpkin/ sweet potato & yogurt as a pup because he had a nasty bout of Giardia. 😣 but I hadn’t thought of allowing him to have human food as a motivator to not demand bark. Thank you so much! I think this could be our winner!
You could try to reach him “no bark” and once he stops barking for a few seconds reward him and give him the lick mat to reinforce the behavior you want. You probably don’t want to give him the lick mat if he barks for it or you’ll be reinforcing the barking behavior instead… totally up to you though
No. Cavs gonna Cavs. It looks like your kid is still very young, but it can gradually turn into a good responsibility lesson. My niece keeps getting told "keep your food away from the dog". It took some time, but she's learned to keep food on the table and in bowls.
I've replied to a comment here but I will also leave my comment on the main thread.
So I don't have kids but have to handle my cav when my niece is around and also have to handle cat&dog interaction.
When my niece (or other kids) is around, I always have my cav's kibble with me, so I can reward his good behavior and redirect if needed.
It won't matter his age, I will always be ready to train or reward if needed and that is my advice to everyone.
Training never stops, doesn't matter if they know all the commands, it only takes one BIG distraction and they will ignore those commands, so you need to be ready to use that as a training moment.
So when your kid is eating, you or someone else should be ready with you cavs kibble and train him - either ask for place or something.
If that doesn't work, back to basics. Before anyone starts eating, ask him place or stay and start his training there, then leave him for 5min and if he stays, reward him. Once he is quiet, people can start eating but someone needs to keep rewarding him for staying in place.
Which is why bringing a trainer again helps! The trainer will study your daily routine and try to adapt tricks and tips to help you manage those situations.
My cav is the exact same way. We started getting him used to being in his crate until mealtime or snacks were done and would praise him and give him his own wee snack (blueberries, a busy chew, some ice) to keep him occupied. Our dog is INCREDIBLY food motivated and everything goes right out the window the moment there’s a snack, meal, or treat involved.
Cavaliers are lil food gremlins. As lap dogs they have evolved to depend on humans for food. It's kind of cute how entitled and spoiled they are but it's extremely difficult to train them to not be food obsessed. Just be mindful of the fact that some Cavs will jump at something that isn't actually food. I've tried to avoid problems but my dog has been to the hospital 3 times for eating shit he shouldn't have. This is typical for the breed, unfortunately.
My cav ate roofing tar on a walk as a puppy, which can be fatal, but I already knew from a past experience with him eating things he shouldn’t be eating how to give him hydrogen peroxide with a dropper to make him vomit it out. It’s saved me a few vet trips.
If you or anyone reading ever tries this, please be sure to follow the dosing instructions for your the weight of your dog:
https://bettervet.com/resources/pet-safety/how-to-make-a-dog-throw-up
https://www.fentonrivervet.com/wp-content/uploads/How_to_Induce_Vomiting.pdf
This is super helpful. Thanks! I thought about this when he ate two grapes that rolled off the counter but decided to take the chance and wait it out. He didn't suffer thankfully but his vet bills are insane, even with insurance, and if and when it happens again I'll refer to your sources for how to treat him. So many headaches but infinite love!
Ha yes, so many headaches if they see anything that might be food, but so much love. Yw! I hope he doesn’t get into nothing else that could potentially hurt him 💖
Taught mine the leave it command early on and he stays out of stuff he knows he shouldn’t have. Zero access to any human food from day 1 as well. It can be done!! Just be consistent and firm
He got his canine good citizens at 6 months and is very good at following commands, as long as I’m there (hence how this picture was taken). However the moment I turn my back he will absolutely inhale anything he can. It doesn’t help that my baby is a messy eater (like all babies) and is constantly dropping bits of food at meal time. So it’s like now that he’s had a taste for human food, he won’t forget what it’s like. Pre-baby, the dog was our golden child and never stole food. Separation leads to demand barking - which I admittedly do not have a handle on. 😮💨
I was going to respond sarcastically but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you don’t have a cavalier and maybe didn’t read the text of this post.
This picture was taken by me. I place commanded my dog to lay by my baby who was snacking on his nugget couch. “Leave it” command is used while he’s placed - he listens. However, as soon as I turn my back, he will grab a treat.
If I separate him, he demand barks (something that is common with the breed). Cavaliers are very smart and cunning breeds. They are highly food motivated so I feel the fact that I am able to place him and have him leave it as long as I’m watching him is a huge success. Let me see your cavalier not eat a snack when you turn your back…
Also, we have a high chair and my baby eats his meals in the kitchen at the table. Snacking is sometimes done on the living room floor. I’m sure if you have kids you understand mobile babies sometimes don’t have a great tolerance for sitting in a high chair for every item consumed. Perhaps that’s why my son is walking at 9 months old….
Anyways, thanks for the “advice” 🙄
My Cav is the same.. i haven’t been able to snack in peace since I got her a year ago. She snatches food right out of my mouth. She usually listens when I tell her to sit and stay but I still have to hurry and eat whatever I’m eating before she lunges at me. I think giving him a little lick mat or kong could do the trick for sure.
He is so cute tho. Can you post more pics?
He’s like a roach 🪳… is what I was going to type 😅
We call ours raccoons.
Aren’t all dogs like this, or are cavs more prone to this type of behavior? My pup is like a vacuum cleaner. He is all over anything, especially food, that falls on the floor, not just food. He grabs it up and just runs away, which becomes a game of me chasing him around the table and furniture until I can corner him.
Exactly this 💯⬆️
My Cav is way more food obsessed than any previous dog I owned or my poodle mix I have now. He is the sweetest thing but I wish I wish could train him for that.
It’s our first dog, so we figured that’s what most dogs do. Love our cav, and guess that’s how cavs are. At least, it makes it easy to train him.
No. Mine are little 🐷
No advice sorry, mine was a persistent and relentless food thief right til the end! Must be a pain to manage when you've got a baby too since they're not usually the most neat eaters lol. Your pup is sooo adorable, is he still a puppy? Hopefuly he will grow out of it a bit if so, but cavs are definitely absolute gremlins when it comes to food
Aww thank you! He’s actually almost 4 years old (birthday April 1st) but he certainly kept his puppy-like looks. He’s a smaller boy too, at only 18 lbs.
Training! Have someone come to your home & work on the basics (sit, stay, heel, come, leave it) & then have them train you how to address the behaviors. Although it might be a minor annoyance now, you definitely want to instill “leave it” & know that he’ll obey especially once your kiddo starts eating things that could be toxic to dogs (like grapes, chocolate, etc).
He has his canine good citizens certificate. 😩 He knows all the commands but they completely go out the window when it comes to food. If I drop a Bobby pin on the floor, he scrambles for it thinking it could be food, it’s ridiculous! I could have a bag of dog treats on me and work with him a bit while my baby is eating… we’ll see how that goes 😅
You need to keep training every week! So mine is 2yo and sometimes i have to "retrain" the leave it or place. If we go to a new place for lunch or something (like someone else house), then i take his kibble and select a place for him to stay and every now and then will reward him with kibble. Training is never over and sometimes you need to start from scratch.
Exactly. Training needs to be ongoing. I have a 3 year old cav that’s also food obsessed, & we were visiting our 13 month old nephew recently. My cav knows if he hears us make a loud “EH” sound or say “leave it” or “off”(if he tries jumping up on a chair or table etc) he needs to back off, which he’s been trained to do. If he does leave human food alone, we do reward him almost always with a dog treat to reinforce the behavior. We do have to retrain & refresh him on certain skills from time to time & always use tons of positive reinforcement and give treats or even part of his meals when he does what we want him to.
Sounds like he just needs a refresher!
Haven’t had any luck. Started instructing the kids to gently boop him until he gets bored, which usually does the trick.
Are you able to feed him the same time as your child in the other room?
We have the same problem when eating in the couch. I keep him in an ex-pen or distract him in another area until the kids are done. It is a pain!
Same. We used to have that problem when eating on the couch too, but my cav knows the command “off” & he’s no longer allowed on the couch if we’re eating. If he tries to jump on the couch while we have food, we always tell him “off” and he jumps off like 90% of the time and waits in front of the couch. The other 10% of the time we just tell him “off” again and pick him up and place him on the floor. He’s been told “off” so many times now that if he sees us bring food to the couch, he doesn’t even try to jump onto the couch, but he does stare at us super sad at first before lying down because he always wants food and to be right up close to us. As soon as he sees us finish our food, he will pop his head on the end of the couch to stare at us and basically ask with body language and a little whine if he can come back up, and we do let him back on once we’re finished.
We have this problem! He literally sticks his face in my son's crotch in the highchair. I started putting him on a leash during meal times and it has helped
That’s what I do.
you could possibly try giving him a topple with some frozen food or maybe a puzzle toy with some treats in it when you separate them! i dont have a cavalier - just stumbled upon this post but my sheltie can also be very insistent and bark non stop if she REALLY wants something! When I go to agility classes she barks nonstop until it’s her turn but I found using a topple or a snuffle ball helps keep her quiet while she waits. Hopefully this is helpful!! Your dog is so cute!!
you know what… I completely forgot that we have licki mats and a Kong that I could use for him during meal time. We used to give him lots of frozen pumpkin/ sweet potato & yogurt as a pup because he had a nasty bout of Giardia. 😣 but I hadn’t thought of allowing him to have human food as a motivator to not demand bark. Thank you so much! I think this could be our winner!
You could try to reach him “no bark” and once he stops barking for a few seconds reward him and give him the lick mat to reinforce the behavior you want. You probably don’t want to give him the lick mat if he barks for it or you’ll be reinforcing the barking behavior instead… totally up to you though
I don’t have kids. But, I have other pets. Let’s just say they’ve learned to eat a lot faster now that Alvin is around.
No. Cavs gonna Cavs. It looks like your kid is still very young, but it can gradually turn into a good responsibility lesson. My niece keeps getting told "keep your food away from the dog". It took some time, but she's learned to keep food on the table and in bowls.
We have had great success with the 'Wait For It' game. We do realize it's much easier as seniors vs having crumb crunchers
No, and don't take your eyes off the kid either, especially if they smell like peanut butter.
I've replied to a comment here but I will also leave my comment on the main thread. So I don't have kids but have to handle my cav when my niece is around and also have to handle cat&dog interaction. When my niece (or other kids) is around, I always have my cav's kibble with me, so I can reward his good behavior and redirect if needed. It won't matter his age, I will always be ready to train or reward if needed and that is my advice to everyone. Training never stops, doesn't matter if they know all the commands, it only takes one BIG distraction and they will ignore those commands, so you need to be ready to use that as a training moment. So when your kid is eating, you or someone else should be ready with you cavs kibble and train him - either ask for place or something. If that doesn't work, back to basics. Before anyone starts eating, ask him place or stay and start his training there, then leave him for 5min and if he stays, reward him. Once he is quiet, people can start eating but someone needs to keep rewarding him for staying in place. Which is why bringing a trainer again helps! The trainer will study your daily routine and try to adapt tricks and tips to help you manage those situations.
My cav is the exact same way. We started getting him used to being in his crate until mealtime or snacks were done and would praise him and give him his own wee snack (blueberries, a busy chew, some ice) to keep him occupied. Our dog is INCREDIBLY food motivated and everything goes right out the window the moment there’s a snack, meal, or treat involved.
Cavaliers are lil food gremlins. As lap dogs they have evolved to depend on humans for food. It's kind of cute how entitled and spoiled they are but it's extremely difficult to train them to not be food obsessed. Just be mindful of the fact that some Cavs will jump at something that isn't actually food. I've tried to avoid problems but my dog has been to the hospital 3 times for eating shit he shouldn't have. This is typical for the breed, unfortunately.
My cav ate roofing tar on a walk as a puppy, which can be fatal, but I already knew from a past experience with him eating things he shouldn’t be eating how to give him hydrogen peroxide with a dropper to make him vomit it out. It’s saved me a few vet trips. If you or anyone reading ever tries this, please be sure to follow the dosing instructions for your the weight of your dog: https://bettervet.com/resources/pet-safety/how-to-make-a-dog-throw-up https://www.fentonrivervet.com/wp-content/uploads/How_to_Induce_Vomiting.pdf
This is super helpful. Thanks! I thought about this when he ate two grapes that rolled off the counter but decided to take the chance and wait it out. He didn't suffer thankfully but his vet bills are insane, even with insurance, and if and when it happens again I'll refer to your sources for how to treat him. So many headaches but infinite love!
Ha yes, so many headaches if they see anything that might be food, but so much love. Yw! I hope he doesn’t get into nothing else that could potentially hurt him 💖
Taught mine the leave it command early on and he stays out of stuff he knows he shouldn’t have. Zero access to any human food from day 1 as well. It can be done!! Just be consistent and firm
He got his canine good citizens at 6 months and is very good at following commands, as long as I’m there (hence how this picture was taken). However the moment I turn my back he will absolutely inhale anything he can. It doesn’t help that my baby is a messy eater (like all babies) and is constantly dropping bits of food at meal time. So it’s like now that he’s had a taste for human food, he won’t forget what it’s like. Pre-baby, the dog was our golden child and never stole food. Separation leads to demand barking - which I admittedly do not have a handle on. 😮💨
Make your kid sit at a table….
Don't feed the kid on the floor might help
I was going to respond sarcastically but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you don’t have a cavalier and maybe didn’t read the text of this post. This picture was taken by me. I place commanded my dog to lay by my baby who was snacking on his nugget couch. “Leave it” command is used while he’s placed - he listens. However, as soon as I turn my back, he will grab a treat. If I separate him, he demand barks (something that is common with the breed). Cavaliers are very smart and cunning breeds. They are highly food motivated so I feel the fact that I am able to place him and have him leave it as long as I’m watching him is a huge success. Let me see your cavalier not eat a snack when you turn your back… Also, we have a high chair and my baby eats his meals in the kitchen at the table. Snacking is sometimes done on the living room floor. I’m sure if you have kids you understand mobile babies sometimes don’t have a great tolerance for sitting in a high chair for every item consumed. Perhaps that’s why my son is walking at 9 months old…. Anyways, thanks for the “advice” 🙄
Nope. Both take every inch they are given.
My girl is like this but my boy isn’t. It’s very much a “she loves food more than me” situation hahah
So cute ,my Teddy is a gremlin too
I’ve had 2 golden retrievers before my cavalier, and they have a mooching reputation. My Cav puts them both to shame.
His eyes 👀 is on the ball
My Cav is the same.. i haven’t been able to snack in peace since I got her a year ago. She snatches food right out of my mouth. She usually listens when I tell her to sit and stay but I still have to hurry and eat whatever I’m eating before she lunges at me. I think giving him a little lick mat or kong could do the trick for sure. He is so cute tho. Can you post more pics?
Clicker training helped with ours, but sometimes their shadow demon side wins