Puppy stealing food - is he underfed?

[gloomydog]

My white GSD is 6 months old now. It's been such a relief finding you guys. Anyways

He is very food motivated from day 2 when I got him at 8 weekish till now. But he has escalated to trying to eat all human food too. He jumped up the stove and ate the food from the frying pan today the moment he was let out of cage. (It was chinese style fried rice with egg, turkey, onion)

Just seems very naughty to me.

I feed him Merrick duck dry food. He is about 45lb now, and the directions indicate 40lb = 2 cups, 50lb = 2.5 cups, but that's for grown up dogs, not puppy food. I figure he's growing so I give him 4 cups/day + assorted treats during the day. Yet he still seems hungry all the time! Is it just because he's greedy, or is he actually hungry and wants to eat more?

[LoveEcho]

It is very naughty, and he does it because he's allowed to and it's fun, not because he's still hungry. This has NOTHING to do with him not getting enough food and everything to do with no rules.

Start enforcing rules and correcting him for this behavior before he gets into something bad for him (onions can be harmful to dogs, for example). Correct him, and start practicing NILIF-- make him work for every shred of food he gets.

[bigd3077]

Mine was jumping in the beginning but I put an end to that right away. She goes to her place when we prepare her food and will not move till I give her the "ok" command.

[Kyleigh]

If your dog is getting the amount of food it needs to grow, then yes, he's being "naughty" ... but ONLY because he hasn't been trained not to ... so now you're "naughty" LOL

He's 6 months, so now is the perfect time to pratice the sit / stay or lay down / stay or on your bed or whatever command you want him to know so that he doesn't do this.

Kyleigh has ONE spot she MUST stay in while I am in the kitchen. It took some training, practice and of course consistency so that she "got it" and now I don't even have to say anything. When we go into the kitchen, she just goes to her spot.

A solid leave it command will be something else you need to practice to prevent the dog from getting the food. It will be difficult because your dog has already been rewarded by getting the good he wants, but he can definitely be retrained.

Have fun, and lots of luck!!!

[Jag]

sorry, double post

[Jag]

When's the last time your dog had a stool sample done at the vet's? Could be a worm issue. I'd check that out first.

GSDs are good 'counter surfers'. I agree totally that you need to train him that *any* food that isn't given to him is off limits. When I was growing up, you could actually set your plate on the floor and our dog would walk away. Grim has been jumping up on the counters recently, and I've been telling him 'no' and lightly stepping on a back foot.

[Courtney]

Agree, this is not because he's still hungry. He is being naughty.

Remember, dogs are opportunist