Hi,

I have a 2 year old GSD which I've had for 10 weeks now and she's just perfect, apart from on thing, she steals food. I can not dish-up without her jumping up the counter and stealing the food off the plate. I can't sit with my food on my lap and when she jumps up she is too strong to be pulled off. I don't want to keep shutting her out everytime I eat, I'd like to be able to train her to be better behaved at meal times.

Any advice would be appreciated! :)

Keep a leash on her, everytime she goes to jump up step on the leash. If that don't work you could try spraying her at the same time. You could also purposely drop a piece of food (easier with 2 people) and tell her to leave it, and then pick it up and praise (you need someone at the other end of the leash to stop her from getting it. After doing this a couple of times she will learn to leave it and the command. Has anyone fed her food while eating? You can also tie a shakecan to some food that she will steal, and hopefully the noise alone will stop here. Only do these when you can watch. Hope this helps.

I agree with what Dollface suggests. It's just that since your GSD is already 2 years old and has the bad manners to actually jump up on a counter you might have to resort to some drastic actions. I don't like cats walking around, I definitely would be ticked off if a dog jumped up to steal food

You've had her for just over 2 months and this is a continuation of an original habit probably from her first home, so it's likely going to be rough to break her of her 'disrespect'. In short, she's not respecting your 'authority' over the food distribution.

Figure that this will take time and it won't change overnight, unfortunately.
You could either take the leash and tie her to something solid with a pad/bed next to it when you start preparing food or go ahead and crate her nearby. This will become her 'place' to go/be at when you are handling food. If she makes a fuss, tell her "NO-Quiet". A spray water bottle might come in handy to settle her down once she's been 'told.'

Basically, she has to learn respect before you allow her the gift of being free when you prepare or eat your food. I've helped other dog owners to do this. Sometimes, it's only taken 3 days before the dog goes to its 'place' to stay there on its own. Others have taken months :rolleyes:. Reinforcement is necessary occasionally, especially when the dog 'checks' to see if you still are in charge ;)

I don't like dogs staring at me or my food, so mine naturally vanish to their beds by now :) I also feed them AFTER we eat--taking our sweet time. Which supposedly implants that I'm superior to them :rolleyes: I don't know if it's true, but I never have food issues with my dogs, so it could be :P :)

I hope this helps out. Good luck :)
toodles

Thank you both for the suggestions, I will certainly give them a go. I have a buffet to prepare next week and the food will be on the table for quite a few hours and I don't want to have to shut her outside all day.

I do feed her food but not while I'm eating, I usually give her any left over food and I put it in her dish once I've finished.

Thanks again for the advice! :)