Help! My dog is very vocal when it’s dinner time

Dear Jennifer

I need your help! I love food, a little bit too much. I become a bit obsessed at meal times and as soon as I hear my mom fiddling with my bowl I just get so excited that I start shouting and shouting and shouting because I am just soooo happy and excited. My mom says that my shouting is upsetting the other dogs and that feeding time is too chaotic when I “talk” so much but that is just me saying “whooohoooooooo fooooood time!!!!!”. Is there any way you can help my mom to get the  feeding time situation under control? I don’t know how else to express my excitement that’s all.

Love,
Phoebe

Hi Phoebe,

In a well-known nursery rhyme little Tommy Tucker sings for his supper but I’m not entirely sure that Phoebe singing for her’s is appropriate. 🙂

Excessive vocalising can be both irritating and frustrating to your mum so hopefully we can get her to teach you the correct way to “communicate” – in other words we will have to teach her to understand and speak doggy.

So how does mum go about stopping your meal time opera? Most furkids know and can anticipate meal time so mum must start correcting the unwanted behaviour (barking in this case) as soon as she begins preparing your meal.

When mum goes to get your food or bowl you will undoubtedly start your vocalising. She must immediately stop the process and go back to what she was previously doing and completely ignore you until you stop your barking. Once you have stopped “preforming”, mum can restart the process. If you once more commence with your vocalising, mum must again cease what she is doing and wait for your silence.

If mum gets to the point where she has managed to prepare your food in silence but before she gives it to you your over excitement leads to another bout of vocalising, she needs to put the bowl out of your reach until you can sit quietly. The object here is for mum to be able to prepare and present your food in complete silence – this is going to take some time but as long as mum is consistent the desired result will be achieved.

Remind mum that this whole process is going to be frustrating to you initially and your vocalising may well become worse before it gets better. Also tell mum that if any other humans help her at feeding time, they must follow her routine precisely.

Kind Regards,

Jennifer