Beg for food during dinnertime?

[Camilla and Darwin]

Darwin sits right at our feet and stare intently at us, whenever we have food around. We never give him food off our plates, yet he persists. He doesn't try and take anything, or whine. Just stares at us. He also does this to visitors when they are over at our house. When visitors are over, we usually just crate him for dinner. If I were to do that while we are eating, is that a correct way to help him stop bugging us? Is there something else we can do during dinnertime to make him more polite?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I've always given my dogs their dinner right before I sit down to have mine. If they're eating their own food, they aren't staring at yours, lol.
A lot of people advise using the "go to your place" and "stay" commands to correct begging.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Gee, Gracie Doodle has never really given much thought to our food and she also has never had "human" food. Occasionally when there is a BBQd steak or something on the table she will just sort of go over to the table and sniff but never put her face on the table or try to take it. We just tell her that it is "only for Poppa" or "only for Momma" and she leaves it alone. When we have company she just gives the table a quick walk around and look and then settles at someone's feet or under the table. Gracie is a very large Doodle and her head is above the table but she has never taken anything...unless there is a tennis ball on the table!!!!!

[Camilla and Darwin]

We do feed him at the same time. But it takes him much less time to eat his food than us to eat ours. Perhaps we should get him a buster cube, so it takes him even longer? I think the stay command is good. We are working on his extended stays, this would probably be good practice.

Oh, and Gracie doodle is a such a good girl for not begging!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Guinness and Murphy like to watch us eat too. They have to lie down and "stay" while we eat, and I just trained them to lie behind us (right at the edge of our kitchen) so we can't actually see them "staring". They always eat before us, so I know they aren't hungry. I'm not sure there's a way to actually correct the "staring" (and I really wouldn't want to - it seems like a pretty natural thing for them to do), so this way I don't have to see it. LOL

[Kyoko]

Mine does.... Especially, my Chow Chow. He goes under the table, get in front of a person, and put his nose on his/her lap!!
This is because he has been with us for a long time, and when my kids were little, he stayed there waiting for some food they would drop.....

[Ann Kendig]

Sheba stares from a distance but Duke will come right up to me and stare at me, then the food, then me, etc. (This is if I'm eating in the livingroom on the coffeetable) I tell him, "No Duke" and he will walk away and lay down. Sometimes I just look him in the eye and shake my head no and that works too. My old method was to tell him to lay down. We have progressed to No's and some stern looks!

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Baxter does the same thing if we eat at the coffee table. He will look meaningfully at DH or I and then just as meaningfully at our dinner plates. But if we eat in the kitchen everyone lays quietly on their beds until we start cleaning up the dishes. Then its "Katy bar the door" as they rush towards the dishwasher to help "prerinse".

[Laura & Chewie]

Chewie has begged at the table from the day we got him. We've never fed him from the table, but there he is. At least now he mainly just stares or walks from one of us to the other...much better than the constant jumping up he used to do. Feeding him at the same time makes no difference...he finishes his in 30 seconds and is looking for more.