You need to inform the whole household that no one under any circumstances is to feed the dog anymore, unless it is in their bowl. No matter where you are eating, you do not give any food to your dog when it begs, no matter how cute it looks or how loud it whines.

If you are sitting on the sofa snacking and your dog comes to beg, ignore him. That also means don’t look at him. Just by giving it eye contact you are telling it that sitting there will get your attention. If he starts to whine loudly and doesn’t give up, take him out of the room and shut the door.

As soon as he starts begging, put him in his crate or use a leash to secure them to something near their bed until you have finished eating. Showing them they will be excluded if they beg will reinforce that begging is the wrong behavior.

Whether you are at the table, on the sofa, or seated outside, do not engage in any way with your dog. Any physical or verbal interaction fuels their mental state. Only the coldest of shoulders will reinforce that this is the wrong sort of behavior.

Dogs are creatures of habit and they won’t transform overnight. Instead, you need to practice the cold shoulder all day, every day and sometimes for many weeks. Just be persistent and don’t feel guilty, eventually they will learn begging gets them nowhere and because they yearn for your attention, they will stop doing it.

You are going to teach your dog a command that will send them to their bed or place. That way whenever your dog begs, you can quickly send them away and enjoy your food in peace.

As you say this, lure them onto their bed entirely, until all 4 feet are on their bed or mat.

The trick is to reward them within 3 seconds. Any longer and they won’t associate the command with the reward.

After several successful attempts, slowly increase the distance you are from their bed when you instruct them to go there. Lure them with a treat each time if you need to and be sure to reward them every time. Practice this for 10 minutes a day until you can send them to their bed even when you are in a different room. Also, slowly increase the time they lay on their bed before you give them the treat. Keep upping the time until you can leave them there for 10-15 minutes before they get up.

When they start to beg, exactly as you did before, instruct them to go to their bed and lure them with a treat if need be. Keep practicing this each time you eat and they beg. When they have the hang of it, slowly reduce the frequency you give them treats until they are no longer needed at all. The key to this technique is consistency. If you send them away every time and master the ‘bed’ command, you will always be able to rid yourself of your begging dog whenever you desire.

This is going to be the ‘time out’ room that your dog goes in when they beg for food. The idea will be that the room is so boring they won’t want to risk begging in case they get sent there.

Keep a close eye out for your dog, you need to be ready to act swiftly when they beg.

Try and send your dog to the room. If this doesn't work, place them in the time out room. After several minutes, let your dog back out of the room and continue with your meal.

If your dog comes back to you and begs again, place him back in the time out room. Again, leave them there for a few minutes and bring them back out. Even if they whine and bark, it is important you totally ignore them.

The key to success is sticking to this method for as many days or weeks that it takes. You may have many long meals and they may frequently go cold, but it will be worth it in the end when your dog breaks the begging habit. It is also essential you get the rest of the household on board. If one member of the family doesn’t stick to the time out rule, the dog will be confused and success will take much longer. So be patient, consistent and work as a team because eventually the time out room will be enough of a deterrent that your dog gives up begging for good.