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Hello,
There a couple of things you can do to help manage the problem. However, rather than trying to go against mother nature and try to make dog not interested in food, you can use it for your advantage. A dog that is very food motivated is actually a good thing especially when it comes to training. Your training will become a lot easier with a dog that is so food motivated like your lab.
In regards to them picking up crumbs that you drop, unless you told him to leave it, it is expected for him to go for it. It is a unclaimed possesion..its like when a wolf pack gets a meal, the Alpha gets the main piece, but if little pieces fall off the other members of the pack have right to it. If you do not like this, the best thing to do is set the dog up for success and manage it. You can have him out of the room when you eat and let him back in once you clean the area. As you move through the training, you can just send your little buddy to a place while you eat.
To your problem about, him stealing food the moment you leave it.. This goes to same thing I said up top. The moment you leave something, it becomes a unclaimed possession and it is natural for the dog to think he has a right to it unless trained otherwise. The best thing to do is set the dog up for success and not leave him alone with unclaimed food until trained. This will be part of the housebreaking section on the triangle how to manage this. I would suggest reading this section to help cure the problem and on how to work with dog gods.If you feel that has a health issue like you said up top, get that checked out before you go any further with the training.
I hope that helps for now!
Keep us updated!
Chris
