It's one of those things that really drives me crazy.
The humans are sitting down to a well cooked meal that another human, usually mum, has slaved over, crafted and conjured from seemingly dull and uninteresting ingredients and there's Fido, sitting, waiting, begging.
And sure enough, within minutes a morsel is delivered to the thief under the table.
Don't get me wrong.
I love my dogs.
I have moved house and changed jobs to please them but one of my pet hates is feeding them at the table.
And I am ashamed to say I, unlike most dog trainers, am a hypocrite.
Only thirty minutes ago I was sitting eating breakfast and staring out of the window thinking of an interesting subject that I could write about.
The parrot was running up between a pile of bean shoots and a bunch of grapes nattering to himself.
Outside the rain had stopped and the sun was making a welcome return.
The birds were chirping and the cat was curled up, tummy full and content.
Then without warning, like a ninja, a soft warm muzzle appears on my lap.
No sound was made, no eye contact at all.
And I, the disciplined dog trainer, broke off a bit of toast and placed it in front of the soft muzzle.
It was taken without word or grunt and with minimal movement from either party.
And I continued to look out of the window and tell the parrot off when he went to chew the cords of the laptop.
And to make matters worse, the soft muzzle remained and I repeated this shameful act not once but three times! I am currently researching obese dogs and one of the main reasons dogs are fat is because we over feed them (drrr!).
But we can't blame the pet food industry; the foods that really make our dogs fat are human foods: toast, cakes, cooked fat, biscuits.
So I know that I am really doing my dog a disservice by feeding him human food.
But I didn't even think.
I just fed it to him.
Why do dogs have this control over us? I didn't even look into those pleading eyes.
I hadn't received a thump from an attention seeking paw.
Nope, just a soft muzzle - warm and a little damp from drool and that was the only signal my subconscious needed.
Perhaps it's a maternal parenting part of our nature that we can't control.
I have read theories that say babies have large soft eyes to make that appeals to our nurturing side and will ensure we will want to bond with them, love them and take care of them.
Yes, that's it! That's what I'm going to tell the vet when he puts the dog on the scales and turns and looks disapprovingly at me.
"I can't help it," I'll say.
"I was only acting on my maternal instincts: The same instincts that have led generations of humans to feed and care for their young.
It's mother nature's way of ensuring that we look after our young and we survive generation after generation.
" I wonder if he'll buy it.