I consider myself to have perfected the fine art of begging.

It's possible, if you're really good at begging, to just look at your human friends with a mournfully sad look in your eyes, and get a treat!
I've gotten very good at this trick!

It's also possible, but I don't advise it, to accidentally nudge the elbow of someone while they're eating, and knock the food out of their hand. As I said, I don't advise this tactic, because humans seem to become instantly annoyed when it happens, and threaten bodily harm with a fly swatter! A flyswatter in the hand of a human can instantly make a dog like me forget entirely about food!

The best begging technique I've found, is to act like you're just absolutely, positively, NOT interested at all in what they're eating...Or, as it's come to be known at my house, The Sick Dog Technique...
Walk away, lay down, and don't even LOOK at the table.
THEY PANIC, because they can't figure out what's wrong!
"Oh, no..Cody must not be feeling good today...He's not even sitting by the table..."
Without fail, either my mom or dad will then say,
"Cody, aren't you hungry??"
At this point, you really have to play it smart. Don't give in and look at them! Better things are coming. They will then take the tastiest piece of food from their plate and offer it to you, HOPING that you are well enough to somehow make it to the table to eat it.
I've never been able to make it past this part, and I always act like I'm using my last bit of energy to do them a favor and eat whatever they've offered. To get more food, go back and lay down with your back facing them. It's never failed for me yet. Of course, it's a perfect time too, to fake a miraculous recovery and nudge their elbow for food. Even if it causes a spoonful of soup to fly out of their spoon and plop onto their clothing, they hardly ever get mad. But, I must caution you to never do the 'nudge the elbow' thing unless it is preceded by the sick dog act.

Another technique is the "I don't think I like whatever you're eating" trick.

This one takes alot of practice, and unless you're really good at looking silly, it will never work!
Act reasonably interested in whatever the human is eating, but not overly interested. They will tell you that they KNOW you won't like the food.
It's usually something pretty hideous anyway, so if you don't perfect this technique, you may not lose out on too much.
Anyway, back to the strategy... You must sniff the air intently, while acting as if you are almost afraid of the smell. They will again tell you that you wouldn't like the food, but be patient, they will cave in and offer you some.
It may be something like a dill pickle, or a piece of lettuce, or a piece of grapefruit, but cautiously take the food. This is where your acting skills come into play. Begin chewing the food, but roll it around in your mouth, pull your lips back slightly, and stick your tongue out with the food showing. Resume chewing again, but this time, look at the human with the look of "Good grief! What IS this stuff?" on your face.
The better the food tastes, the more you have to act like you don't like it!! The human will think you look so silly eating whatever it is, that they'll give you another piece!! (See, I told you it takes some acting!) Whatever you do, unless it's really something horrible tasting, DO NOT SPIT THE FOOD OUT AND WALK AWAY!! Just act like you aren't too crazy about it, and it's guaranteed that they'll give you another piece of it... if nothing more than to see if it affects you the same way again.
Humans are easily amused I've found.

I've learned that a microwave equals food. Good food, but HOT food. Don't ever try swiping food that just came out of a microwave. Your barking mechanism could be severely damaged! I learned early in life, (about the age when I could reach things on the counter), that it is NOT a clever idea to grab food from the kitchen counter or the table... my parents seemed to take a dim view of returning to the kitchen to find nothing left but a plastic wrapper that had contained an entire loaf of bread when they had been in the kitchen ten minutes ago... It is NOT smart to eat an entire loaf of bread in a time frame of less than ten minutes.. it reeks havok on a puppy tummy, and I won't go into any more details. Just trust me on this one! Besides, you don't want to know how disgusted your human parents can become at you either. So, I'll sum this entire begging thing up with three words.
Beg, don't steal.
So, print off this page as a kind of Begging 101 Chart for further referencing.
*Note from Cody's mom:
We all know it's not a good thing to feed our dogs table scraps, and we make a practice of not overindulging in the habit, so please don't email Cody with harsh reprimands.. *smiles*
Cody did this page with his own kind of a 'tongue in Lab cheek' approach.
Thanks... Janet

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