My dogs do beg, but not at the dinner table. Usually Belle will lay under the table, and Maggie will put herself to bed (she seems to have missed out on the hound thing mentioned by luvofallhorses as far as begging, but she does sleep a lot). Belle knows that if she's going to get scraps, it will be after we finish and we scrape them into her food bowl. If she starts to act like a beggar while we're eating, it usually means that she has to go out...the nose begging comes in at that point too (usually on my lap or nudging my elbow up as I'm raising a spoon or fork to my mouth )

However, when we're snacking in front of the TV, we're open game as far as the begging goes, especially with popcorn.