mysqldump not generating USE statement
Try putting the USE db_name manually

echo "USE db_name" &gt; output.sql
mysqldump -u root db_name tbl_1 tbl_2 tbl_3 &gt;&gt; output.sql


I can see the wisdom of not mixing the USE command with select mysqldumping of tables. You do not want to risk creating database with the name of a production database. You also do not want the developer to become aware of not the database that will be the target. In this way, the mysqldump, in itself, can never be blamed for overwriting target tables.