Question for Sugar Magnolia

[untateve]

General info: My dog is aussie shepherd/lab mix. Female, 1 yr and 5 months old. Smart dog, generally listens well. Needs lots of exercise and gets it.

 

The problem: She will reach up onto counters in the kitchen and steal food or at my son's places at the tables if they leave it unattended. It's becoming a real problem and I'm wondering what strategies may make help stop this. We have NEVER fed her from the table, never thrown her snacks--even her own. She gets snacks in her crate or in her bowl. I have occasionally taken a little left over meat and mixed it into her food bowl.

 

Please help. Pretty please (tonight she grabbed a stuffed chicken breast and I thought my wife was going to kill her. I love my dog).

[Hugh 0ne]

Shockey shockey my friend. She'll be fixed in a week, maybe less.

[Sugar Magnolia]

General info: My dog is aussie shepherd/lab mix. Female, 1 yr and 5 months old. Smart dog, generally listens well. Needs lots of exercise and gets it.

 

The problem: She will reach up onto counters in the kitchen and steal food or at my son's places at the tables if they leave it unattended. It's becoming a real problem and I'm wondering what strategies may make help stop this. We have NEVER fed her from the table, never thrown her snacks--even her own. She gets snacks in her crate or in her bowl. I have occasionally taken a little left over meat and mixed it into her food bowl.

 

Please help. Pretty please (tonight she grabbed a stuffed chicken breast and I thought my wife was going to kill her. I love my dog).

 

I have the same problem with my Aussie. She will not do it when we are around which means if I am going to resolve it, I need to use a "remote punishment". Right now we just do the best we can to keep our counters cleaned up, but I left a jar of cashews out the other day, and looked out the window and she carried them through the dog door, which is what she does. I'm ready to take action myself.

 

A shock collar will fix it, but since I am a postive motivational trainer, and like using the least aversive method possible, I will suggest other methods:

 

1. Put some yummy food on a cookie sheet along with a couple of coke cans filled with coins. Place the yummy treats and cans on the cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet so it is just hanging over the edge. When she jumps up to get the food the cans filled with coins will make a terrible racket when hitting the floor. Aussies are sound sensitive so this usually works well. Dogs do not generalize well so you need to do this in all the places she steals food.

 

2. Tape balloons to the counter and place the food behind the balloons. When she goes for the food, the balloons will pop and scare her.

 

3. Use mousetraps. Repeat above but put mousetraps in front. Their paws are too big to actually get caught in the mousetraps but will scare them. Don't do this if you have cats, or place the mousetraps upside down.

 

Word of caution with shock collars. Dogs learn through associations but this can work against you. For example, if your son is standing next to the food as your dog jumps up on the counter, the dog could make the wrong association and blame the shock on your son and become fearful of your son. I'm just using that as an example. Your timing with severe punishment better be very good or it can have some very bad results if the dog makes the wrong association. I'm am dealing with a family right now whose dog chased people on bicycles just because it was fun-a Border Collie mix. The owner shocked him and now he hates the bicyclists and has become very aggressive towards them-he now associates the shock with the bicycles. These situations are rare, but can happen.

 

Also dogs learn very quickly that the collar causes the shock-again dogs learn quickly about associations. So, have your dog wear the collar for at least a week full time before shocking. You can buy citronella remote collars which spray a citronella spray in their face. They are more humane than shock collars, but much harder to find-don't confuse them with citronella bark collars which are more readily found.

[Ursa Majoris]

Dayum, this place is amazing isn't it? The premier advice center on the Internet, bar none.

[Hugh 0ne]

Awesome post SM. Great info.

 

Quick, possibly dumb question: Mousetraps won't catch a dogs paws? How about their noses? Seems pretty dangerous, but I guess I'm missing something.

[untateve]

Thanks for the response. So much for the simple solution.

 

Maybe I'll just cut off her front paws.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Awesome post SM. Great info.

 

Quick, possibly dumb question: Mousetraps won't catch a dogs paws? How about their noses? Seems pretty dangerous, but I guess I'm missing something.

 

 

It possibly could, which is why I suggested turning the mousetraps upside down. I don't know anyone who has used it but there is a device called a Snappy Trainer which is a mousetrap-like booby trap designed for dogs. Just keyword search and some on-line pet store retailer will have them.

 

One thing I totally forgot about is the Scat Mat. It delivers an "mild electrostatic shock" I recommended this to a client and she said it was a little harsher than an electrostatic shock when she shocked herself. It's a mat you can put on counters, furniture or across doorways of rooms to teach them to stay out.

 

With all of these remote devices, you've got to leave them on the counter for at least two weeks or more. If they receive the punishment, then two days later they don't, they will continue to test the surface, and then you're screwed. That's one advantage of a shock collar. If the shock is intense enough, it will be so aversive they will be too afraid ever give it a test-at least most dogs. You just have to live with whether you want to hurt your dog that bad because he/she steals food. I have a client who used it on a dog who was getting into the litter pan-he never went near it again. Another with a dog eating cat food-he got shocked and spewed the food out. He never touched the food again. Personally, I won't go that route with my dogs, but it's a personal choice.

[jaxfactor]

I've done the can trick before, but I am a ghey cat owner. It works wonders with cats. I've been training the 4th cat the same way. He thinks he's slick but it won't be long before it works again. It's funny. When I'm around to see it(very rare), the other cats look at him like "look at the stupid ass, he's gonna try again". Oh, did I mention that I'm a ghey cat owner?

[untateve]

It possibly could, which is why I suggested turning the mousetraps upside down. I don't know anyone who has used it but there is a device called a Snappy Trainer which is a mousetrap-like booby trap designed for dogs. Just keyword search and some on-line pet store retailer will have them.

 

One thing I totally forgot about is the Scat Mat. It delivers an "mild electrostatic shock" I recommended this to a client and she said it was a little harsher than an electrostatic shock when she shocked herself. It's a mat you can put on counters, furniture or across doorways of rooms to teach them to stay out.

 

With all of these remote devices, you've got to leave them on the counter for at least two weeks or more. If they receive the punishment, then two days later they don't, they will continue to test the surface, and then you're screwed. That's one advantage of a shock collar. If the shock is intense enough, it will be so aversive they will be too afraid ever give it a test-at least most dogs. You just have to live with whether you want to hurt your dog that bad because he/she steals food. I have a client who used it on a dog who was getting into the litter pan-he never went near it again. Another with a dog eating cat food-he got shocked and spewed the food out. He never touched the food again. Personally, I won't go that route with my dogs, but it's a personal choice.

 

 

Scat mat seems to be the perfect solution. My dog is smart. We use a wireless shock collar to keep her from leaving the yard and she has only made a mistake about 2-3 times (and that was early on). I don't want to put another collar on her. I'm going to see if my local pet store has these mats. If not, I'll order them on line.

 

Thanks, SM.

[P-Dogma]

If I can hijack the thread, I've got a question.

 

We've got a 6 1/2-month old Havanese puppy. Great little dog, well behaved, learns quickly, and has never met a person or dog that he didn't like. But he seems to have pretty bad separation anxiety.

 

My wife works from home, so she is with him all day. She can't move from one chair to another in the same room without him following her to see where she is going. We call it his "shadow dog syndrome". If you get up from the couch to go get a drink, he'll follow you. If we go into another part of the house that he doesn't have access to yet, he'll just sit at the gate and whine/bark.

 

When we leave for a few hours to go somewhere, like out to dinner, he'll stand at the door and bark continually. He doesn't touch his toys, his food or his water. And from what our neighbor says, the barking doesn't stop. This is actually the only time he ever really barks. When we come home, the barking stops and everything returns to normal.

 

We leave him in essentially a two room area, the kitchen and dining room, which is gated off from the rest of the house. It is where he spends most of his days. We've tried leaving him in a smaller laundry room, gated off with his crate, toys, food and water. But everytime he ends up vomiting. At least when we leave him in the kitchen/dining room area he never vomits, just barks continuously.

 

Is this just a phase that he'll grow out of since he is a puupy still? Is there anything we can do to help him get past this? We've tried to leave for just short periods of time, like 30 seconds or five minutes, just so that he gets used to us leaving and coming back, but nothing seems to have worked yet.

 

TIA

[darin3]

I've done the can trick before, but I am a ghey cat owner. It works wonders with cats. I've been training the 4th cat the same way. He thinks he's slick but it won't be long before it works again. It's funny. When I'm around to see it(very rare), the other cats look at him like "look at the stupid ass, he's gonna try again". Oh, did I mention that I'm a ghey cat owner?

 

 

If I can hijack the thread, I've got a question.

 

We've got a 6 1/2-month old Havanese puppy. Great little dog, well behaved, learns quickly, and has never met a person or dog that he didn't like. But he seems to have pretty bad separation anxiety.

 

My wife works from home, so she is with him all day. She can't move from one chair to another in the same room without him following her to see where she is going. We call it his "shadow dog syndrome". If you get up from the couch to go get a drink, he'll follow you. If we go into another part of the house that he doesn't have access to yet, he'll just sit at the gate and whine/bark.

 

When we leave for a few hours to go somewhere, like out to dinner, he'll stand at the door and bark continually. He doesn't touch his toys, his food or his water. And from what our neighbor says, the barking doesn't stop. This is actually the only time he ever really barks. When we come home, the barking stops and everything returns to normal.

 

We leave him in essentially a two room area, the kitchen and dining room, which is gated off from the rest of the house. It is where he spends most of his days. We've tried leaving him in a smaller laundry room, gated off with his crate, toys, food and water. But everytime he ends up vomiting. At least when we leave him in the kitchen/dining room area he never vomits, just barks continuously.

 

Is this just a phase that he'll grow out of since he is a puupy still? Is there anything we can do to help him get past this? We've tried to leave for just short periods of time, like 30 seconds or five minutes, just so that he gets used to us leaving and coming back, but nothing seems to have worked yet.

 

TIA

 

Both of our cats have this same issue, to varying degrees. My cat has to be separated from my wife's cat because my little man is sick and isn't strong enough to defend himself. He chills in my den 90% of the time, and this is where I am most of the time. But when I'm in the living room or waking up in the morning, many times my cat will kick the holy hell out of the door. Puts his front paws under the door and kicks violently with his hind legs. He knows it makes a ton of racket and it usually spurns one of us coming to open the door to spray him with water. And God forbid my wife comes into the den with me. Her cat will cry bloody murder. Unless he's sleeping.

 

Now back to your regularly scheduled dog training.

[Brentastic]

Dayum, this place is amazing isn't it? The premier advice center on the Internet, bar none.

 

[Hugh 0ne]

I am a ghey cat owner.

 

 

Shut up homo.

[Ursa Majoris]

Shut up homo.

 

Yuck fou, say the Union of Cat Owners.

[whomper]

Yuck fou, say the Union of Cat Owners.

 

 

 

.

[Ursa Majoris]

.

 

Isn't that your MH pic?

[whomper]

Isn't that your MH pic?

 

 

 

Yes but I was young and foolish back then

[broncosn05]

Slap her in the head.

[Big John]

Yes but I was young and foolish back then

 

or this?

[Sugar Magnolia]

If I can hijack the thread, I've got a question.

 

We've got a 6 1/2-month old Havanese puppy. Great little dog, well behaved, learns quickly, and has never met a person or dog that he didn't like. But he seems to have pretty bad separation anxiety.

 

My wife works from home, so she is with him all day. She can't move from one chair to another in the same room without him following her to see where she is going. We call it his "shadow dog syndrome". If you get up from the couch to go get a drink, he'll follow you. If we go into another part of the house that he doesn't have access to yet, he'll just sit at the gate and whine/bark.

 

When we leave for a few hours to go somewhere, like out to dinner, he'll stand at the door and bark continually. He doesn't touch his toys, his food or his water. And from what our neighbor says, the barking doesn't stop. This is actually the only time he ever really barks. When we come home, the barking stops and everything returns to normal.

 

We leave him in essentially a two room area, the kitchen and dining room, which is gated off from the rest of the house. It is where he spends most of his days. We've tried leaving him in a smaller laundry room, gated off with his crate, toys, food and water. But everytime he ends up vomiting. At least when we leave him in the kitchen/dining room area he never vomits, just barks continuously.

 

Is this just a phase that he'll grow out of since he is a puupy still? Is there anything we can do to help him get past this? We've tried to leave for just short periods of time, like 30 seconds or five minutes, just so that he gets used to us leaving and coming back, but nothing seems to have worked yet.

 

TIA

 

 

This one is way too involved to give a quick message board advice. My suggestion is to buy the booklet I'll Be Home Soon, by Patricia McConnell found on Amazon or http://www.dogsbestfriendtraining.com/books-retail.php This is not something your dog will grow out of, and if not dealt with will get worse. It takes a lot of work to get a dog to overcome this issue if caught early, but the good news is the prognosis is quite good.

 

If your dog doesn't improve after following Trisha's protocol (and you have to follow it step by step, skipping steps will make this unsuccessful). I'd suggest a trainer who has experience with seperation anxiety. I can help find you a trainer if the need arises, or I can do a phone consult.