Eating ... Everything.

Misty has never had an issue eating human food - we simply never gave her any, and she never bothered to beg, or even try to "steal" or sneak anything... until Saturday, the smell of bacon was too strong for her.

I was preparing to make my famous "Breakfast Bread", which contains a pound of bacon, six eggs, 1 cup of shredded cheddar. I prepared all my ingredients and got the dough started then the doorbell rang.

I left everything sitting on the counter, like I always did in the past, to go answer the door. When I came back 5 minutes later everything was gone. Not a bowl had been moved, it was like she vacuumed it out. Bowls were spotless, not even a tongue mark - little bugger. Obviously I was angry, and she knew it - she hid under the table. When I went to find her, she was laying quietly with her head down, and between her front legs was my favorite hunting cap -- half eaten as well.

She's now, constantly putting her nose up on the counter-top to see what's new for breakfast - or what she can steal. She's getting plenty of kibble, and gets plenty of extra food on the side. I don't blame her, bacon is tasty stuff - but I'd prefer she not be taking things off the counter-top.

Any suggestions?

Oh boy... Misty's belly must have been bloated! LOL! The only thing that's ever worked for us is to keep the dog out of the kitchen. They're opportunists, after all, so as soon as they get human food, that's just about game over. Especially when it smells as good a bacon... Smell is more important to them than taste. I made the mistake of giving my dog a piece of raw carrot when we was a pup. Ever since then, he will run and sit at the chopping block as soon as he hears me grab the peeler. We also had to fence the vegetable garden because he tries to dig them up. We also don't allow our dogs to jump up on people, couches or furniture. Our current dog started jumping to see what was up on counters when he was a few months old. He was heading down that "dangerous" path! LOL! Glad I caught him in the act and corrected him. I suspect you'll have to bait Misty and catch her in the act before you can teach her not do beg or steal...

Most important thing is make sure the dog doesn't get things off the counter again. As long as she gets that reward you can never correct the behaviour. For example this battle is lost with my dog because my kids continually leave food in reach. Correcting the dog doesn't do anything because she gets the reward, and to her the reward is worth whatever follows. It's much easier to train a dog than to train yer @#$% kids....

Baiting the dog and catching it in the act is not going to work if the dog gets rewarded with food left on the counter ... dogs aren't dumb and they soon learn to steal when you're out of the room.

Well, no, you're right that it won't work if you catch her after she takes the bait. The key is waiting and watching, and as soon as the dog shows it's about the make the move to jump up, you correct it before it gets the reward. Timing is everything. We've tried this technique with all our dogs and it's worked well. Not perfect but still effective. The only reason why my current dog still goes for carrots is our fault -- we still give him the odd bit now and again. But he doesn't jump up on counters or beg. Of course, in Misty's case, we're talking about bacon, not carrots...

Mouse traps along the counter edge work very well to deter "counter surfing"!

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Originally Posted by The Wife

Well, no, you're right that it won't work if you catch her after she takes the bait.

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I actually meant that it won't work if food gets left on the counter where the dog can get it. That's how my kids have turned my dog into a lost cause on this very thing....

I don't leave anything on the counter unsupervised. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Mousetraps can also break toes.

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Originally Posted by Sharon

Mousetraps can also break toes.

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Very true Sharon ... Not to say it can't happen but the infrequent times they have been used around here and with friends, the dogs have never directly hit the traps. The traps have been moved or knocked over and the SNAP has created the noise to virtually stop the counter surfing immediately!

Just let it go. We're talking bacon. There is no solution.

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Originally Posted by terrym

Just let it go. We're talking bacon. There is no solution.

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ROFLMBO.... well said. :)

We string the mouse traps so that when one goes off it causes a chain reaction. We once rehomed a yellow lab that could get into anything . She could open cupboards, the fridge even got into the freezer. We offered to take her back but the new owners loved her because she would transfuse blood for their older lab. Anyway the mouse trap trick worked. At the end they didn't even need to be set just near the area that Nala was not to get into. Unfortuneately she was too smart for her own good. They left her at a boarding kennel and they did not lock the doors properly. Nala opened them and got out and was hit by a car.

I had a dog a lab collie mix.. She was so smart she could open her cage when it was latched.. She used her tounge to slide the bolt thingie out.. And once out she could push the door open.. She escaped one day from her line.. Don't know what happened.. Prbly got ate by a coyote..

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Originally Posted by topher

I had a dog a lab collie mix.. She was so smart she could open her cage when it was latched.. She used her tounge to slide the bolt thingie out.. And once out she could push the door open.. She escaped one day from her line.. Don't know what happened.. Prbly got ate by a coyote..

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But did she eat everything ???

Oh heck ya. My slippers.. My hat.. Diapers..
What's with dogs and their obsession with dirty diapers?

Well, ya know, one of the theories on how the dog was domesticated was that they hung around early human villages eating our poop. It was a good deal for everyone: the dogs got lots of food, and we solved our earliest plumbing problems. Maybe they're just wired for it....

It's even worse when there are toddlers around. Our dog knew that she would get nothing from us at the table, but she soon learned that sitting quietly beside our kids in high chairs would result in a buffet for her. And once the kids realized she liked their food, they were more than happy to fling it her way. Ironically, my daughter is now experiencing the same thing, as her kids like to feed their food to her lab when no one is watching.

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Originally Posted by topher

Oh heck ya. My slippers.. My hat.. Diapers..
What's with dogs and their obsession with dirty diapers?

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What an embarrassment! I had company and the Mother put the child's diaper in the bathroom garbage pail. You guessed it. The dogs comes running downstairs , shti flying.:ashamed:

That's one thing I have a hard time with - the whole eating poop thing. I've had a couple of dogs that could never be completely stopped of eating poop. Tried everything. The vet even gave me stuff to put in the food. (One dog I swear would have a second smaller poop somewhere hidden where she could go find it for later! She'd trot off a distance and do it while I was busy picking up the first one.) Of course, each time they got into some, they would throw up a while later, usually down the door or back seat of the truck or in the house on the carpet...

Day two of eating disasters -- a full pound of butter, and a bag of skim milk. The kids left the refrigerator door open when they went to school - my wife discovered the dog lapping milk off the floor, and an empty butter wrapper.

She has never done any of this before, and she is almost 1 year old - need to stop this before it becomes habit. Going to buy some mouse traps this afternoon and line the counter with them. Should I bait the counter as well?

I wonder if poop eating is more common with certain breeds. My first spaniel mix did it and so did my second spaniel but my Dalmatian didn't ever do it, and my last Rottie didn't, other than her rabbit poop phase.

My neighbors small terrier mix loves poop.

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Originally Posted by jweese

Day two of eating disasters -- a full pound of butter, and a bag of skim milk. The kids left the refrigerator door open when they went to school - my wife discovered the dog lapping milk off the floor, and an empty butter wrapper.

She has never done any of this before, and she is almost 1 year old - need to stop this before it becomes habit. Going to buy some mouse traps this afternoon and line the counter with them. Should I bait the counter as well?

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She is still a pup so I'd say it's time to limit her freedom in the house and use a crate.

My Dalmatian was bad for counter surfing. I setup buttered bread with chili peppers stuck to the butter and he loved it..lol All his water was gone though. He seemed to go through a phase with the surfing which got better as he matured. He once ate an entire apple pie. He took it ouit of the box and put the empty aluminum pie plate back in the box..lol

[QUOTE=jweese;" a full pound of butter, and a bag of skim milk."
I think sh.t is about to hit the fan!... And floor and everything else!... That butter will go through him fast!.. Probably faster than he can control!!!!

[QUOTE=grizzlygreig;748347][QUOTE=jweese;" a full pound of butter, and a bag of skim milk."
I think sh.t is about to hit the fan!... And floor and everything else!... That butter will go through him fast!.. Probably faster than he can control!!!![/QUOTE]

Yeah, she was put outside on her lead as soon as my wife found her, now if she's only smart enough to stay in her dog house when she gets cold -- all the better. I put her out after the bacon incident and she scratched at the door and barked for 30 minutes until we unlocked the door and she let herself in (on another note she can open and close the door from both sides herself, so we have to lock her out).

She is crate trained as well, so we'll have to start putting her in there but - that's her "special" place where she feels comfortable, I don't see putting her in there as punishment, and neither does she. She loves her crate. I think the mouse traps may be ideal, the cheap- dollar store traps that have more "SNAP" than they do "OUCH".

Nala ate everything. The Sunday roast off the counter, the sleeve of a leather jacket which she got by pulling the mat with the chair and the jacket close enough to her crate so she could reach it, 2lb of nanimo bars which she got out of the freezer, anything that she could get her lips on from the cupboards.
The mouse traps were even in Jan's knitting basket as Nala loved the wool. The mouse traps were everywhere for awhile. Jan's cleaning lady saw them and tolds Jan she didn't know that there was a mouse problem and if she really wanted to catch the mice the traps needed to be baited and set.
The first time we use them we do bait the dog. Some nice tempting thing on the counter just behind the trap and when the dog put its feet up they disturb the trap and the whole string is set off.

Yup mouse traps - my father in law didn't want the dogs on the couch so he set up traps covered in tin foil.

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Originally Posted by jweese

Day two of eating disasters -- a full pound of butter, and a bag of skim milk. The kids left the refrigerator door open when they went to school - my wife discovered the dog lapping milk off the floor, and an empty butter wrapper.

She has never done any of this before, and she is almost 1 year old - need to stop this before it becomes habit. Going to buy some mouse traps this afternoon and line the counter with them. Should I bait the counter as well?

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Sounds like you also need to train your kids ;)

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Originally Posted by BurlyGirl

Sounds like you also need to train your kids ;)

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I couldn't agree more! I think, training the dog will be easier however - they kids are 10,10,7, and 2 -- they're a lost cause already :)

Are you sure the kids left the fridge open?.... My buddies dog will open the fridge and help himself!!!.. Had to put a latch on it to stop the bugger... Oh and ya ... It was a lab... To smart for his own good!... Lol

Seriously, if the kids are undoing the training as fast as you can do it, it's a lost cause. Remember that thing about consistency....

E cooler on the kids?... Lol...

at our old house my lab got into the fridge all the time. we even put a "scat mat" in front of it, and at first he would just do it anyways and get shokced, than for a period of time he stopped going in the fridge and than eventually the mat died (because it had shocked so many times, and it was under the fridge and got spilled on), and he eventually realized the mat was not shocking anymore and started doing it again.
in our new house he hasn't figured this out yet in almost two years, but he rarely is in the kitchen when we cannot see him. but he still gets on the counter and in the garbage whenever he can. and he still loves the GFs underwear lol.
my dog is a lost cause at 7, but I am incredibly embarrassed that he still does this, and one day he is going to eat something that he cant pass or poisons him. Nip it in the bud ASAP, or you will lose that control.

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Originally Posted by last5oh_302

She is still a pup so I'd say it's time to limit her freedom in the house and use a crate.

My Dalmatian was bad for counter surfing. I setup buttered bread with chili peppers stuck to the butter and he loved it..lol All his water was gone though. He seemed to go through a phase with the surfing which got better as he matured. He once ate an entire apple pie. He took it ouit of the box and put the empty aluminum pie plate back in the box..lol

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Best advice yet. Buy some baby gates. Dog doesn't get in the kitchen ; crated when unsupervised.

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Originally Posted by last5oh_302

I wonder if poop eating is more common with certain breeds. My first spaniel mix did it and so did my second spaniel but my Dalmatian didn't ever do it, and my last Rottie didn't, other than her rabbit poop phase.

My neighbors small terrier mix loves poop.

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I don't think so. My beagle was the worst for it. My American PB Terrier never had any inclination for it.

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Originally Posted by Sharon

Best advice yet. Buy some baby gates. Dog doesn't get in the kitchen ; crated when unsupervised.

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Definitely have to agree with that. You're protecting her from getting all the blame in a situation that really isn't entirely her fault.

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Originally Posted by The Wife

I don't think so. My beagle was the worst for it. My American PB Terrier never had any inclination for it.

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So working dogs don't eat poop and sporting dogs do. See? I just figured it out.

The mouse trap seems to have worked, at least for the butter dish.

We caught her with her paws up on the counter-top again, licking the butter straight from the dish. Even though I was standing there, and she knew it - and KNEW she was going to get in trouble for it; she continued to lick away as if it was all OK. I shooed her away, and placed a mouse trap in the butter dish - I angled it in such a direction that the trap wouldn't snap down on her nose or her tongue; then I put the dish back on the counter with the lid on, where we normally keep it.

I watched, and waited - minutes later, she came back into the kitchen and put her paws up on the counter, I didn't say a word. She proceeded to knock the lid off the butter and as soon as she stuck her tongue in - the trap snapped. It didn't catch her, but it must have been close. She backed off immediately and hid under the table.

She hasn't attempted the butter again since.

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Originally Posted by bowj

at our old house my lab got into the fridge all the time. we even put a "scat mat" in front of it, and at first he would just do it anyways and get shokced, than for a period of time he stopped going in the fridge and than eventually the mat died (because it had shocked so many times, and it was under the fridge and got spilled on), and he eventually realized the mat was not shocking anymore and started doing it again.
in our new house he hasn't figured this out yet in almost two years, but he rarely is in the kitchen when we cannot see him. but he still gets on the counter and in the garbage whenever he can. and he still loves the GFs underwear lol.
my dog is a lost cause at 7, but I am incredibly embarrassed that he still does this, and one day he is going to eat something that he cant pass or poisons him. Nip it in the bud ASAP, or you will lose that control.

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They say after time dogs resemble their owners......

or your misses needs to stop wearing the edible kind of underwear.