Hi everyone, I just had to spoil all Isla's fun today! I have baby gates pretty much on every doorway, all except the kitchen. Here's where her fun is, Isla will pounce on everything you put down, forget to put away,leave laying around ect. She is quick as lightning and then takes off with item under the kitchen table. We then have inadvertently made this a game by chasing her around the table trying to retrieve whatever it is she has taken,mostly in case it can harm her. This can go on for several minutes, which she finds great fun. Today hubby fitted a gate across the doorway while Isla looked on,i do feel a little mean, hehe, but hopefully it will put a stop to her stealing
Hi Saffy. How old is Isla? Bear is just over 6 mths and can easily reach worktops, table etc. He feels it is his job to clean up the placemats after a meal.......ugh! I hasten to add, it's not his job! He loves to pinch things and run off with them but will give or drop when asked...........unless it's food. Oh boy can he swallow quick. I have a large square of wood on the stairs which has so far (fingers crossed) stopped his fun game of going upstairs and collecting whatever the children may have left around.........socks being his most favourite! I'm resisting the temptation to purchase a baby gate for the kitchen but feel I may be delaying the inevitable. I really didn't want to have to have one fitted so may see if there is one that doesn't need to be screwed into the wall. Well done for foiling her wiley ways and enjoy being in 'Smug Mode' for a while. lol x
We have a gate across the kitchen too, but last weekend I took Chewiebto my parents' place where there is no gate, and though they like Chewie they aren't really dog people. The horror on their faces when he started licking chopping boards and chewing the veggies they had left on the counter... Fast forward to several hours later and Chewie has his front paws on the draining board happily watching my mum do some cooking and she tells me to "leave him because he is just watching...!"
I guess watching is relatively good. Your mum, @Chewies_mum, is coming around. The Lab in my avatar would walk on her hind legs and check out the vet's counter tops. Did not do that at home.
Hi Donerkebab Isla is 11 months old,she has been quite a challenge! In the last few weeks all our and her hard work and training seems to be paying off as she is turning into a really lovely girl(until her teenage period kicks in!). We too delayed putting a gate on the kitchen as I'm usually out there with her but as you say it's when we forget or the children leave stuff laying around that she steals, at least now she's nowhere to run with the item. We've tried with drop and leave but Isla is not always great with this. You can get baby gates that don't have to be permanently fixed, they just extend to fit your doorway. I love the name Bear by the way.
She is coming round. It is quite sweet because she is a bit afraid of dogs (we are originally from South Africa where a lot of people have scary dogs) but is warming up to dogs (especially Labs) since we have Chewie and one of her friends has a lovely, calm Lab that is great with the grandkids. Chewie certainly loves following her around so I think they will be great friends before long.
