Oh.My.God! Zac is making me crazy!! Since he is such a big boy- his counter surfing is doubly painful because he can reach a lot! And he seems to think my lunch prep in the early am is great time to do this. So far he has stolen half a turkey sandwhich, the bag of homemade bread (teeth holes = stale bread), slices of toast, my buttered english muffin, a stick of butter, my daughters math homework twice, tax forms, apple slices and today he licked the pineapple my husband was cutting up. I am exhausted. And I may have even posted about this. I know some of you keep the pups in the other room. My question is this - how do you train with treats, when you don't want him getting food from the counters. Does that make sense? i am thinking that he is thinking "she is giving me food when I sit or lay nicely, but heck, I can get it myself whenever I want!" Oh - and I put him in his crate while I am working in the kitchen - he just barks!!
Re: food thief The best thing to do is not leave anything unattended on the work surfaces. Ever. Not even crumbs. By getting to this stuff, he is self rewarding and no amount of trying to stop him will work, especially with such tasty treats. If he's jumping up while you're actually in there, I'd train an alternative behaviour that is incompatible. For example, my two have to sit on the other side of the threshold to the kitchen (it's open plan, but I have a distinction between tiled floor in the kitchen and wooden floor outside). This has been trained by only ever giving them food outside if that threshold. When I'm making anything, I stop what I'm doing and cross my arms if they come into the kitchen. They soon get the idea that nothing is forthcoming unless they sit outside. At first, I had to give them treats very frequently, but now it's down to one every five minutes or so. Even when I'm preparing their meals, I enforce the same policy. No entering the kitchen, or all activity stops. This keeps them out of the freezer, from being under my feet, from jumping up whilst I'm prepping etc. Willow still goes and has a look at what's on the counters every now and again, so i have to make sure there's nothing at all there that she can get to. Although yesterday, DH left the empty bowl that had had the ferrets' meat in it on the edge, so she had a good lick of that. Sigh. He thinks they should know not to take anything off the counters. I tell him if there was nothing to take, there would be no issue.... Who needs training more, dogs or human?
Re: food thief he does this while I am there! He tries to push me out of the way. AND - he is tall enough that if the kitchen sink is piled up, he can stand up and lick dishes! Oh - and he is obsessed with the dishwasher! this is one of those times that he has me at the end of my rope with frustration!!!!
Re: food thief When he goes to push you out lf the way do you push him back down? You could either try to teach him paws down/on the floor and just have him barking in his crate and treat him for not barking........
Re: food thief [quote author=snowbunny link=topic=10240.msg150398#msg150398 date=1426695698] Who needs training more, dogs or human? [/quote] HUSBANDS....without a doubt!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Re: food thief [quote author=Zacbrownpup link=topic=10240.msg150399#msg150399 date=1426695853] he does this while I am there! He tries to push me out of the way. AND - he is tall enough that if the kitchen sink is piled up, he can stand up and lick dishes! Oh - and he is obsessed with the dishwasher! this is one of those times that he has me at the end of my rope with frustration!!!! [/quote] So, don't let him in the kitchen. If you have a door, use it. If not, don't do ANYTHING while he's in the kitchen. Don't let the sink get piled up so he can self-reward. With the dishwasher, train him to stay away like this: as you open it, if he sticks his nose in, close it quickly. It may only be open a crack when he does this. Wait until he offers you another behaviour - stepping back, or sitting. Then try to open it again. Again, if he puts his nose in, close it and wait for the step back or sit again. Repeat. Every time he goes to it, close it. He'll soon learn that nothing good comes from trying to get in.
Re: food thief Put a mat in the kitchen, train him to go on it and stay there until you say "release" so you can stack the dishwasher in peace. And yes, as Fiona says, nothing on the worktops at all...it does take a while though. Charlie has never really forgotten the chicken mayo sandwich he got one day....
Re: food thief Hi there, I did what Julie suggests and trained Maisie to sit on a mat while I'm loading the dishwasher, preparing food, etc. I didn't do this until she was about 9 months old and the dishwasher frenzy was becoming too much and it didn't take long to train the behaviour. I just told her to sit on her mat and treated her each time, now I just have to ask her to sit on her mat without treats.
Re: food thief [quote author=snowbunny link=topic=10240.msg150398#msg150398 date=1426695698] The best thing to do is not leave anything unattended on the work surfaces. Ever. [/quote] This. And for when you are there - lots of training. I use dishwasher loading times to practice the down-stay. I use a nice treat (stinky tripe sticks) and they have to lie on their mats for the duration of dishwasher loading. Now, when I open the dishwasher, they go to their mats. I never, ever feed mine off the counter. I never give them any human food and me eating never signals that they will get any - not a scrap, not a lick
Re: food thief Mine don't go in the kitchen at all when we are around food. We have a child gate on the door. Simples
Re: food thief Ok - thank you so much! Great Ideas! We are working on him in a sit/stay when I open the front door. He has caught on quick and doing well. Why did I not think of this with the dishwasher? (and the clothes dryer..) I will try bringing his bed from the next room, into the kitchen and tell him "on his bed". See if that works - and if not - we do have gates and I will use them. I can tell you what happens - and it's a total human training thing... We work with him on a command and he catches on and we do that for a little while and then get greedy/impatient. We want it to work without OUR work. You know? It feels like we will never be able to do anything without treating. But I suppose that is simply a phase, just like the crock'opup stage. right? (please tell me I am right...)
Re: food thief [quote author=sunsetpines link=topic=10240.msg150405#msg150405 date=1426696517] [quote author=snowbunny link=topic=10240.msg150398#msg150398 date=1426695698] Who needs training more, dogs or human? [/quote] HUSBANDS....without a doubt!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D [/quote] I resemble that allegation!
Re: food thief [quote author=UncleBob link=topic=10240.msg150546#msg150546 date=1426752285] [quote author=sunsetpines link=topic=10240.msg150405#msg150405 date=1426696517] [quote author=snowbunny link=topic=10240.msg150398#msg150398 date=1426695698] Who needs training more, dogs or human? [/quote] HUSBANDS....without a doubt!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D [/quote] I resemble that allegation! [/quote] ;D ;D ;D
Re: food thief [quote author=Zacbrownpup link=topic=10240.msg150492#msg150492 date=1426711932] I can tell you what happens - and it's a total human training thing... We work with him on a command and he catches on and we do that for a little while and then get greedy/impatient. We want it to work without OUR work. You know? It feels like we will never be able to do anything without treating. But I suppose that is simply a phase, just like the crock'opup stage. right? (please tell me I am right...) [/quote] Yes, it's a disruption to you at first, but it soon gets better. I'm gradually extending the length of time between treats and, if I'm doing something longer where I can't treat them for whatever reason, well, they just have to wait!
