Dog for Sale (not really) - Counter Surfer, Food Thief, Eats Everything

I'm sorry. I feel your pain. We have fully accepted the fact that we can never have a coffee table book in our living room. Or any paper items for that matter. Every single time we go anywhere and the dogs aren't crated, we have to clean up. It is such a pain. But Bentley can't resist paper objects, and we won't take a risk knowing that he's already had stomach surgery and one wrong thing eaten could be really bad news.

I'm really lucky because Lexi, the jumper of my two, is petrified of our baby gates. We used to live in a house with wood floors and once when she was a puppy the baby gate fell over next to her and clattered on the floor. Now she stays a good foot away from every baby gate in our house.
 
I also feel your pain. Asta is the major food hound and opportunist. Although we can leave food for a short while on the coffee table, if we're right in the kitchen both dogs know better than to try and steal that food. But if we are out of sight, all bets are off. I had some guests over last week and had some food out on the coffee table. We stepped out into the backyard to look at my flowers and roses, and when we came back in (I didn't notice the dogs had stayed in the house), Asta was in the bowl of Doritos!! :rolleyes2:

I was pretty mad at myself because I know better. My guests thought it was pretty funny, and then to top it off she burped in my friend's face when she bent over to pet Asta. Good grief.

Then the other day, we were eating dinner at the coffee table while watching some TV, and Asta suddenly looms over the table and tries to snatch the fish oil pill sitting there! I mean, INCHES away from my hubby! Gawd, I couldn't believe the nerve.

So I think Dr. Shelli is right; most of our dogs would snatch the food out of our hands/mouths if they could.

The walk thru gate looks like your best bet, Cheryl.
 
Our old lhasa-poodle Maxine used to jump baby gates with the greatest of ease. We ended up taking a door, cutting it in half, and putting each half at one end of the kitchen. We put a little flat piece of wood on top to pretty them up. After she grew out of her thieving phase, we took the one down leading into the family room, but have left the other one by the back door, it keeps all dogs from straying into the basement where the gold mines of cat food & litter boxes are. You are definitely not the first to go through this! :wink2:
 
I don't know if you tried the kong or not yet (didn't look like it) but they do make spray in food for the kong which is reallllly simple. I am using it with my puppy kong and it kept him busy for 2 hours! :eek2: It is also really simple to wash out the stuff that he missed. If the kong doesn't entertain your dog, I would suggest shutting him in a room such as the bathroom when you're going out. Some place there is nothing food wise he could get into.
 
Have you considered crating? Shelby is 3 and we still crate her when we go to work. I didn't like it at first, but that was just me. Our previous sheltie had us spoiled and never got into trouble or steal food. Shelby can get herself into trouble if she is alone and gets bored. She also is very reactive when the neighbor kids are playing in the street. I am afraid she will hurt herself if we are not here. And she would steal any food if given the slightest chance.

As much as I hated it at first I am glad we continued with it. She is more than happy to go in it and we leave with the peace of mind knowing nothing will be destroyed and she is safe.

Heck the other week we had a contractor at the house and she was being way to friendly and getting in the way. So I went to lock her in our bedroom and instead she ran into her crate. So I know she is fine with it.
 
Okay, this might sound mean but here goes.
We bought the "space age shelving" that you buy for closets. It has a vinyl coating over metal and comes in various widths.
We buy the 16" and cut it to fit the doorways, staircases etc. On the front edge it has a piece that comes down about 2" that allows us doggy types to stand the shelf upright.
Here's the "mean" part. When said dog gets really close to this "gate" trying to come into the area that he/she isn't to go in, we knock it over towards them. It won't hurt them but it does, usually, scare them into not getting too close to it or attempting to jump it. It worked for my friend's Lab, a dog that also did agility, so well that when she had burglars in the house the dog stayed behind the "fence". Make sure you place it so that the L is facing the room away from the dog so that it tips easily.
As for chewing stuff outside, a have to agree that you might need to use a basket muzzle but not if you have another dog that might grab at it or decide to attack the dog wearing it. My portie friend has this issue and we decided that the muzzle was better than the surgery that was bound to happen as those two dogs eat and swallow anything they can find. She actually opened a bank account and regularily deposited money into it for surgery as many of her portie friends ended up paying for their own dogs blockages!
With the porties and their counter surfing, we set them up for failure. By that, I mean, we put things deliberately where they could reach it and waited. As soon as we heard the tell tale signs we ran in and scolded. As soon as they retreated, we rewarded. It took about 2 weeks of this and they decided that it just wasn't worth it. Both of these dogs were between 1 and 2 years of age.
Hope you can get a handle on this. It really is frustrating.
 
We had problems with Rascal darting out the door (even though there was absolutely NO WAY he could get between my leg and the door) and running. Recall vanished. Period. He came home when he was darn good and ready.

When we moved, our door opens onto a landing and then you go down to the basement or up the few stairs to the house.

We put a walk through gate at the top of the stairs into the house. Rascal cannot get out. Even the cats don't try to jump it. (Basement is where my inventory is for my website and that area is off limits to furbabies)

I have the kind that you have to lift the whole gate part a little bit to get it out of the track at the bottom so the gate will open and you can walk through it. Frankly, it's worth about a million dollars.
 
Shelby's mom said:
Have you considered crating? Shelby is 3 and we still crate her when we go to work. I didn't like it at first, but that was just me. Our previous sheltie had us spoiled and never got into trouble or steal food. Shelby can get herself into trouble if she is alone and gets bored. She also is very reactive when the neighbor kids are playing in the street. I am afraid she will hurt herself if we are not here. And she would steal any food if given the slightest chance.

As much as I hated it at first I am glad we continued with it. She is more than happy to go in it and we leave with the peace of mind knowing nothing will be destroyed and she is safe.

Heck the other week we had a contractor at the house and she was being way to friendly and getting in the way. So I went to lock her in our bedroom and instead she ran into her crate. So I know she is fine with it.
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Everyone was talking about baby gates, but my thought was the same. CRATE!

If your dog is untrustworthy, steals food, gets into garbage, counter surfs, then you have no choice but to segregate pup when you can't watch him.

I'm pretty sure you crated before, so it might only take a few days to get him back into crating.

Frankly, there are times that I wish I had not stopped crating my dogs. It sure comes in handy when you need it. Indy is such a food hound that he even gets aggressive when I go to feed Bacca his pills. He snarls and snaps because he thinks Bacca is getting something "special". Little does he know that I'm forcing these pills down Bacca's throat.

I've considered crating Indy again for that very reason. Food in the crate and only in the crate.
 
I don't know if your place is similar to mine, but my place is too small to set up crates. But maybe you could gate off the laundry or bathroom and leave him in there when he is unsupervised? Mind you, if I'm in bed with a migraine and don't get the chance to block of the kitchen one of mine will take the opportunity to do some counter cruising, they have no shame.

Do you have any idea how he is getting to the food? I know with Deska he reaches up and nudges things with his nose. Tully tends to push the kitchen chairs out to get on the bench (since she hurt her shoulder she hasn't be able to jump directly on the bench). It does help with planning knowing exactly what method they use to get things.
 
All great suggestions. I'd like to touch on a few things so you understand the whole situation.

This isn't really an issue if I leave the house for more than 15 mins as I will do a quick check of counters and lower flat surfaces. So, in those instances, no need for crating or shutting in another room.

I guess the reason I am thinking a gate to block off the kitchen is because 99% of the time, he takes food from there. And I don't want to have to mess with putting Koji in a crate just to take Miko out for less than a minute. Or if I am making Miko's food and need to go to the bathroom, or change clothes, or if i'm doing laundry, etc.

Do you see where I'm going with this? If it's to put Koji away for 15+ mins, I'd understand. But if it's for 1-3 mins, it's more of a hassle and I know I won't keep it up after awhile. Just being real.

So, I'm thinking walk-thru gate. And I need to be better about not leaving food on my desk. I've been looking at gates, but trying to figure out how to make it work since it can't be put on one side (cabinets are right there).


Also, Tagg, you suggested scaring Koji. the only reason I'm trying hard to stay away from that is because he was a huge scaredy-cat of everything agility related. Especially movement and noises. I honestly don't want him to revert. And he will generalize. It's bad enough that the other day, I yelled his name and he cowered into a half-down position, tail tucked. i don't like seeing him like that. If he was to rebound easier, fine. But he's not. And he will take it with him into everything else (meaning noises, things falling near him, agility, etc). So, not a solution for Koji. I would say it's an idea for dogs with stable temperaments. Not skittish dogs who react badly.
 
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