Dog Community

Stealing food from counter/table

Posted : 7/11/2006 7:39:23 AM

Please help. My 6 YEAR (yes 6 YEAR old) Yellow Lab (Abby) has developed a most frustrating habit, pushing us to the brink! Over the last 6-9 months, the moment we are not looking, she will jump up on the counter/table to steal food. Last night, she reached new highs, stealing partially frozen ground beef from the frying pan!!! In the past it was socks (when she was younger), now it's food. I guess her taste buds have matured, and learned the immediate satisfaction from it.

Part of the bahavior change may be related to our son (who is 2 now). Because of him, our attention to Abby has decreased signficantly. We still run her everyday but she isn't our primary focus anymore; our son is. In addition, this primarily happens on my wife's watch. Abby has always acted up with my wife, I think, because Abby is constantly pushing for her attention (hence the socks and now food). This has been since puppyhood. She likes my attention, but contantly craves for her (or her mother strange enough?).

So, our temporary solution is to put her in her crate for awhile. I know this isn't a solution, but so we don't kill her and make the problem worse, it's the only thing we can think of. I know a rule should be to either remove the food from the dog or remove the dog from the food. This will work but long term we'd rather not have to do this. We thought after a few years, she'd calm down, yet, we're still waiting after age 6. We've done puppy, then obedience training and she (or we) did great. But that was a long time ago...

Any suggestions? Thank you in advance...

Rob Sevick

Mark

Posted : 7/11/2006 4:41:58 PM

why is it my dog relates to so many of these problems on the board..lol

is good tho,because i have been learning alot about discouraging bad behavior.

my husky Kiara is a consumate food scrounger,so i have to be constantly on gaurd if Rebecca is thawing or cooking.even Kuruk stole a fresh steak off the counter once.

besides removing the food to upper levelsd unreachable to the pups,you could grab there paws gently while saying NO and set them on the ground..i also lightly pinch the webbing between the toes while saying no and getting them down...if worse comes to worse,a small shot of bitter apple spray will work...not everyone likes to do this tho..

just like a kid,you have to do the same thing EVERYTIME you see the pup in the act...mine rarely does it anymore,but when i catch her,she goes down immediately.

others will probably have better advice,but i started doing this before i found this site..

spiritdogs

Posted : 7/15/2006 10:20:01 AM

Get a 24 pack of coke, and after you drink them all, don't return them for the deposit LOL. Pack them with a few pennies each, duct tape the tops, and set them back in the cardboard lid they came in. Attach a string to the lid, then place the whole shebang on a high shelf over the counter. Place a bologna sandwich or some other "bait" up on the counter. Leave the room, taking the string with you. When your little thief makes one move toward the counter, yank the string and the "kitchen witch" will unload the cans on her head, probably scaring the crap out of her (they are too light to hurt her). Don't let her associate this with you - say nothing.
Some Labs think it's raining toys when you do this, so if you have such a dog, consider buying a small hand-held air horn from the marine supply store...

mudpuppy

Posted : 7/17/2006 10:41:55 AM

I do a pro-active "no steal food" training because my dogs are so tall they can easily steal food even off the top of the fridge if they wanted to. I'm not sure how well it works with dogs that have successfully stolen food, but you can give it a try. Put a low-value food on the counter-- something the dog doesn't like, say lettuce. Reward the dog well with lovely treats for not stealing the lettuce. Now you need to work on two aspects, and work on them separately-- distance and value of the food on the counter. Still with your low-value food, gradually work up to you being able to leave the room for oh, 15 minutes, and come back, and reward the dog for not stealing the food. And you need to increase the value of the food, gradually up to something really good like roast beef. Something that really makes an impression on the dog is to reward with treats for not stealing it, and then as a bonus give the dog the high-value thing the dog didn't steal. So the dog thinks that not-stealing gets him more than stealing does. Once you've got to this stage you can start adding distance while working with a high-value food. But don't be too trusting. I trust the dogs to not take food off the counter while I'm cooking even if I wander out of the room for a bit, but I sure wouldn't leave a big hunk of meat out all day while I'm gone. Way too tempting for any dog.

fuzzy_dogs_mom

Posted : 7/17/2006 12:04:05 PM

Max was a counter surfer when he was younger and we just had to get used to not leaving any food within his reach - especially after he broke two big Corningware baking dishes w/lids. Now, as soon as we're through eating, everything gets wrapped/boxed etc. and put in the fridge. If I take something out of the oven and it has to sit and cool, I slip it into the microwave. Until dogs evolve far enough to develop opposable thumbs, I think we'll be OK. []

Joyce