Dutch Shepherd Forum

I decided to make toast. I put the bread in the toaster left the kitchen for no more than 30 seconds and when I returned there was only one slice. I know I put 2 slices in And I also know better not to leave any food on the counter unattended. One look at Odin and I saw the guilt all over his pretty face. I forget how big he is and when he stands he is over 4 ft tall.

Has anyone else had food mysteriously missing from their counters?

OH Yes!!! My butter always dissapears. I had a banana leave the rest of the bunch never to be seen again. They are very tall when they stand up. Nothing is safe.

Willow casually walks around a room, with a bone in her mouth, nose up, high mapping out where all of the food is. Then she just lays there chewing her bone waiting for the split second where you might have to use the restroom. When you come back (5 seconds later), rest assured she will be chewing a bone in the same place....and everything will be gone.

After 11 years, you would think we would learn. But every so often someone gets careless.

No food issues so far, but never say never!!!!

Ah ha, the advantages of a small brindle bundle! No counter surfing here.

Zodiac was the queen of counter surfing when we first adopted her. That was the very first training problem we worked on and now I can reliably leave food on the counter without worry.

Yep, the butter is never safe on the counter, neither is the butter knife.

Dutchringgirl wrote:OH Yes!!! My butter always dissapears.

LOL! Diesel is generally really good but with 2 exceptions: Butter and Cheese! Anything else I could leave on the counter and he wouldn't touch it.
Halo is different, if she can reach it, she will eat it, she is too small to get up on the counter. I left my pantry open once and she ate a 2lb sweet potato...I didnt notice it was missing because there was no trace of it left behind. It wasn't until I went to cook it that I figured it out...suddenly the orange poop made sense!

Another time, I was dog sitting and I was warned about leaving food on the counter. I stupidly thought a bag of dry rice would be unappealing to this dog...I was very wrong! What a mess!

While I was vacuuming today (did i spell that correctly?) anyway, I believe Odin watched Leih's video on "go to bin", because he learned how to push it open and now it's his favorite thing to do as soon as my back is turned - the little devil!!

Seriously, he never bothered with it before, but he has been watching me alot in the kitchen lately and I believe I inadvertently taught him how to push it open . I'm sure it was just a matter of time before the genius realized that there are gross things in there that suits him just fine.

ZodiacT wrote:Zodiac was the queen of counter surfing when we first adopted her. That was the very first training problem we worked on and now I can reliably leave food on the counter without worry.

Please share how you did this? He will only do it in if I am NOT in the room.

At least he's not eating the cats - that's a good thing right??
Actually, I am surprised how they are a non issue for him now. I really thought he would never get over them, but it seems to be about the chase, not the kill.

"Please share how you did this? He will only do it in if I am NOT in the room."

We tried various methods that did not work (putting tabasco on the food left out, leaving noisy cans on the edge that would fall, etc.) but none of them worked. Finally we bought one of those shock strips that give an unpleasant shock when touched but do not hurt badly (I tried it on myself first). We just put the shock strip on the counter edge when we had food up there and after only a couple of shocks Zodiac stopped being interested in anything on the counter. Of course this only works if your dog puts their paws on the area where the strip is, which Zodiac always did.

ZodiacT wrote:"Please share how you did this? He will only do it in if I am NOT in the room."

We just put the shock strip on the counter edge when we had food up there and after only a couple of shocks Zodiac stopped being interested in anything on the counter. Of course this only works if your dog puts their paws on the area where the strip is, which Zodiac always did.

I will have to check this out. Do you mind if I ask where did you find it? Thanks.

felixone123 wrote:I will have to check this out. Do you mind if I ask where did you find it? Thanks.

It's called the Scat Mat Strip, they are available in different sizes and I ordered mine from here http://www.safepetproducts.com/scat-mat ... -dogs.html

An alternative is placing set mouse traps upside down, and then newspaper on top of that. Then set a roast up. Once one trap goes off, they all tend to, and it scares the crap out of them. Works for my clients anyway

BUT...You have to set up the video camera when you do this, so we can all laugh at their reaction (am I mean or what?)

Sugars Mom wrote:BUT...You have to set up the video camera when you do this, so we can all laugh at their reaction (am I mean or what?)

Or you could submit to AFV and win $100 000!

Christie M wrote:An alternative is placing set mouse traps upside down, and then newspaper on top of that. Then set a roast up. Once one trap goes off, they all tend to, and it scares the crap out of them. Works for my clients anyway

I like this method. Ill have to use this for Sadie. She is great when Im in the kitchen but as soon as I leave, she is up on the counter. I used to have a Scat Mat when I had a cat. The shock isnt bad, but just enough to get your message through.

We are working with Oz on an " out of the kitchen" command the goal is that he will learn not to go past the island and even get close to any food on the counter. So far nothing has disappeared!