Ok my 2 year old flat coat is causing me great concern not to mention danger to herself. She acts as if she is constantly starving. Go towards the fridge and she is in there faster than I can move. I often have to wrestle anything remotely interesting from her and I mean wrestle. She has had lids of tins of chocolates, countersurfs for England. She has had toast as I have been buttering it popping up between my body and the work top. Things from the oven you name it and she has either had it or very nearly. Any food in your hand and its gone.
Last night she got into my son room which should have been locked as the only way to stop her bin raiding for anything and found two packets of marzipan (500g ) in total and ate the lot. It was tucked into a sainsburys bag and at the bottom of a zipped bag. She was as you can imagine very poorly last night but is fine now.  I just opened the back door and let her pout and saw her take a dive into the corner of the side entrance. following her I discover a recycling food bin blown over and among other things some old soap I had thrown away . Yes you have guessed it she was gobbling the soap and other things as fast as possible when she heard me coming. I then had to wrestle her out of the way to safety
Anyone have any suggestions ? IH have tried treating her when the fridge is opened but the fridge is the easiest of the problems its anything remotely gettatable or edible. She will stand on the washing machine door to reach things.
I cant increase her food or she puts on weight but think its more behavioural, may be wrong. I am not sure how to treat this with positive training particulalr as it involves a whole house and resist the idea of negative punishment Help 

If she were mine, I would want to get her checked by a vet in the first instance just to make sure that she doesn't have a health problem. There are some disorders that can cause extreme hunger.

Has she always been very food orientated? Or is this relatively new behaviour?

Some dogs are naturally this way and will do literally anything to get to food, edible or not. I used to say this about my old boy, it was in his DNA and no matter what he was fed, he would still behave as if he were starving. Have you though about changing her diet to see if you can satisfy her by feeding a different food? I used to bulk my boys food out with lot of veg so that he wouldn't put on weight but felt more contented after eating.

Treating her when she is begging for food is only going to perpetuate her problems, I.E when the fridge door is open, she has learnt that she gets a treat when you are there so will naturally expect it. One of my dogs is not all that fussed about food but the minute my OH opens a crisp packet, as he has always dropped him the odd one despite being told not to, the dog goes up to him immediately and starts to beg. Learned behaviour, despite the fact that the dog doesn't even really like the crisps!

I am sure that you will get some good advice, good luck!

Thank you hairy pooch. she has always been like this also with a tendency to put on weight but it has got far worse as she has got older. she is raw fed but will increase the veg I bulk her food out with. Does anyone know if thyroid can cause constant hunger but not weight loss.? just a thought that vet could check her out with

Does she respond to the leave it command? I'd be having baby gates up and not allowing her into the kitchen while you are preparing or cooking food.

Could it be that she is bored? Does she get enough stimulation?

Kai has taken to actually eating socks if I leave them about, he actually eats the whole sock :-( due to the recent weather they haven't had the freedom of walks that they have been used to

>Does anyone know if thyroid can cause constant hunger but not weight loss

I know that Cushings can.  Just had a bitch diagnosed, and it was only my constant visits that took the tests as far as the cortisol test.  I know that they try the most common ailments first, but I just knew she wasn't right.

Not scaremongering furriefriends, just saying there are definitely illnesses that have constant hunger as a symptom.  Is she taking more water than usual?

Hi SJ

Yes she can be shut out of the kitchen at times as I have baby gates and do use them its not helpful that the way our house is arranged the kitchen is the centre of the house and access to the outside  etc. Its where they dry off after walks and the like too.  Even making a cup of tea which involves opening the fridge means she has to be outside the kitchen or she is in it like a shot. I kn
Stimulation could be a factor I suppose but even if she is doing something the second she hears a rustle of anything that could mean its edible off she goes,. She is the same if she is out and there is anything about that could be eaten. Couldn't have her off lead around people who may have a picnic or food of any kind
Where food is concerned unfortunately the leave it command has never been successful. its like she has never been fed if she see something she wants to eat she is so fast.

The dogs arnt left on their own for more than four hours and most often far less than that as I am not working and am in and out the house. They also have a couple of hours walks a day playing etc
I don't know where to start with discipline anymore as she doesn't respond to anything I say its as if " the red mist descends." the marzipan incident really worried me as I didn't even know it existed and it was effectively hidden or so the owner thought fortunately it wasn't 500g of cocoa
. I know to some extent the family have to be more careful and I am trying to get that to happen but soap and the recycling bin :( Thank you re the cushings  don't worry you are not scaremongering I would rather know than not I may get  her checked out with the vet. Cant say I have noticed anything extra with drinking

If this is a behaviour problem, not medical, then you can use treats to help.
You just need to reward the behaviour you want from her.

Eg. She gets a morsel for laying down on the kitchen floor while you're at the fridge. Keep the praise and morsels coming to keep her laying down. If she is laying down she can't steal out if your hand, the work surface the fridge etc....
As she's learning the lesson, slow down with the food rewards for laying, but remember you can still use verbal rewards and cues ( wait/stay). Always end with a food reward, the goal is that she learns that WAITING is rewarding so no need to steal, then you can phase out the rewards to intermitant ie. sometimes she gets a morsel for waiting, sometimes she doesn't (only when she is reliable at NOT stealing).
It's useful to have some human food in the fridge to give as rewards for those times she can't have whatever you are prepping, tiny morsels of cheese or cooked sausage are easy with a temping smell.

Do all you can to not allow her to steal anything, if she does steal something don't wrestle it off her (unless it's life or death, obviously), as fighting her for things is only going to make her quicker at stealing.

Buster was a nightmare for stealing and being a giant breed had the weight & size to take whatever he wanted - he knocked me aside to steal an entire block of cheese from hands on the kitchen counter, he chomped it in half then swallowed it before I could get a word out of my mouth. With lots of training around food he has learnt if he wants some of the food I'm preparing he only has to sit or lay nicely and when I am finished he'll get a morsel dropped in his bowl.

Well, my family will never forget the sight of their mother inside a large dog crate wrestling the Turkey carcass off the head and jaws of GR  Liffey. I won ! She has been the greediest dog we ever had. Adept at countersurfing,  her first trick as a young puppy was to use a dog crate as a staging post and then  it was but a short leap onto the worktop. We lost whole joints of meat, loaves of bread, cakes .. the list goes on. Most of the time she never suffered even the mildest diarrhea. But, the time she ate ( or rather slurped ) a large bowl of goose fat and the time she ate a large jar of petroleum jelly still haunt me -the aftermath on both occasions was not pleasant. We had to stop growing strawberries and grapes because she ate the lot -no ill effects whatsoever. Is alive and well at 10+ years of age.

> But, the time she ate ( or rather slurped ) a large bowl of goose fat and the time she ate a large jar of petroleum jelly still haunt me -the aftermath on both occasions was not pleasant.

Sorry but that did make me laugh and I can imagine the effects as one of mine slurped a saucepan containing cooling chip oil. Let's just say the carpet never did recover. :)

Another one with a thief here, she can open the fridge, freezer and cupboards.  Funny though as she will guard a really tasty treat she was given but never tries to guard thieved items.  We have had one or two unpleasant results but rarely any real severe effects despite being a canine dustbin

Thank u for all your replies v helpful post mastiflover. Yes I gave seen the more I try to remove the item the fast she has become. Will rethink her training as you suggest. That gives me something to start wuth. Am also hoing to bulk out het good  a but more and feed twice daily although I think its mire likely ti be a learned behaviour and being a breed that can be greedy

I definitely think that feeding twice a day and bulking food out with veg may help her. I also feed raw and have to remember that it is digested quicker than other food, so her tummy may be telling her she is constantly hungry as she is digesting fairly quickly.

Sorry if you have already mentioned this but do you give her a frozen kong stuffed full of mince or other goodies? This might keep her occupied for a while. I used to give these to my old boy and although he was a complete food obsessed boy, he gave up after 15 minutes and went to sleep, he was quite lazy but used to go to extraordinary lengths to get food, it never made sense, yet he was checked for nearly every condition at the vet to ensure that it wasn't a medical problem.

The first Christmas that we had him, he took the turkey for a walk. It was cooked and cooling on the side and he sneaked in, took it out and slipped through the gate up into the field, I will never forget that and so wish I had had my camera at the time. By the time I got it out of his mouth it wasn't fit for human consumption!

Emily Larlham has a useful little video on clicker training a leave around food - I wouldn't think it would fully solve your problem (owning dogs like yours I know how determined they can be) but it might help boost your chances of being able to stop her if she's about the thieve something.  I've done a very watered-down version of this with Paige for eating poo in the garden, and she's just starting to go up to it then look at me for a treat before she eats it.  Still a work in progress obviously :-P  But at the very least, it gives me a chance to call her away rather than her just eating straight away with no time for me to do anything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNAOe1djDyc

Anyone have any suggestions ?

Well it sounds like you have had her quite a while & this is all complely new & out of character & has a very sudden onset - if that is correct - what it reminds me of is tapeworm infection - if you have hedghogs nearby or maybe passing through your garden at night that might be a cause, it certainly fits all the signs of  tapeworm.
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If she were mine, I would want to get her checked by a vet in the first instance just to make sure that she doesn't have a health problem. There are some disorders that can cause extreme hunger.

I agree with Hairypooch post above.
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yep training and vet check I think. She has always been very food orientated and would steal or try and get into the fridge but this has got out of hand now it is as if every waking moment is about finding food.
No hedgehogs here I am afraid we have badgers and I gather the two don't mix

nd would steal or try and get into the fridge but this has got out of hand now

OK, not tapeworm signs.
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> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Does anyone know if thyroid can cause constant hunger but not weight loss.?

hunger with weight gain is one of the symptoms of underactive thyroid.  Changes in coat are another major clue.

Thanks Barbara no weight loss she puts it on very easily and her coat is lovely albeit rather muddy just now :)
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Training has begun ! as has increase in meals with veg for bulk

It's the tendency to PUT ON Weight or exist on next to nothing that points to over active thyroid.

Dogs can vary a lot as to symptoms.

Signs of overactive thyroid here

[url=] http://www.vetinfo.com/overactive-thyroid-symptoms-in-dogs.html [/url]

And underactive thyroid here

http://www.vetinfo.com/symptoms-of-underactive-thyroid-in-dogs.html

Thank dill will read through but beginning to think its behavioural. Even in the past two days treat training when I go to the frisge isaking a difference.using the leave it command and hopeing that may help when food is arpund
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Just simple body blocking may make a difference - every time she goes to stick her nose in the fridge, put yourself in between and move slightly towards her so she has to back off.  Neutral body language from you.  That's what I had to do with Linc when he arrived for his dinner manners - in the first week he tried to sit on my plate (literally) to get the food away from me, and the only thing that dissuaded him was me physically blocking his way.  It did take a fair few goes the first time - easy enough for the fridge as you're already up and moving but if you need to do it for something like eating dinner while watching TV (as I did) I recommend sitting at something higher as it can get tiring very quickly trying to remove yourself from a low squishy sofa at a moment's notice, over and over again :-P

Hi,
Just wanted to share our experience. We have a Weim bitch who is the worst thief I know of - she will eat anything and is horribly cunning when it comes to reaching her desired 'snack'. If not watched she will stand on the dining room table to lick crumbs of the cloth and if anyone puts a handbag on the floor she is in it immediately to seach for mints. She was sick last night. The result? A pile of tiny little bits of wrapping paper that she'd hoovered up.
She does, fortunately, have a strong 'leave it' command, but to an extent some of her behaviour has become habit (like the handbag and mint thing) and we have found that the only way to break the cycle is absolute vigilance. Bedroom doors are shut and blocked, kitchen door shut, no food left on sideboards, no accessible bins and you never, ever leave your plate unattended. One slip-up and she'll be onto it. So vigilance and a good 'leave it' will hopefully help.

I hope you have success with the training. Best of luck.

>absolute vigilance. Bedroom doors are shut and blocked, kitchen door shut, no food left on sideboards, no accessible bins and you never, ever leave your plate unattended. One slip-up and she'll be onto it. So vigilance and a good 'leave it' will hopefully help.

I agree with the above poster.  Training is good but it needs to start really early by teaching that "NOTHING is yours unless it comes from your bowl".  In most cases once I have a well trained adult dog I'm a bit more relaxed around food BUT it still pays not to take risks.  Once a dog learns that there is good stuff on the work surface then you have a harder problem to break - better to teach them early (sorry a bit late for you but good advice for new puppy owners).

If your dog looks to the work surfaces when you prep food then remove them from the kitchen.  If I ever feed leftovers or veg bits to young dogs they get them at food time and from their bowls.  At this stage with your adult dog I'd even be very strict about where and when I fed reward treats - feeding her a treat in front of the fridge is a bit confusing and just associates the fridge/plate/kitchen etc with food.  In this case I'd walk the dog back to her room, back to her bowl and give her a treat in that.  I'd also get gates on the kitchen doors, at the bottom of the stairs and never have her in the same room when food was being prepared or eaten.  Rewarding a good sit or wait at the threshold teaches her that food happens only if you stay out.  If you have a family member who will sit outside the room with her and reward her when she looks away from the food prep that is useful too :)

PS I'm not exactly a paragon of virtue tho - I managed to allow a tea towel stealing habit and now I can NEVER find one when I need one.  My youngster is frequently to be seen dancing around the house with a nice clean tea towel and he sings with delight so he's not exactly subtle about it either.  I wouldn't mind so much if he remembered to bring it back but he usually dumps it somewhere...

 

so good ideas many thanks. Weim yes that sounds like Brooke and it is definitely made worse by badly trained humans, they definitely need a bit of training. eg husband sharing pieces of cheese with the dogs ok they have to sit and wait but it still means one look at him and out come the cheese. Also bits of his plate grrrr ! It really doesn't help an already very foodie dog.
The others are fine they don't look for anything will keep out the fridge and the worktop. Infact my gsd will watch his food sitting on the worktop and wait without being asked. My chi just cant reach lol

I think I have a mixture of badly trained humans and very foodie dog that I have only just really realised how bad the problem is. Sinc I started this post she is allowing me to open the fridge without sticking nose in and then is getting a treat . Will take heed about moving away from the fridge to treat though. 
Yes DAB you are right these are puppy training things . The others have always been good so have not had to think about it, well my previous cr would remove dinner off a plate if you weren't in the room but no where near as bad as Brooke. I sort of forgot the discipline when she was little. Infact Brooke has a number of holes in her training she shouldn't have due to me have domestic things happen when she needed more consistence and  training as a pup . Bad timing that couldn't have been foreseen and is still 2 years later having an effect on my time and her training. I fully take responsibility for this its not the dogs its the owner ! inthis case me !!
Don't get me wrong she is not a complete delinquent and is very happy loved dog who has I hope her needs met as much as possible but I know she should be better behaved and whose to blame ? as I have said its me of course

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">badly trained humans, they definitely need a bit of training. eg husband sharing pieces of cheese with the dogs ok they have to sit and wait but it still means one look at him and out come the cheese. Also bits of his plate grrrr ! It really doesn't help an already very foodie dog

I found it impossible to stop everyone in the house wanting to feed Buster scraps off their plate, however, I have found that everyone will abide by the rule of 'put it in the dogs bowl' if you insist he has a bit of left-overs. This has also helped massively to stop Buster stealing from our plates, he has now learnt that sometimes he gets some scraps in his bowl, so will run out to his bowl to see/wait for morsels. It also has the advantage of being able to send the dog to his bowl on command("bowl"), where he will wait for a scrap of food - very handy when we have visitors that are eating, as lots of new poeple about with food gets him excited and likely to mug them - send him to his bowl and he'll wait there while everybody can move out of the kitchen without being mugged :)

Well, we have failed miserably here. Flinti ( GR) has just found and eaten a huge piece of gorgonzola cheese . We thought we were doing well this year -Turkey and trimmings intact and entire and no Xmas pudding thefts but daughter had packed a selection of cheeses in her suitcase ready to return to Tbilisi tomorrow and is furious that he  has deprived her boyfriend of his Xmas present.

oh whoops janb. have done well with fridge training :) However oh left two new tubes of toothpaste on the stairs and guess what ? yep she decided to rip and eat the boxes.

If she is as bad as you say, i would personally be tempted to introduce a baskerville muzzle and use it along side all the suggested methods for teaching her around food. Stealing is a self rewarding problem, so with a baskerville the reward is removed so it might help

Furriefriends, I also have a habitual ponce! He is 8 months old and if you even blink, he will be counter surfing and yes, like your girl, standing at the fridge door. It has got to the stage where I now shut him out of the kitchen if I am even making a sandwich as he is tall enough to stick his big hairy face onto my plate on the work surface. My breed are renowned for this but they are not all inveterate pigs with food...very strange. The chase is better than the catch in his case. We took him to visit my Father at Xmas and he stole a scotch egg from a plate that was on the table and then just sat with it in his mouth. He left it on command but my Father wasn't impressed. A lot of it in his case is attention.

I also use body blocking with him but he gets frustrated and uses his great weight against me to try and barge me out of the way. I then stand with my legs apart so that I cannot be moved whilst telling him to go back. We have never fed from plates, this is a bugbear of mine and none of my dogs have ever had food this way. But he is very determined and will keep trying his luck. I do keep him at the door when I am preparing quick meals but he is a master at inching in without you noticing, he shuffles and then before you know it, he's at your feet.

If health problems have been ruled out then, as you say, this is a training issue, much the same as I have but heck, it gets exhausting watching and blocking every minute there is or likely to be food around Lol. Good luck with her!

yep hairy pooch it does get exhausting. Not sure how she would e with a muzzle as she wont wear a head collar of any type just lays down refuses to move and scratches her face. Then she doesn't react to food !

I think its a training issue a self rewarding one at that not made any easier by oh how wil insit n giving all the dogs titbits not from his plate but if he is making anything in the kitchen. yes he gets them to sit and wait but I would rather it just didnt happen and certainly doesn't help training

easier by oh how wil insit n giving all the dogs titbits not from his plate but if he is making anything in the kitchen.

To be honest I dont see how anything can be done till he stops it completely! But what about the dogs health & condition with all that nonsense going on? is it overweight?
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No she isn't overweight raw fed very fit and healthy as are all three of my dogs. Its just this one who is food obsessed. All dogs treated the same and no other problems either now or with previous dogs  Infact in another thread I was asking if 25kg for a female flatcoat was a little underweight even though she looks great. the looking great is not just my opinion but that of others who know their flatties  Unfortunately as much as we would like to give our dogs the perfect life within a normal family who all have their own ways and opinions its very hard.

This is a behaviour problem, one that I will manage the best I can. Thank you everyone for your thoughts it has given me things to work on