My dog is now 3 years old when i bought him at 12 weeks he was a bit of a scavenger thought it would fizzle out now 3 years on and its got worse he licks the oven gloves given the chance he pulls the bin out he will snatch food from you if he can reach i am getting to the end of my teather and the vet told me a year ago its just the dogs nature you get greedy ones and fussy ones but im starting to find it hard to believe do you think this is true or would you say that something is not right i mean if i left the oven door opemn to go to the freezer he would stick his head in it terrible huh!!!!

Just out of interest what breed is he? Some breeds are typically more food orientated than others, labs and dalmatians ome to mind! But there are many more.

a cav king charles

Cavaliers often are VERY greedy. They're vacuum cleaners. :) You'll just have to make sure he can't get to the  bin etc.We have locks on all cupboard doors to play safe. My current Cavalier is so greedy that once when my young son was visiting he sneaked him food all the time, and the dog ate so much he nearly died -had to spend the night at the vet's as he literally did not know when to stop!

Marianne

i understand that some breeds are this way but i have in all my years of knowing people with dogs and owning dogs seen anything like it before  its very frustrating

Are you sure one of my dogs isn't there! My Jonah a choccie Lab Must be your dog's twin! But to "help" his love of food but also his waist I give him carrot and those bones which they can't destroy (some of the time)! Sonja

my dog could have the biggest bone one that he couldnt possibly fit in his mouth i thought and he would have eaten it within a couple of hours most dogs i know take a couple of days he will chew and chew and chew it and doesnt stop until its gone :0

(lol) believe me those bones your dog cant destroy my dog can we call him the terminater and should have named him dyson he works better than my hoover

I know what you mean. I wanted to rename my dog, or even call the next one Dyson, but am not allowed by OH. But I was lucky that he was only a few kilos overweight and I used to exercise him a lot and fed him less in his later years that he got back down to a good size. Now my OHs Staffie is obese, he weighs more than my collie X Gsd did. He hovers round the kitchen when I am cooking and if anything (I mean anything) falls on the floor, he is straight in there to pick it up.

LOL I know this very well....... My Rhodesian Ridgeback Leo is 3 and he gets absolutely obssesed if there is any hint of food around, he is very well trained and will leave his food until i say without taking his eyes off it, as soon as my back is turned even for a second, he'd have it....bins, scraps, he's a pro at counter surfing. It is all instinct and theres nothing you can do about it, some are worse than others. You just have to be extra vigilant and not leave anything to the temptation. What breed is your dog?
Jodi

Funny you say that if my husband is in the room he can leave a plate on the floor and the dog wouldnt dare go near if i was to do it he would grab and run i am careful with leaving stuff around i even have to turn the bin round when i go out but the oven thing well i shut him out when in the kitchen and shut him out when in the living room in facy if i shut him out the room in our house when foods about he would never come in as either the kids or one of us is eating something ha ha

My lab bitch is like this and I found it a great nuisance at training classes as she was so obsessed with the scent of other people's treats she would never concentrate properly. Also she is now a Pat dog and when we go to visit in elderly wards she is more intent on hoovering up any scraps than being charming to the patients!!!

LOL it is in their nature. My lab was SO greedy as a pup that he ate his dinner too fast and then bought it back up :0

I think I have just about sussed keeping food out of the way most of the time, however trips to 'grandmas' are always fraught as she leaves tasty things like pate on the edge of the work top. Oh and I had to change my bin so that my other Lab couldnt get in to it. 

terrible i know the feeling but boy do i need my wits about me with him fast well you havent seen a dog so quick in your life i remember to leave things out of sight but its hard with two young kids and a husband (lol) who tened to forget or just plain lazy

I did have a momentary slip up and lost half a quiche when I turned my back to get teh beans off of the hob :0 At least a cavalier cannot reach as far back as a 'flying Lab'!

Oh BTW my job is cooking dog biscuits - you can imagine the baracades when Im baking :D

he may be little but he sure can jump when foods concerned you would think i never feed him and he is overweight at the moment he doesnt get any treats as he suffers with colitis too and most treats tend to upset his tum but from what he picks up when we are out walking god only knows how he doesnt get a upset tum then at least im not alone on this one thought i had a dog with a serious problem seems though that most of you with the same problem own labs i would love to find someone on here whom owns a cav to find out if they are the same too

trackie what are you feeding him at the moment?

he can only eat butchers it is the only food ive found from trying plenty that actually agrees with him also answer to the other question yes he has been neutured

Is he neutered, as I ahve found with my Elkhound bitches that the ones who were not into food and one was actually very picky got awfully hungry and needed less food once spayed (the one of course affects the other less food more hungry)  I do give a lot of veggies as treats like carrot, apple etc.

I agree, my Cav's half sister can actually jump onto the worktops to steal food - thank goodness I don't own her! My Cav boy is quite fussy actually, but my Cav puppy bitch is a greedy little monster. I am told most Cav's are greedy beasts! Both are nothing compared to my American Cocker boy though, he is a terrible scavenger. He's chewed the oven gloves as well, stolen things off the worktops and out of bags, and even swiped his tongue across a batch of chocolate caramel shortbread which I thought were pushed back out of reach! He frequently eats half pies, rotten fish and even curries when he finds them abandoned in the park, and it's lucky he has a cast iron stomach because there's no getting hold of him to get the disgusting food off him!! The only thing you can do is make extra sure all the time nothing is within reach at home, and if he doesn't have an iron digestion, keep him on an extending lead in the park if he finds rubbish there!!

What a way to live sounds like my dog he will eat anything he finds and i mean anything the only thing is he doesnt have a cast iron stomach

LOL, some very funny stories on here.  Our staff is soooo greedy too, she can be fast asleep in the other room but if you open a packet of crisps/sweets she's in like a shot.  It's a nightmare when we are out walking as she walks along hoovering the ground hoping for a tiny crumb, I am sure people think we don't feed her.  Our neighbour who lives in the flat below puts her cat's food outside, we have to chaperone our dog to the garden when she needs to go to toilet otherwise she eats that and the poor cat goes hungry (incidently the dog is terrified of the cat, it's always chasing her, maybe it's revenge lol)

omg - wot a relief!! my cavalier is exactly the same - licks oven gloves, tries to get into the dishwasher/fridge/oven if left open - she actually trembles when there is food around and if given the chance eats so much that she is very ill - she is also very vicious when food is around and has bitten me on several occassions when i have attempted to move her away from food or take something off her - i just leave her to get on with it now if she gets anything - i am at my wits end!!

She will guard her food if you try to take it off her!! So stop it.

Instead you should reward your presence near her food with more food, stand near her bowl and give her a treat if she allows you to do so, then when you are comfortable doing this add small peices of food to her dish which will remove you as a threat being near her food (because you were taking it off her) when she has a bone or toy, do a swap again dont take it from her. Tell her to drop the toy/treat/something she doesnt have in exchange for a tasty treat a peice of ham for example or cheese.

She is probably acting the way she is because she never knows when she is going to eat next, you give her food then take it from her the poor girl. Most people would be slightly irratic and steal food too. You have given her an anxiety with food due to your behaviour.

> if i left the oven door opemn to go to the freezer he would stick his head in it terrible huh!!!!

My dalmatian is the same... I have to watch him constantly... I am told it is a breed thing... none of my others dogs, except another dallie ,have been as bad...Thank fully when I say "leave it" he will drop whatever he has stolen and has never shown any aggression..

> she is also very vicious when food is around and has bitten me on several occassions when i have attempted to move her away from food or take something off her - i just leave her to get on with it now if she gets anything - i am at my wits end!!

This should never have got so far that you leave her to get on with it.

LouiseDDB has given excellent advice here.

I do this with my dogs from being tiny puppies in the nest. When feeding anything I always have a really high value treat and slip a bit into the dish. By 8 weeks all my pups see my hands near the food bowls as a good thing and step back to see what nice treat I am going to add for them. Works a ""Treat""
It is not too late to try and turn this behaviour around but it will take time and patience. Just stand by her bowl and drop little tasty bits into the bowl.. or near her. gradually drop from a lower distance untill she starts to look up to you then you can get closer with the treat. Aim to be able to put your hand in the bowl and feed the treat from it hovering above the meal in the dish. I have 4  and they all step back if I aproach the bowls to look for goodies...even puppy face who is just 17 weeks knows that hands near the bowl usually means treats. I have just had my 3 grandchildren down and they can move around the dogs feeding in perfect safety. I often get them to add some treats under strict supervision so they never have any food agressions.
Aileen

> I do this with my dogs from being tiny puppies in the nest. When feeding anything I always have a really high value treat and slip a bit into the dish. By 8 weeks all my pups see my hands near the food bowls as a good thing and step back to see what nice treat I am going to add for them. Works a ""Treat""
>

we've always done this with dogs to. i usually make sure i call their name first so they don;t get a surprise with a habd appearing. its a good thing, i spotted a piece of plastic in Tios bowl a while ago that i'd not seem when making his meal and he quite happily stopped eating for me and let me take it while looking expectant lol

A dog in one of our classes has had two surgeries to remove greedily gulped oven mitts.  You'd think the owners would have learned after the first one to put them out of reach.