My 5 month old is driving me mad. She is forever jumping up to the work surface in the kitchen and stealing anything she can get her chops around. Now, I know what you are going to say ...... make sure everything is back and out of her reach, etc. This I endeavour to do, but even if all the food is back, (which I try not to have out for too long), its the 'cruising around' that is getting to me. If I hear her jump up and I rush in to reprimand her it's as though nothing gets through to her. (English Setter!!! - sorry I don't know all these abbreviations I see everywhere!) She's driving me mad - yesterday I was on the verge of sending her back - I'm going off my trolley!!! (5year old daughter doesn't help either - but that's another forum I guess). ..... returns from kitchen having caught Rosie 'cruising'....... Someone please help, I just can't make her understand it's naughty :(

..... Have just read post from Borchesterlass - sorry to repeat post!!! I'm not feeling great about this:(

Dogs are natural scavengers and it's easy to stop them when you are there, but not so easy when you are not there and they can find tempting food nearby.

I would recommend simply using a child gate to keep her out of the kitchen...never allow her access to a bin which may not only "reward" scavenging habits, but could be dangerous. If dogs are not "successful" in this, after a long time, they do get a lot better... my friend had a very scavengey dog and basically kept him away from temptation and ensured food etc was out of his reach at all times...he is now 99 per cent trustworthy :).

Lindsay
x

hang in there loanerwhelk, my mal is 5 mths old too and driving me nuts with sideboard surfing. i dont have anything on them now and all sides are wiped clean so he cant smell anything, but still he does it. the dog gate does help if im cooking. but because the back door is through the kitchen i can t keep the gate shut all the time. i have to make sure im in the kitchen when my boys go in as they leave all sorts out on the side (still not got them trained yet lol ) on the plus side my kitchen has never been so clean and tidy :D

She does it because she has found it rewar5ding, abit like winning aon a slot machine, even though most of the time we loose we keep trying.

The only way to curb it is to not let her succeeed.  You could also use a mild aversive, but it will only work when you are there.  for my own dogs a sharp jet of wterin the face from a squirt bottle will get theri attention and discourage the behaviour when I am there.  Don't allow her access to the kitchen unsupervised.

If your child is anything like mien then scavenging dogs are going to be part of yoru life from now on as kids reward it with giving them food or dropping/leaving it around.

My freind now has a year old baby.  Her dobermanns have never scavenged as they were never ever given food from the table or any left overs during cooking.  She now has great big scavengers as sthe baby has been dropping or throwing finger food :D

LOL Its not just babys! My OH only has to walk in to the kitchen for the full complement of 3 cats and 2 dogs to turn up. After many years of hard work on my part they know to leave me well alone when Im in the kitchen!

i've been trying the water spray in the face with kai but the cheeky little monkey see's it as a game and trys to catch the water, same with the hose pipe :D ours is a walk throu kitchen so i guess i will just have to remain vigilant and keep the sides clean n clear, he'll give up eventually if he's not getting any reward surely ........ :D

Needs to be a Jet of water not a spray or mist.  I have found it works even on my freinds retriever, but you must not smile or let them think it is a game.  It is to get attention and designed to be startling or vaguely annoying.  You then get the commands in.  After that they only need to see me reach for the bottle to remeber they aren't supposed to be doing something :D  It goes hand in hand with the training.

it was a jet of water lol.... totally straight face.. squirt... stern no.. he still thinks he has to catch the water thou. he is very headstrong and stubborn ( but then i was warned mals are like that :D )  I am training recal on the whistle and have found that no matter where he is or what he is doing (bone chewing, asleep etc ) one blast and he comes flying to find me, quite handy when he's nicked off with my slipper :D

My son has a complement of five fanned out around him whenever he is eating, and friends I have had to stay have been feeding bitc to the dogs and are being followed around like pied pipers. 

You can't tell them though so I say if it starts annnoying you then you know who to blame.

On the other hand my daughter won't tolerate tehm, and they leave the room or turn their backs so as not to get her wrath. :D

As for me they will look on but won't pester as all left overs go on the window sill and get given with their meals.  I am naughty fro throwing things to them when preparing meals though (apple peals, carot ends, Pepper hearts etc).  Nothing edible is wasted here :D

My spinone is/was a nightmare with this too, tried near enough everything ! The first time she ever did it she was rewarded with a choclate easter cake which gran had just dropped off & we were waving good bye to her at the door ! mind you i should have given her a medal ( grans cakes are painfull :D ) lucky for my dog i managed to retrieve the cake with not much missing, after this first time she thought that everything on the work surface is hers. I can put a roast on the kitchen table or on the coffee table & she wont touch it but ANYTHING on the worktops & its hers ( mobile phone's, pens, paper ect i also have 2 kids so stopping them using the worktop as a dumping ground has been hard )
I keep my worktops clear, i also use a stairgate & have crate trained her too, however i dont use the crate anymore.
I have different things that i use now for her on a daily basis as i only work part time, i either stuff kongs ( the spaceship one i find for her is best it takes longer ) hide food round the kitchen ( floor level :D ) or in the garden & i also utilise empty cereal boxes i'll put bits of food in there & close the top back up.
I dont think she's ever be over this but if i can try & give her things to think about instead & make sure my tops are ALWAYS clear then maybe just maybe ..... :D lol

Your English Setter will never understand it's 'naughty' - dogs don't think like that.  They try lots of things and repeat the ones they find rewarding.  They get bored with the ones that aren't rewarding and give up doing them.

If she never succeeds in stealing anything by jumping up, eventually she will realise there is no reward in it and give up but this will take time to happen.  Even then she may still 'cruise' around sniffing the air just to check once in a while but that's just dogs, ever hopeful.

I wouldn't bother rushing in to the kitchen when I heard her, I'd just feel very smug knowing that everything she wants is tucked away where she can't reach and she's expending all that energy for nothing.

The voice of reason indeed ...... Everyone has been great with their advice and similar experiences. I've had a much better day today, partly due to everyones responses I've felt much more relaxed about it. That's not to say Rosie hasn't done her usual - but that in time perhaps she might give up depending on whether it's worth her while to carry on. 

Thanks again everyone - all your advice and help has helped my sanity enormously!! :)

Hi - I have this exact problem with my Bracco, Ruby.  I have tried everything - even down to putting double sided tape on the work surface!  She didn't jump up then because it obviously didn't look quite right!!   Anyway, I moved the rubbish bin to the boxroom and everything either gets stored in the fridge, cupboards or defrosting gets carried out in the microwave.  I have learned very quickly that the only way to stop her thieving is to not leave anything around and close the kitchen door when I got upstairs. For instance, she gets an apple a day.  She had hers this morning as usual and I went upstairs to have my shower.  Unfortunately, I had forgotten to put the apples in the fridge and the other 3 were eaten when I came back down.  Thank goodness she has the constitution of an ox.  A couple of months ago I was walking her and saw something blue hanging from her bot.  When I got there it was part of a jay cloth!  I ask you, what can you do!!!  I've never had this with any of my other dogs but because she is the right height, just like your girl, it's easy for them AND you only have to forget once for it to be rewarding and worthwhile to them to keep doing it because the chances are you'll forget again!

Good luck but I have to say I've learned to live with it and have become super-tidy!!!

Annie

IMO she is not being naughty or stealing. She is simply doing what she thinks she has a right to do. It is there, no one else has claimed it, therefore she has the right to it. In doggy terms its finders keepers I'm afraid. You need to re-educate yourself to putting everything out of reach or away and train your daughter to do the same. I used to have a dog gate up in the kitchen and we simply shut it after us but now we have taught ourselves to clear up that it is a habit we no longer think about and the gates been taken down.In fact sometimes I have been known to rush downstairs thinking I've forgotton just to find I've done it out of such a routine that I am not aware it done!

Annie,

What a chuckle I had reading about the Jay cloth!!!  I go through the same quite frequently - although not a jay cloth, we've had a shred of plastic bag, a chewed pencil, a rubber end off a dummy, and on and on !!!! :(  I have even become fixated with examining Rosie's poo to make sure that if I'm in any doubt about what the latest item it is that she's got hold of, that it makes its reappearance.

Note to all .... I am making myself sound as though I am a liability with my dog which really isn't the case.  Just struggling to to the right thing.