Eating trash
I don't know what else to do, but Emilia Snuggles keeps eating trash! Granted, people are slobs and the sidewalks are much filthier than I thought pre-puppy, but no matter what I do, she lunges for bones, soggy napkins, and other pieces of junk left on the ground.
Today she nearly gobbled a dead bird! It wasn't easy to get it out of her mouth but I managed 99% of it. (Don't get me started on how I had to touch the dead bird. Still tramutized!)
How do I get her to stop this? No matter what I do, she doesn't seem to understand TRASH IS BAD! Help!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris West on
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Not sure how old she is, but have you taken her to any puppy classes or obedience classes? This will help you to control her and keep her from eating unwanted items. If she is too young for either of these, I would highly recommend teaching her the "leave it" command ASAP. This is my favorite command for Frosty and works on EVERYTHING. Here are some step-by-step instructions for teaching "leave it."
http://www.ehow.com/how_2044068_teach-dog-leave.html
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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Jackson ate a dead bird yesterday morning....YUCK!! I managed to get none of it out before it was gone....had to be quite hilarious, me chasing him around the yard. He was prancing around afterwards, so proud of himself....
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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I agree to teach "leave it". It's hard with short-legged dogs, though.
When I teach "leave it" I always make sure the treat I give them is BETTER than the treat they are leaving, by a long shot. So I start with putting down a piece of kibble and rewarding them with some cheese, and then the kibble too. I start really short; just a few seconds and build from there. By the end your dog should be able to negotiate an obstacle course of treats scattered on the ground. Jack, who I've worked with more, will even do the obstacle course off-leash (which means you can't be afraid to physically leap in front of your dog and block him if he makes a dive). But we started out small. I taught Maddie similar to the directions Chris posted. Jack was a puppy when we got him and I taught him by playing with a tug toy. Here's how (only works with young pups because most adult Corgis WON'T tug if they know you are holding a treat).
1) Palm some treats so pup can't see them.
2) Get pup vigorously engaged in a tug game.
3) Wave a treat in front of the nose. The split-second pup starts to drop the tug for the treat, say "Leave it!" in a cheery voice and IMMEDIATELY say "Good boy!" and give the treat.
Do this a few times. With pups, the command is very upbeat and notice that the first time, you are using the treat as a lure to get the behavior, and only naming the behavior when you are sure the dog is complying. Now we move to stage 2:
1) Engage pup in tug as before, with palmed treats as before.
2) Get out the treat, wave it in front of pup's nose while saying "Leave it" in the same cheerful voice.
3) As pup drops the toy, praise heartily, give treats, and return to tug.
The only difference between Stage 1 and Stage 2 is that in 1, you are waving the treat til the dog notices and drops the toy, and THEN saying "leave it." In Stage 2, you are still luring with the treat, but you are saying "Leave it" as you wave the treat, so it should work out to be an instant before the dog drops it. You've introduced the idea that you give a command and the pup follows it.
Stage 3:
1) Engage pup vigorously in tug game. Have treats in your pocket, not visible.
2) Say "leave it" in a cheery voice. Chances are, pup will now drop the tug toy.
3) Have a HUGE, over-the-top, praise party. Give pup 10 treats (tiny ones, high-value like cheese). Run to the cupboard and get a big biscuit. Clap. Jump up and down. Say "good boy good boy WHO'S a good boy!!" in a sing-song voice. If your dog is not dancing a jig, you are NOT praising enough. This is huge, your pup just dropped a tug-toy in mid-growl just because you told him to.
:) This is my favorite way to teach "leave it". But again, it only works with the little ones because once the older ones see the treat, they won't even look at the tug toy. The little ones see you palm the treats but then get distracted and forget you have them. If your dog is more toy-motivated than food-motivated, you can accomplish same by swapping out tug toys for other tugs instead of treats.
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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Don't some people reserve "Leave It!" for things that are ALWAYS forbidden?
And use a different command like "No!" -- meaning, "not now" -- for things that are sometimes allowed?
With this vocabulary, one wouldn't teach "Leave It!" with anything that's sometimes allowed, like a toy.
And, like people, they can learn that "Leave It!" means "Leave it, unless nobody's looking".
Eating disgusting stuff is one thing; eating dangerous is another. I watch out for the cooked bones that pigs throw out of their car windows.
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Yes, that is true, BUT I try to keep things simple for my dogs.
So, for instance, "Off" can mean "Get off the couch" or "get your front paws off that person." In other words, it means "all four on the floor."
I use Leave It to mean "Drop it", "Don't pick it up", and "Don't pee on that." :-) My dogs don't find it confusing. To be honest, they go more by context than the command in most cases (though they can learn words, as illustrated by Jack's knowing all his toys by name).
Put your dog on a sit/stay and walk away. Turn around to face them the way you would on recall. Look at them and smile and see if they stay. Most will break the stay because they have associated the smile with "that's good, we're done."
Or instead of saying "come" say "movies!" or "pizza!" and chances are they'll come, if you use the same tone of voice. The exception would be if you'd intentionally worked on them not breaking the stay for any word EXCEPT the release word; agility people do a lot of work on this for the start line because you don't want your dog to break if they hear you, say, talking to a judge.
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All my instructors have taught me that NO is for emergency/danger situations and leave it is for things you just want them to leave alone at the moment.
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Around the house I definitely use "no" for stuff they should never have. Outside I stick with "leave it." The dogs seem to have some sense that everything in the house belongs to me, but I can't possibly own everything in the whole world, so different rules apply outside! lol
From an instinctive point of view, the dog has absolutely no sense of "you are in charge so you get to decide whether or not I eat." In wolves and whatnot, any animal no matter how lowly can eat what it finds, or defend what it already has in its possession. So, outside I use "leave it" and try to have treats in my pocket. Inside, I use "no" for stuff that is not theirs and never will be.
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Permalink Reply by Michelle on
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My girl....who always walks around with her snooty nose in the air, simply can not resist chewed up pizza crust. Simply no stopping her sometimes....she swoops down like a bird of prey! ^,,^
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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Misty and Izzy will drop things on command but there is nothing that can entice Sparty to do that. I still have visions of the first dried up smashed frog he grabbed...All I got was one little crispy foot ugh! I know with him now to watch carefully when he decides to investigate something on a walk.
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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I totally feel you on the dead bird trauma lol. Henry did the exact same thing when he was maybe 4 months old and I was like - omg - do I really want to touch that?! A solid "leave it" and "drop it" command are definitely a big help. :)
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I must admit Jack is much better inside than outside! I swear that outside, he actively weighs in his head how yummy what he's eating is vs what treats I'm carrying. If I just have Charlie Bears, nothing gets dropped. If I have cheese, he'll drop many things but not, sadly, cat poop. He does eat faster then. Blech!.
His most recent trick is that "leave it" means "drop it, get the treat, then go back and grab what you had the first time." He is very stubborn!
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