Food Snatching

[a_daerr]

Henry is a major counter-surfer. I know this is largely my fault because on rare occasion, he has snatched tasty things. After all the obedience training and 'leave it!' commands, I'm finding that this is one of the hardest behaviors to train out of him. It's more than just not leaving stuff sit out. We've taken Hen to fairs, festivals, parties, etc. and he has snatched food right out of someone's hand. During Christmas dinner, he tried stealing food right off the table (relentlessly) until I had to tether him in a different area. I think it's great that he's food-motivated, but it's becoming an issue. Also, trying to distract him with bones and chewies doesn't work. He wants what everyone else is having. Any thoughts?

[TheFullHouse]

We make All the dogs go lay on their beds and when we are finished, they each get a pice of what we had for dinner. It's a lot of up and taking the dog back to their bed or spot on the floor but they learn.

[silverfish]

You need to find a way to make it NOT worthwhile for him to snatch food, which I know is easier said than done, especially when he is in the habit of doing so.

 

I have to ask: what is his weight like, and could it be that he is, in fact, hungry all the time? And has he had a vet check to make sure he hasn't got some kind of medical issue? Has he been wormed recently?

 

That done, it's down to training. You must be consistent, especially with behaviours relating to food, which are self-rewarding. The first thing to do is to be vigiliant: make sure that no food is ever left out where he can get it, without someone right there to guard it effectively, and make sure that whoever has him out and about keeps a watchful eye out for anyone who is eating and prevents him even getting close enough to think about it. Try double sided tape along the edges of counters to put him off when you're not actually in the room.

 

Work on the 'Uh-uh', 'leave it!', and 'drop it!' commands. You will need to trade up at first, probably, and to do this, rawhide and dog treats are not going to cut it. You need top quality, highly desirable human food, like sausage or stinky cheese, or tiny pieces of liver paté sandwiches, and you need to keep them ONLY for this specific kind of training.

 

Enlist an assistant to hold a tiny piece of sausage, casually, pretending not to see him. You will stand close by with a larger piece of exactly the same food. When he tries to snatch the assistant's sausage, have them be ready to close their fist around it so he can't get it (VERY few dogs will actually bite a closed fist containing food) and say 'UH-UH!' sharply and give him eye contact with a very straight face. Then immediately, you call him (cheerfully!) and offer him a larger piece. The idea is to get him to understand that if he tries to take it for himself he doesn't get it, but when responds by leaving it and then answers your call, he will be rewarded.

 

He needs to learn that it's worth doing what you want, and he's simply not going to be allowed to continue stealing food for himself. So, whenever he obeys 'leave it' or 'drop it', reward him with something super tasty. When he does not, and gets a bit of something forbidden, you really need to be right there to remove it from him - if you can! If not, simply ignore him.

 

While you are training him I would strongly recommend that you muzzle him in situations where he can't be monitored so closely - for instance, when you are out and in a crowd of people who are eating bits of this and that, or if you have a family gathering at home. You really need him never to succeed in getting at anything.

 

I suppose you could try the water squirt bottle in an emergency (when you are out and don't want him stealing children's ice creams) but it's far better to teach him to choose the correct behaviour for himself, because this is more likely to be effective in the long run, especially when there's no-one there to stop him.

 

Remember: Be vigilant and NEVER let him get to anything if you can possibly stop it, and NEVER let anyone laugh or do anything to make him feel you think it's cute or funny.

 

It's not going to be easy. Stealing food is a very basic drive in dogs as a species because they are opportunistic feeders. However, with consistency, you might be surprised at how much you can manage this!

[GeorgeofNE]

I have to say, I think most dogs will do this if they get away with it--but aside from George scoring a cupcake while under the care of my mother, he's never gotten anything when I have him because I KNOW he will try it.

 

You just have to be smarter (and quicker!) than the dog. Short leash and vigilance!

[Guest Geostar]

Hi.. Counter surfing, or grabbing food from the table is not healthy for your grey. I had a foster eat a whole 2 pounds of raw chicken which was wrapped with cellophane many years ago. I adopted a technique to upset her: take used soda cans, place about 10 pennies inside and tape the opening shut. Place them on the counter or by any food. Have several of them, as the idea is when the grey does knock into them, they'll rattle terribly and scare him/her. Also, by shaking these cans, it'll upset them. Another thing to do: crate your greyhound when serving food to let them know it is not a good idea to steal food. I use the crate as a training tool-talkinb about the steel crates, not a carrier.

Hope this will help..

Esther

[kudzu]

Good advice so far. I will also add the thing that has helped me the most with the food snatching you are describing that is beyond counter surfing. Teach Henry some doggie zen. The point it to teach the dog that to get the treat you must give up trying to get the treat. (I have no idea if that is actually zen or not.) The best description I've seen of how to do this & why plus possible complications is in Sue Ailsby's excellent Training Levels program. The original version is still free online here http://www.sue-eh.ca/page24/page26/page10/ Read through that page to understand the principles & methods of her training program. It's very helpful even if you aren't using the whole program. Go to this link. http://www.sue-eh.ca/page24/page26/styled/ Scroll down to the Zen section. When you've mastered Zen in one section scroll down to the bottom & click the link to the next section.

-- or --

Read the condensed version in this post from a different forum: http://www.dogforums.com/dog-training-forum/2522-doggy-zen.html

 

If you get through nothing but the first couple levels of Zen you will still have a dog who is far less inclined to go for food in people's hands. Go a bit further & food on tops of furniture become safer as well. This is not likely to stop the inveterate counter surfer. For that you need to make more changes in your home & life. Most of all though is that it helps teach your dog some self control. Please give it a try. It is so easy.

[a_daerr]

Really great advice, everyone!

[Guest Geostar]

You are most welcome! Believe me, those 'soda' cans do really work! As I had talked about that one foster, which is no deceased, snatching the packaged chicken breasts..without bones, she went after a casserole the following day.. The glass container fell to the floor and shattered into a million pieces, and the poor dog ran into the living room and urinated in fright! After that, I placed my soda cans with pennies on the counter, and she never again bothered to 'snatch' anything! Best wishes..

=Star

[kudzu]

I would not use fear to train my dog, not even for counter surfing. Instead try this:

 

1. Keep unattended food off the counters. ("unattended" may be as simple as turning your back)

2. Reward your dog for keeping a respectable distance from the counters. Don't wait until the dog approaches the area. Reward him just for being in an acceptable area.

3. Teach doggie zen http://www.dogforums.com/dog-training-forum/2522-doggy-zen.html This will help teach your dog self control & you will find you have a dog who automatically stays away from human's food.

4. Reward your dog for keeping a respectable distance from food in human hands. Again, don't wait until he has already tried to snatch, reach for, or even sniff towards the food. Reward him early enough that he isn't already doing that.

5. Teach "Leave It" so if your dog is headed towards trouble you can stop him before he gets there.

6. Reward your dog for keeping a respectable distance from dining tables. (Are you seeing a pattern? ) As before, reward him just for being good. Doesn't matter if there is food on the table or not. Doesn't matter whether he knows the food is there or not. If he is where you want & doing what your want or not doing what you don't want then reward him.

7. Work to prevent him from being able to practice those behaviors you do not want. Don't punish or scold him but do stop him or block his access to items.

8. Reward him when he is doing what you want. (Just in case I haven't emphasized this enough.)

9. Teach him what No &/or Stop means but don't scream it at him. If the dog knows that the No means don't do whatever it is you are doing & Stop means stop everything you are doing right now then you can use those words in a soft, gentle tone to give your dog directions rather than having to use harsh tones that frighten, intimidate or bully your dog.

 

ETA: In the interest of full disclosure, I have a counter surfer in my home. Actually I have three counter surfers but two of them are humans. My problem is that I am terrible at following rule #1 & not at all good at rule #2. So though he hasn't stolen food in other locations, in our own home he is not trust worthy & it is my own dang fault.

Edited December 30, 2011 by kudzu