I am living with a dog that is always hungry. We’ve actually nicknamed him the turd burglar because when no one’s looking he steals from the catbox. Then he tries to give me kisses with litter stuck to his lips and in his teeth. Talk about gross!
I want to teach Ace to stay out of the kitchen. Since he has been on Prednisone he has wanted to eat nonstop. He’s started tipping over the kitchen garbage and checking the counters and table. Before this medicine, he was not the type of dog to constantly be on kitchen patrol. He begged, but not this bad. He stole food maybe twice a year, now he tries every day.
In order to keep this behavior from becoming a habit, Ace is not allowed in the kitchen without permission. It’s really easy to set up an invisible boundary as long as he’s in my site. Since Sunday he has learned that “Out!” means “get your ass out of the kitchen.” He’s not as dumb as he looks. He sits and begs from a distance and has only needed two or three reminders to stay out, at least when someone’s there to supervise.
Once Ace puts even one toe on the kitchen floor, I move towards him and say “Out!” Then he backs up and sits in the other room. There is about a 15-foot entryway into our kitchen, so a baby gate is not an option. I wouldn’t choose to deal with a gate anyway. Sometimes it’s a good option to confine a dog, but not in this case.
Now I just want Ace to stay out of the kitchen when I’m upstairs. When I’m downstairs with him, he sits at the edge of the kitchen and doesn’t enter. But when I am out of site, he thinks it’s OK to enter. This is because dogs are contextual. Another example of this is Ace’s behavior with jumping on the couch.
At my old apartment, Ace learned he could not get on the couch when I was home. He never even tried. But whenever I left him loose for a few hours and came back, I would find him sleeping on the couch. Ace’s understanding was that as long as no one was around, he could sleep on the couch in my old apartment. I actually had to put my coffee table across it when I left to keep him off.
Now that I live in a new place he has not tried to jump onto the couch once. This is because he has no association with being on the couch here. It is the exact same couch. It is just in a new environment. I have left him out alone and do not have to put the coffee table over the couch anymore.
I haven’t had to worry about my couch in the last few weeks, though. Ace is back to staying in his kennel when I’m gone because of a recent garbage raid.
As for the catbox, you can’t get to it without walking through the kitchen and into the laundry room, which is another reason why the kitchen is now off limits to mutts. Ace is out of luck when he’s hungry for sand biscuits.
I have been feeding Ace extra food temporarily, until he is off the medication. Hopefully that’s making him feel better.
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Yeah, my old mutt would think that the cat box was her buffet. I solved that by getting the covered box and would turn it toward the wall so that there was only enough room for the cat to get in. Fortunately, Gus doesn’t have that issue. I did have to give him prednisone for a bit but we got through it. I can be rough when the dog is insatiably ravenous. I was able to teach the old mutt the word “beggar” and she knew that meant she should stop. Gus looks at me as if I was on drugs when I try that with him!
We had a sheepdog who wasn’t allowed on the furniture. But sometimes we would come home and she would greet us looking really guilty. It wasn’t necessary to feel for warmth on the furniture, we just knew it was time for scolding.
Ugh being hungry is no fun, my dogs all think they are starving to death but deep down they are okay.
Yeah dogs are not contextual, it’s interesting to observe that about them. Our dogs get on the couches and the bed… but we decided on that years ago and still stick with it. Sometimes I wish I didn’t have 3 dogs on the couch, tho, and no room for me. One usually gets kicked off!
Trooper bear is ALWAYS hungry and will always eat if offered food. I think it’s partly a Malamute thing though. Hi breeder told me about one of her other dogs who got out and ate nearly half of a 50 pound bag of dog food!!! You’d think that would fill the darn thing up. They just won’t stop eating if food is around. Silly doggies.
Our dogs seem obsessed with eating wild Goat poo. They will hang back and even hide in the woods on walks after being told “no” so they can scoff it when i’m not looking. Can’t see the attraction personally but I guess that’s a very good thing!
Every dog I know likes cat poo. Yuck.
Your point about dogs being contextual is actually very useful for a housebreaking tip that many people don’t realize – our trainer said that if you see the dog peeing/pooping indoors, don’t yell at him because that only teaches them to go indoors where you don’t see them, which is worse!
Biggie is ALWAYS hungry too, but luckily has enough self control not to raid things he easily could. But to fill Ace up without getting him fat, maybe you could give him unadorned raw or steamed vegetables? They’re a great healthy way to add bulk without many calories, so he doesn’t feel so hungry.
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I feel so sad for Ace being always hungry. My dog Dutch was also the same way when he was on prednisone.
Dutch even started eating socks and underwear from the dirty laundry pile. We quickly learned we needed to close the closet door where the dirty laundry was kept.
That prednisone is nasty stuff! I hope that Ace can get off of it soon.