Urgent help!!!

[doglover228]

So if you look at my other posts you can read about my new puppy. He is a border collie that came from an abusive home. He has some VERY bad behavior problems. He jumps on people, he steals other dogs food, he opens the trash can, and he steals food of the counter. Today me and my sister made some cupcakes because my mom gets home tomorrow from Cali. Well the cupcakes were not near the edge of the counter so I left the room with my sister in there (she is 17) and then she left, well when I came back he looked at me, threw his paws up onto the counter and took a cupcake. I yelled at him when he did it so he dropped it and ran. I grabbed his coller and he bit me but not hard so I didn't let go. I dragged him
to a big dog kennel where he is now. Why is he doing this. And yes I know that the food smells good to them but I don't care. He has done this many times and everytime he is scolded. Can someone tell me how to correct all of these behaviors? My gandma said if he keeps it up we have to get rid of him. And no I can't keep him out of the kitchen because that's where our dogs stay, it is fenced off from the rest of the house and that's where the dog door is.

[emmabeth]

He's doing these things because he is a dog, a nd because scolding him will NOT work.

You KNOW he will jump up and take food, and yet you leave food where he can get it? That was pretty dumb. Why didn't you put the food in a box with a lid, or in a place he cannot reach?

You have a HUGE human brain, you are potentially so smart - as a species we can fly to the moon, dive under the sea, climb huge mountains, invent computers and the internet.....

and yet, some of us are so stupid we leave stuff where a dog can get it, and then get mad when the dog does.

You may not 'care' that he can smell the food, wants the food and will take it, but until you DO care about the way he thinks and reacts, you will NOT train him to do as you want.

If you want to keep this dog, and train him, you do need to start caring about how he thinks and how he learns.

Scolding him will not work. Dragging him around by his collar will not work and will very likely get you bitten badly in the end. How will this help him?

Don't put food in his reach.
Don't leave the trash can in his reach.
Don't leave dog food down after a meal time.
Don't feed dogs in the same room.

That will cut out some of your problems.

Teach him what you DO want him to do when he greets new people - if you teach him he must sit, then he can't be jumping up. You will need to prevent him jumping up to start with though,a nd you will need to teach him a rock solid reliable sit in a variety of places first.

Most of the problems you are having with him are down to management and yo not understanding how dogs thinka nd learn. He isnt a human and he never EVER will be.

Imagine if I had answered this post JUST by saying 'WELL YOU ARE A STUPID HUMAN, GO TO YOUR ROOM'...... just HOW helpful would that have been. Would you have figured out what you did wrong, and what you need to change from that? Not at all, it would be impossible for you to learn from that.

So how is your dog going to learn by you bawling him out and dragging him out of teh room?

[doglover228]

I don't Appretiate the part about what I did being dumb and stupid, it's just as easy to say that what I did was wrong. Because I did not leave it out like that. My sister was in charge of the food when I left then she left, and I was only gone for 3 minutes. So yeah I can see how that's wrong to do but is sure doesn't make me stupid. And that was the only time it happened like that. One time my grandma was eating breakfast and he just jumped up next to her and stuck his face in the bowl. Another time I took a pizza out of the oven and put it on the stove (it was VERY hot and needed to cool) I turned my back for one second and when I looked back at the stove he was up there with my pizza in his mouth, and it burned him. So what do you say to him then? Do you just say no and ignore it? I don't normally scold/yell at a dog but when they have been told more than once not to do something and they do it when they know that I'm watching I do get mad.

[Nettle]

Getting mad doesn't get any of us anywhere, so commit to not getting mad.

Then commit to arranging your circumstances so that the dog never gets access to anything you don't want him to have.

Always remember he is a dog and he doesn't do stuff to make you mad: he does it because it seems a good thing to do. By taking away the incentive, you stop him doing what you don't want.

[ladybug1802]

First of all - your dog has come from an abusive home, so I would suggest not yelling at him, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him anywhere. If I had done that with my dog when I got him he would have probably bit me as well.

As has been said, you need to not leave ANY food anywhere where he is able to get it. He doesnt know that it is 'bad' to jump and get the food...only that it smells good and he cant resist it. As for the jumping up at the cereal bowl as well as the cupcakes, have you tried any training with him to let him kn ow he mustnt do this? I think you need to teach him a strong 'leave it'....and encourage him to sit somewhere (on his bed for example) while you are eating so he knows he must put distance between him and you when eating.

I have to say.....you say this dog has 'VERY bad behaviour problems'. I am sorry but if you think these are very bad you dont know how lucky you are. Try having a dog who cant be around any other dogs without lungeing, snapping, biting, barking etc, which many people have on here. Or try having a dog reactive around peopel, who lunges and snaps when styrangers comes near, as mine used to do. Or one that you cant get near a vet. To be honest, if your dog comes from an abusive home and these are the only behavio9ural 'issues' you have you are very lucky.....although by being confrontational with him you run the risk of him developing more issues....as you have seen by him biting you when you grabbed his collar.

Dogs DO need to be told 'more than once' when it comes to teaching them commands....so you cannot expect to tell him he mustn't, for example, steal a cupcake once, and then expect him to just 'know' he isnt meant to take food from the counter again. Also, for all your know he may have been starved in his previous life, so to him he needs to get food as and when he can. So you need to teach him impulse control.....slowly and most importantly kindly. DO NOT GET MAD. You need to encourage this little chap to trust you not fear you.

As ror the trash can - again, not a bigt issue! I would often come home and find the contents on my bin on my dog's bed! I wopuld just ignore it, clear it up and act like nothing has happened....and now I have a brick in the bottom of the bin so he cant do it.

The most important thing is DO NO SCOLD HIM AND GET MAD. I find it very upsetting that you say your grandma is willing to get rid of this dog for him simply being a dog (and a dog that hasnt been trained to know what you do and dont want him to do), although to be honest, it might be better for him if you did - he bit you because he is scared and after his abusove background he doesnt need this. Border collies are very sensitive dogs. I know you got mad at emmabeth's response, but everything she says is true! We are not being mean to you....we are speaking the truth and trying to help your little dog.

[Mattie]

So if you look at my other posts you can read about my new puppy. He is a border collie that came from an abusive home. He has some VERY bad behavior problems. He jumps on people, he steals other dogs food, he opens the trash can, and he steals food of the counter. Today me and my sister made some cupcakes because my mom gets home tomorrow from Cali. Well the cupcakes were not near the edge of the counter so I left the room with my sister in there (she is 17) and then she left, well when I came back he looked at me, threw his paws up onto the counter and took a cupcake. I yelled at him when he did it so he dropped it and ran.

He is a dog doing what dogs do, he doesn't know he isn't supose to that the cup cakes but you do so it is your fault he took them because you set him up to take them by leaving them within his reach.

I grabbed his coller and he bit me but not hard so I didn't let go.

Again your fault you got bitten, grabbing his collar is an aggressive act to a dog so he replied by aggression back.

I dragged him to a big dog kennel where he is now.

Why was he dragged into a kennel? That is pure temper on your part which you should never do with a dog or any other animal.

Why is he doing this. And yes I know that the food smells good to them but I don't care. He has done this many times and everytime he is scolded. Can someone tell me how to correct all of these behaviors? My gandma said if he keeps it up we have to get rid of him. And no I can't keep him out of the kitchen because that's where our dogs stay, it is fenced off from the rest of the house and that's where the dog door is.

He is a dog, food is a very high resource to dogs, like us they can't live without food, all you are doing is setting him up to fail, he should never be put in this position. Scolding or any other form of punishment won't make any difference because he is a dog, we have to teach our own children not to take things, to have good manners, not to steel etc, but we expect dogs to know this, that is totally unreasonable.

If you can't put things away when you have used them they you are at fault not your dog for taking them, if you have to give him up it is because he has been set up to fail and not succeed.

So if you look at my other posts you can read about my new puppy. He is a border collie that came from an abusive home. He has some VERY bad behavior problems. He jumps on people, he steals other dogs food, he opens the trash can, and he steals food of the counter.

Now that you have been told what you did wrong, it is time to say what you can to to turn your dog into a good mannered dog.

First, his behaviours are only bad to you and your family, he doesn't understand this so you need to set him up so he doesn't do them. That sounds easy, it isn't, it will take time and patience to do this from all of you.

If I know one of my dogs is going to jump on someone I give him something else to do like "Sit", when he does I can then reward him instead of being embarrased/annoyed/stressed. Cyril rarely jumps on people now.

For stealing other dogs food I feed my dogs with a door between them so they can't steal any of the others food, they are not let out together until they have all finished eating. I hate it if anyone tries to interfer with me when I am eating so try and let my dogs eat in peace as well. If he is fed in a different room to your others he can't steal their food.

For the trash can, have it in a place were he can't get it, I have mine in a cupboard that they can't open so I don't have any problems with one of the emptying the trash can. I used to have a big problem with it at one time.

All 4 of my dogs will take food off the counters if it is left there, my small dog can jump onto the counters and have a feast, I never leave food out now and it has become a habit not to leave food out. Basically I am an untidy person but not with leaving food out. I soak my dogs kibble, that is put in the oven were they can't get it before it is ready to be fed to them.

For problems like emptying the trash can or stealing from the counters it is less stressful for you, your family and your dog if they don't get the chance to do these, everyone is more relaxed and your dog will be more open to learning. These are problems that are better managed than trained because you will be asking a dog to go against their natural instincts when training them, that is a lot more difficult to do, much better to manage them.

You may have problems getting the rest of your family to keep things away but I am sure you can do it because you love your dog.

[emmabeth]

I am sure you don't appreciate being told your actions are dumb/stupid - (I am not calling YOU dumb or stupid, I have no idea if you are or not, as far as I know you have the potential to be as smart as anyone else!), but sometimes we do have to take a step back and realise that what we are doing is really not well thought out at all.

Sooooo... moving on, because we've made our point here I think..

For every behaviour your dog does that you do not like, I'd like you to (and it will help you), write it down, and then write down 1/ How you can prevent this and 2/What you WOULD like him to do instead (and this has to be a positive action!)

So it might look like this:

- Jumping at people who have food: 1/ Prevent his access to people who have food by having them eat elsewhere, or taking him out of the room.
2/ I would prefer him to lie on his bed when we are eating meals.

That gives you your first step, preventing access - this is crucial because as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. The more he jumps and grabs peoples food, the better he gets at it, the more rewarding it is, the more he does it!

The second step gives you a goal to work towards - that won't happen overnight and you will need to make a concentrated effort to teach him this. He may not know a cue for 'bed' and he may not be able to stay there long. You might need to teach him to go to his bed in lots of locations without anyone eating near him first. It will probably mean you training him with rewards to stay on his bed, whilst someone else acts as 'stooge' and eats something. You might need to have him on a leash so you can be sure he doesnt snatch the food.

Anyway, if you can do that for each of the problems you have with him, then we can help you with any of the training you will need to do. We can also tell you whether your expectations or ideals from him are unrealistic (for example 'I would like him to ignore food left within reach when there is no one present' is unrealistic and there is no kind, effective way to train this.)

[MissCarla]

We all are frustrated by our dogs occasionally. For example, I forgot to put up the baby gate to our living room last night and my happy muddy babies came in from the yard and ran circles on my beautiful clean carpet (I am still really sad about this ). Of course I was mad at them and mad at myself. It's hard to see in the moment that it is just mud, or just a cupcake.

But instead of 'punishing' them for doing something they had no clue was wrong, I just put them in their usual spot when they are mud monsters (the kitchen), go into my bedroom, put my head into the pillow and shout to myself. I know it sounds crazy, but it really works for me. This works for people as well.

[Noobs]

I don't Appretiate the part about what I did being dumb and stupid, it's just as easy to say that what I did was wrong. Because I did not leave it out like that.

It would have also been just as easy for you to body block your dog to put him into another room but you grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to his kennel. Human equivalent.

Your dog is the smartest breed on earth. Are you doing anything to mentally stimulate him and exercise him so he doesn't get himself into mischief?

[Beau&Luke'sMomn]

I hope things go better soon. We have a wonderful Brittany who could have been named "Counter surfer" or "Snoopy." Now we laugh at the stories of food Beau stole in the past (rotisserie chicken, blueberry muffins, sandwiches, loaf of bread, etc.).

As you and your sister and grandmother get to know your dog, you will learn his "problem" behaviors and how to prevent them. We have learned not to leave anything on the center island in the kitchen and to push things to the back of the other counter tops. We know Beau will drink from the toilet so we close the toilet lid. We know he will dig in the trash can so we turn it around backward so he cannot get in it. With Luke we know he will try to tip over the outside rollaway garbage can so we wheel it in the garage. We had to learn that the beauty of Beau and Luke being dogs is that they are dogs and are so predictable.

On the fun side we know that when Beau & Luke play fetch with the tennis ball that about one out of four times Beau will take off running with the ball so Luke will chase him. Beau will then get in the water barrell and drop the ball and Luke will pick it up out of the water to bring to us. All these things are incredibly funny and give us a lot of entertainment.

Good luck on this dog loving rescue journey.

[Mattie]

We have learned not to leave anything on the center island in the kitchen and to push things to the back of the other counter tops. We know Beau will drink from the toilet so we close the toilet lid. We know he will dig in the trash can so we turn it around backward so he cannot get in it. With Luke we know he will try to tip over the outside rollaway garbage can so we wheel it in the garage. We had to learn that the beauty of Beau and Luke being dogs is that they are dogs and are so predictable.

Dolly is only about 10ins high, she can jump onto the counters so pushing things to the back doesn't work

One day my husband had both Dixie and Tommy out for a walk, he couldn't find Tommy, he called and searched but no Tommy. Another man came onto the field and asked if he had lost a dog, he had seen Tommy at the top of the road standing on a wheely bin trying to open the one next to it.

[rheck123]

This is THE BEST way to get a dog to stop counter surfing. Great guy named Eric Letendre aka "The Amazing Dog Training Man" doing the video.

Mod Edit: I have removed the links as this forum does NOT support or advocate punishment, or the use of aversives and Eric's method here is clearly a demonstration of that. Please do not post links or advise such methods here, thankyou.

[SheilaTheDog]

A dog's sense of smell is absolutely incredible - and leaving tasty cupcakes in his reach will just entice him.
If you are willing to put time into improving the situation, the first thing you should take a look at is your dog's diet. If he is only fed boring, dry kibble once a day, he is definitely going to want something tastier.
So, feed the dog at least 2x a day, and make his meals more interesting by making them smellier. Add warm water or rice milk and stir it around. You could also give your dog pasta, carrots, peas, chicken, turkey, fish, or lean beef along with his normal dry food diet, just mix it up.
Teach your dog to have a solid "leave it." Here is a video tutorial on how to do it: http://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup?ble ... NAOe1djDyc
Get a trash can with a lid, and keep human food off counters if left unattended. Set your dog up for success by removing temptation, and thus preventing counter-surfing.