Getting in the trash

[Tiffany91]

I have a basset hound named max (rescued), about a 7 month old puppy mixed between a doberman and a blood hound name mini (rescued), and a german shepard name peaches. During the day my fiance and I try to keep them awake so they stay asleep at night. At night usually when were sleeping or occasionally during the day the dogs will go and get in the trash and in the morning we will be left to clean up their mess. My fiance Bradley is getting very irritated and many times has said I just want to take them to a shelter. I just want them to stay out of the trash. We've taken the full trash bags outside before we go to sleep at night but it doesn't always help.

I would appreciate someone if they could really help us.

[ladybug1802]

I am a bit confused....if you take the full trash bags outside at night, how can they get into the trash??

How much exercise do they get in the day? You say you want to keeop them awake during the day....how do you do this? They should be allowed to sleep and nap during the day if they want to...they will still sleep at night!

I'm afraid if the dogs are getting into the trash, you need to move it where they cant get at it - simple as that. Put a brick at the bottom of the bin so they cant tip it up. I assume the bags are in a bin? I see this as fairly simple and straightforward.

[Gordiesmom]

Try a metal trash can with a lid, the ones that you have step on the lever to open the lid. I find this works like a charm.

[emmabeth]

Honestly it really is this simple.

Put the trash either WHERE they cannot get into it, OR put the trash into something they cannot get in.

Leaving trash where dogs can get it is like me leaving you, starving hungry with a hot plate of your favourite food under your nose and then expecting you NOT to touch it.

It is unreasonable and unfair!

You can get trash cans that dogs cannot get into - if you put the trash out every night and the dogs are locked into the house then they cannot get it. If the dogs are outside in the night then you can build a secure fence around the trash cans so that they cannot get in it (a friend of mine has this, its like a little shed that the trash lives in, with a roof and a bolted door that his dogs CANNOT open, I think he built it out of old wooden pallets that he pulled apart and fixed together).

[jacksdad]

Try a metal trash can with a lid, the ones that you have step on the lever to open the lid. I find this works like a charm.

This was one of my first questions I asked in here...how to deal with a dog that get's into the trash....

What I tried....

Went and bought this http://www.simplehuman.com/products/tra ... -step.html

took my 16 pound dog less than half a day to figure how to get into it

I tried a couple other plastic cans with lids...he got into all of them with in 24 hours of trying out the can.

Then I finally got this can
http://www.simplehuman.com/products/tra ... round.html

Ah success....or so I thought. took him a couple months, but he figured this one out too.

So, what do I do?

I either empty it so there is nothing in it before I leave my dog alone or move it to the bathroom and close the door.

The internet is full of videos of dogs outsmarting their humans and getting into the garbage can. stopping your dog from getting into the garbage..can be very easy if you prevent access to the can, or take a bit of engineering if you can't prevent access to the can.

[ladybug1802]

Try a metal trash can with a lid, the ones that you have step on the lever to open the lid. I find this works like a charm.

Nope! Dylan has worked out how to turn the bin round, step on the pedal and pull the bin liner out!!! Its hilarious!! So what do I do now? I make sure if I do use the bin inside, that I empty it into the big wheelie bin outside before I go out....most of the time I just put rubbish straight into the wheelie bin. Very simple!

[PikiPiki]

I had major trash problems with two pups at once. Horrible thing to wake to in the morning. Didn't have a crate, my husband had just deployed to Iraq. I was stressed and the house was trashed every day.

I now have this lovely dog gate. (I'm the one that gave the bad review about the 50lb coon hound being able to pass through the cat door, a simple modification cured that though.)

My dogs aren't allowed in the kitchen or living room. They're both 9 months. And to be honest, I can't trust them in there. And I really don't see the purpose or need for them to be in there. I only go into the kitchen to get food, the house has no furniture other than my bedroom/dining room/dog rooms. And we use the side door so they never go into that part of the house. I can leave the gate open and they won't pass it. They've learned not to just by having it up. So my trash stays inside the bin.

[Sarah83]

If you're putting the trash outside then how are the dogs getting to it?

We used to put the bin in the downstairs toilet every time we went out. If we forgot Shadow kindly emptied it all out onto the kitchen floor for us and ate anything edible that was there. I'd simply move the trash rather than pay a fortune in bins, Shadow learned to open pedal bins and the ones with a swing lid. Rupert knows how to open our bin now (you have to push the lid down and let go for it to pop up) but isn't usually interested enough to do so.

[emmabeth]

We have this one http://www.simplehuman.com/products/tra ... -step.html which fits in a gap between units so they cannot knock it over and it locks so they can't flip it open!

Not so handy if you dont have a narrow space between units though. The alternative I used previously was a trash can inside a cupboard, and then the cupboard had a child-proof lock on it. (As does our fridge freezer or they will get into that too!).

[StrutNFred]

I ended up putting all my trash bins in cupboards and putting childlocks on those cupboards. I tried all kinds of bins, but Mr Smartypants always figured them out in a day or two. I think I'm safe with the child locks until he develops opposable thumbs!

[salamana]

I think it's possible to learn our dog not to getting in the trash and not stealing food if we can learn them where their interest is. My dogs aren't perfect at all, they can be daemon when they want, but I can leave my trash, my shopping, a cake on the table, a piece of meat on the floor, they won't touch it. They learned that :

- if I touch it, if I try to steal it, I will never have it, I will lose it

- if I ignore it, if I don't touch it, I will have it, I will win it.

They aren't dummies, they want it, so they do what they need to do to have it.

I begin this training with two kinds of rewards : one very tasty, one just banal. I put the last one in my hand, closed. If he tries to have it, I keep my hand closed, if he ignores it or stays quiet I give him the tasty reward. I do the same, with my hand opened. Then I do it with the tasty reward in my hand, closed (I just open my hand and say "yesss" like I do with his lunch, if he doesn't try to have it). Then I do it when I'm cooking. I bring down a piece of my meal on the floor. If he tries to have it, I put my foot on as he can't get it. If he ignores it, I say "yeeeeeessss", I pick it up and I give him. I wait more and more before saying "yesss". They can ignore it for half an hour before getting it.

Then I train them on the same way with piece of delicious food on the table, on my trash opened, on the floor outside. They don't know if it's THE "don't touch" game or just forgotten food, but they don't touch in case. I increase the time before giving it to them, I increase the difficulty going out the room, hiding me or not looking at the piece of food (like if I'm reading or working on my computer). They love that game and I don't have problem.

So I think it's possible and it can be fun to learn !

[Sarah83]

I'm sorry, I disagree. With some dogs that will work, with others it won't. Especially if they have a history of stealing food. Shadow wouldn't DREAM of touching food left on the table or even on a plate on the floor while we were there. Or raiding the bin. As you say though, they're not dummies and they very quickly learn that if you're not there you can't prevent them from taking food that's left out or getting in the trash or chewing on the furniture or any number of behaviours we don't want. Nor are there any immediate consequences for them doing so. Or rewards for not doing so.

[salamana]

I'm agree with you. It' true, it can work or not and the thief's past is important. But you have more chance that it works if you try than if you don't try and it's not a worth training or game than learning to give a paw. There's no risk to try. On the three puppies I train like this, it works. Therefore, I don't play with the evil, if I cook a meal for friends I will put it in an inaccessible place. They think I'm mad with my dogs, I can't explain to them they will eat nothing because my dogs ate their meal. If I buy chocolate, I won't let it on my table because it's mortal for them. But my trash, the can of their food are in the same place they sleep. I can let them in the car with my shopping bag plenty of food without worrying. I think increase progressively the time before authorizing to eat, and working on my absence when I do this game helps. Like I learn them to be alone when I work without devasting my house.. It's not a perfect solution, the only perfect solution is to lock the food or the dogs. But it can be a funny thing to work and it can help for some bad behaviours (I know dogs who steal food as soon as you turn your back).

I just want to share this trick.

[Sarah83]

Oh of course it's worth a try, there's no denying that. It's just that when it doesn't work it's usually the dog who suffers for it. And in the training stage you've got to manage the environment so the dog doesn't get the opportunity to steal food or raid the trash anyway. Rupert doesn't steal food or raid the trash and if food is dropped on the floor he waits to be told he can have it. He picked these up without me officially training him but Shadow, who I really worked with on these issues, never got it.

[emmabeth]

Oh yes, its always a good idea to teach a dog self control around food, trash etc - and teach a good leave and a good give/swap cue - all those add up to more and more safety.

But the problem is that PEOPLE have an expectation that they can and will be able to teach EVERY dog to leave food, and that this is a reasonable expectation. In fact it isn't - its a thoroughly UNreasonable thing to expect from an animal who has, for thousands of years, been an opportunistic scavenger. You may as well tell a fish not to swim!

So yes, teach these things to improve safety, but not as something you could rely on on a daily basis because if people expect that they CAN do that, they will try to do that and these are the people whose dogs end up dead having stolen somethign dangerous, or end up endlessly berated for failing a challenge too difficult for them.