SURPRISE! counter surfing

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Shalista
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SURPRISE! counter surfing

Post by Shalista »

So Bax has snagged several things off desks and counters now and every time I've been very hands off. I consider it my fault for leaving stuff where he can get it. Bax snagging food is more of a management problem in my mind then a training problem.

So when Bax grabbed a slice of toast off my desk and hopped off i felt disappointed that I hadn't been watching him more carefully but, especially since i KNOW he's guardy about food i let him have it (his drop it cue is terrible). a slice of toast won't kill him and he's already tasted it so he's already reinforced that desk has tasty things.

my sister jumped on him and grabbed him by his neck to wrestle the toast away. I told her not to bother and she gave me a scathing look. "You're just going to let him have it?"

I WANTED to retort that after she pulled the moist, partially chewed mess out of his mouth i probably wouldn't want to eat it anyway..... but i refrained.....

am i wrong? should i be doing something when Bax grabs food? He's only done it.... maybe three times in all the years I've had him so it's not really a pressing issue.
Baxter (AKA Bax, Chuckles, Chuckster) Rat Terrier, born 01/16/13
JudyN
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Re: SURPRISE! counter surfing

Post by JudyN »

You know what I'm going to say, don't you? :wink:

In this house, if Jasper gets something edible, he keeps it. If he makes a grab (he's recently started sticking his head in the fridge while I'm getting his food out to see if he can snaffle anything) I'm OK if I snatch it back really quickly. If he only gets as far as the 'Woo' in Woo hoo' he's ready to accept that he tried and failed. If he manages the whole 'Woo hoo' - then he wins.

I really should make sure he doesn't get a chance to stick his nose in the fridge though, because once they've learnt something might work, they'll keep trying. So it really is about management, as you say, so they don't think they're in with a chance.

If you wrestle food off Bax, next time he'll be sneakier, he'll run off faster, he'll eat the food faster and risk choking, and of course he could turn aggressive. If he turns aggressive you've lost because his reactions will be a lot faster than yours, you (or whoever) could easily get bitten, and he will learn that aggression works really well.

Bax had already got as far as the full 'Woo hoo' so as you say, he'd been rewarded, and what happened after won't have persuaded him not to try again.

Whether you can convince your sister of this is another matter.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Shalista
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Re: SURPRISE! counter surfing

Post by Shalista »

it's so sad watching Ki with his bully sticks. because she always grabs food off of him he doesn't think he's supposed to have ANYTHING and he like crouches over it gnawing as fast as he can and if you move towards him he glares over his shoulder and gnaws faster.

Good to know i wasnt in the wrong with Bax. Management ho!
Baxter (AKA Bax, Chuckles, Chuckster) Rat Terrier, born 01/16/13
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Nettle
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Re: SURPRISE! counter surfing

Post by Nettle »

You are totally right, Shalista, and I really am sad that so many people go straight to force and bullying when something is essentially a human mistake. And when they get bitten, it's never their fault, is it?

One wonders how big a human can feel when bullying a tiny dog. If they wouldn't do whatever it was to a mastiff, they shouldn't do it at all.

Changing the world one person at a time......sigh.....
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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emmabeth
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Re: SURPRISE! counter surfing

Post by emmabeth »

In my house several dogs have been rewarded for performing snatcheroos out of peoples HANDS .. mostly Tatty and Womble, and mostly because my sister who has CATS is utterly untrained in the art of 'eating without losing your dinner' and she sits there, food in hand WAFTING IT ABOUT.....

Now if someone snatches from MY hand my rule is, IF i can grab it back before the dog has as Judy so neatly puts it, got the full 'WOOHOO' ...... AND im still going to eat it. (and yeah, I will eat something with teeth marks in it or rip off the chewed bit!)... then I will.

If they've achieved the full woohoo and/or i don't want it back, then I wont.

But I am talking a snatch back, grab of the food, NOT a grab of the DOG and physically abuse him - if he got it then frankly it was the food-holders fault for wafting and not watching what they were doing.

None of my dogs will snatch food if you are very clearly paying attention and eating it, ONLY if you are off your game, gazing at the tv or in my sisters case, waving a burger around whilst looking at her phone!
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
JudyN
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Re: SURPRISE! counter surfing

Post by JudyN »

Yes, my mum very nearly lost her pizza slice because she was wafting it around while chatting. Jasper doesn't even think about a crafty swipe when OH and I have pizza, but he sussed out that she was easy prey, watched her very carefully to choose his moment, and almost made off with it.

Sometimes, even when we're not in the kitchen, he remembers he's not 'meant' to put his paws up on the worktop, but has decided that he's allowed anything he can reach with all four paws on the floor. The front 6" of our worktops tend to be a lot more crumb-free than the rest :lol:
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
DianeLDL
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Re: SURPRISE! counter surfing

Post by DianeLDL »

Why is it that they prefer food other than their own?

Sandy is in one of his moods today. (Well, OH was at the dr. All morning having his bladder immunotherapy. Usually, he sits with Sandy on his lap. Now, OH is in the bedroom, rolling from side to side since the drug has to touch each part of his bladder for s certank amount of time.)

So, Sandy won't potty outside with me, he won't touch his food. I even tried sitting with him with his dish bin his lap. He didn't even get up while I was cleaning chicken for the soup?

Sandy will lick the floor and we have no idea what's there. Even after I vacuumed and scrubbed, he preferred licking the floor than eating his food. Well, I did get impatient with him when we were outside since I have more thanks to do than to always around waiting for him to potty. And, when I'm impatient, he becomes even more stubborn.

As far as ounter surfing, he hasn't tried that, yet. The worst he did was when OH bought a bag of nuts (wheee you get them from the bin) and left the bag on top of books on top of the kitchen table. OH was at the laptop, and he heard a crunching sound. When he finally turned around, it seems that Sandy had used Oh's chair to climb up, and threw the bag of nuts on the floor. (We are talking cashews, Brazil nuts, walnuts, etc.) and, there was a huge hole in the bag in the floor. :shock:

Well, Sandy paid for it as he didn't chew them well enough and whole pieces of nuts were coming out his rear end for a couple of days. :lol: :lol:
But, I think it still wouldn't stop him from trying it again. Now, we have to keep the chairs pushed in and food off the table.

OH learned he can't drink his chocolate milk sitting in his recliner with Sandy on his lap. Sandy goes right for the glass. So, we have learned we cannot eat anywhere where Sandy can get to the food.

Sandy still lingers under the table while we eat even though he does not get scraps from the table. But, he is fast, and anything that falls, he grabs before we can even bend down. So, we have to watch him when we are eating. He hasn't tried grabbing from our hands, but I wouldn't put it past him. He's not tall, but he is a jumper. :o

Judy, your mom hasn't figured it out yet? Shalista, yes, once they get away with something they will try it again and angina. Just as they have been saying, behavior that is rewarded will be continued. And what a reward the dogs are getting--food!

Diane

OH once dropped a vitamin C sucking candy, and before he could get it, Sandy had it and swallowed it. I checked the ingredients and called his vet and the poison hot line. Thankfully, there was noting harmful. It must have brrn digested since we never saw it come out.
Sandy, Chihuahua mix b. 12/20/09
JudyN
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Re: SURPRISE! counter surfing

Post by JudyN »

DianeLDL wrote: Mon Apr 17, 2017 12:52 pm Judy, your mom hasn't figured it out yet?
Oh yes, she's a quick learner, it was only the once :lol:
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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