Stealing food - UBC Zoology



Stealing food

© VIVIEN M. SRIVASTAVA and family, 2005.

1) To calm the dog.

Diet. Avoid canned and semi-moist foods as these usually contain preservatives and artificial colours that cause some dogs to become over-excited. An increase the protein content of the diet to 30% or more results in a calmer dog. If you are feeding a good quality dry dogfood it probably contains 28% protein for puppies or 26% for adults. To bring the protein content to 30% or more add meat, chicken, fish or cooked egg to the diet daily.

Feeding. Feed the dog twice a day, in the morning and at night. A hungry dog is an anxious dog and has a strong incentive to steal food. If the dog seems abnormally hungry, check the stool for worms.

Remove temptations. If the dog in your absence is able to get juicy pieces of food from rubbish bins or counters, these rewards will counter any training you do while at home. Try to keep food waste high up beyond the dog's reach. If it has to be at floor level, can it be in a cupboard? Training will be directed toward teaching the dog that food left on tables and counters as you prepare food, serve it and clean up afterwards is not for the dog to take. Many dogs trained in this way early in life become reliable enough not to take food while you are away from home.

2) Training.

If you come across evidence that the dog has taken food or food waste, remain calm. Don't call the dog but go and take him by the collar and lead him to the place where the food was taken. Seat him and make him look at the rubbish bin or table while you scold him in a low growling voice with long sentences and a few significant words such as "Bad dog" "No, leave it". If he looks away, tap the object and then the dog's muzzle until he looks. After the scolding place him in isolation in another room for 10 minutes so he has time to associate your anger with the area where the food was taken. Scolding after the fact should be accompanied by training in which you teach the dog to ignore food placed on tables and counters under increasingly tempting conditions.

You might start with a small piece of bread placed on a plate (so it looks like human food) on a coffee table. Have the dog on a leash and walk back and forth past the food with a "No, leave it" and a sharp jerk on the collar if the dog turns its head towards the food. With repetition the dog should start avoiding the food and you praise this. Repeat with different food in different places at the dog's eye level.

The second step is to be seated in the room with the dog on a nylon rope that can be bought by the foot from Canadian Tire. The dog has freedom to move around but the rope is held short enough that it could not take the food. Issue your warning when the dog nears the food, praise when it moves away.

When the lesson appears to be learnt, either dampen the underside of the bread and dip it in fresh cayenne pepper or surround the plate with mouse traps you have set but not baited. Start with the dog loose but with you in the same room. Warn as before if the dog shows interest in the food and then quietly leave the room but watch through the doorway. If the dog takes the cayenne laced food he will rush for his water dish. If the mouse traps are sprung, they are noisy enough and dance on a hard surface and usually frighten the dog away. You must get to the food and remove it before he recovers from the fright. In either case, your previous training is now reinforced in the dog's mind. You were warning him there was something there to harm him. Quietly take the dog by the collar after he has had his drink or has recoiled from the plate and approach the table, scolding the dog. If he has learnt his lesson he will pull away from the area.

With food stolen from counters too high for the dog to see, use the same training technique but show the food on the plate to the dog before putting it on the counter and use a highly scented food such as cheese. After preliminary training, put a tea towel on the counter at a place where the dog has been jumping up so that part of the towel hangs over the edge. Pile as many pan lids, cookie sheets and other noisy items as you can in an unstable heap on the towel. Rub a little cheese on one of the objects near the back so the dog can smell cheese but not be rewarded by getting any to eat. Warn the dog and leave the room. At the sound of the crash, catch the dog as before, take him to the site and scold him.

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