Post by whovian on Oct 31, 2013 16:51:36 GMT -5
I think I read somewhere that greyhounds can often give their owners trouble about food because, prior to living in a house, all the food they came into contact with is food that they could eat. No unsafe food was left in the yard, and dinner magically appeared in a bowl in front of them when it was time to eat.
Mooching has become an extreme sport for River, and I am not really sure what to do about it. Her mooching problem has two facets, really:
1. Our city has city-wide compost, which is lovely. Unfortunately the gentlemen/women that pick up the compost every week are not always careful as they empty the household bins into the truck, and often there are bits of food littered all over the front lawns in our neighbourhood for a few days after the compost is picked up each week. River goes a little berzerk trying to get at these food scraps. I've pulled bones, egg shells, banana peels, broccoli stocks and goodness knows what else out of her mouth. Now we walk in the street where we can so that she doesn't make herself sick eating scraps before I can wrestle them away from her.
When she knows that there are "scraps" out there, she wants out again and again and again. She barks and scratches at the door incessantly and when I take her out, she just wants to get at whatever she found, wherever it is in the neighbourhood. I take her back inside, and immediately she wants out again. As we walk along I clean up what I can, but she doesn't seem to understand that the scraps aren't there any more even when she sees me bag them up. Once we get home she will want out again to try and get back to the spot where she found food before. This goes on for days until everyone on our street has cleaned the scraps of food up.
2. River has always needed out repeatedly when I am cooking dinner. As soon as I start cooking, she scratches at the door, no matter what time of night it is or how many times she has been out already. After we go out and come back in, she waits five minutes, just enough time for me to start turning all the pots back on to cook, and then wants out again. This process repeats all the way through the long and tedious process of cooking, and continues while I am eating my supper. A few weeks ago, I gave her some of my dog-safe people food after I had finished eating in the hopes that maybe she would learn to beg like "normal" dogs and that I might finally get a hot meal. I thought maybe if she learned that food was tasty, I could train her to lie down quietly while I cooked and ate, and then we could go outside after I was done. I figured begging was better than 20 adventures out into the rain.
Instead, I seem to have reinforced that all food in the house is hers. She still wants out constantly while I cook and eat dinner but, on top of that, now she barks incessantly at me whenever I am eating anything. She behaves like she thinks I am eating her food. She doesn't do this with anyone else in the house.
River has arthritis now, and this behaviour (which is sometimes almost violent) always corresponds with wet, rainy days when I imagine she is in the most discomfort. Eventually I give up and crate her, and after a few minutes she is quiet and quickly falls asleep. This feels like I am avoiding dealing with the problem, but I don't know what else to do. Any one else ever dealt with something like this?
Mooching has become an extreme sport for River, and I am not really sure what to do about it. Her mooching problem has two facets, really:
1. Our city has city-wide compost, which is lovely. Unfortunately the gentlemen/women that pick up the compost every week are not always careful as they empty the household bins into the truck, and often there are bits of food littered all over the front lawns in our neighbourhood for a few days after the compost is picked up each week. River goes a little berzerk trying to get at these food scraps. I've pulled bones, egg shells, banana peels, broccoli stocks and goodness knows what else out of her mouth. Now we walk in the street where we can so that she doesn't make herself sick eating scraps before I can wrestle them away from her.
When she knows that there are "scraps" out there, she wants out again and again and again. She barks and scratches at the door incessantly and when I take her out, she just wants to get at whatever she found, wherever it is in the neighbourhood. I take her back inside, and immediately she wants out again. As we walk along I clean up what I can, but she doesn't seem to understand that the scraps aren't there any more even when she sees me bag them up. Once we get home she will want out again to try and get back to the spot where she found food before. This goes on for days until everyone on our street has cleaned the scraps of food up.
2. River has always needed out repeatedly when I am cooking dinner. As soon as I start cooking, she scratches at the door, no matter what time of night it is or how many times she has been out already. After we go out and come back in, she waits five minutes, just enough time for me to start turning all the pots back on to cook, and then wants out again. This process repeats all the way through the long and tedious process of cooking, and continues while I am eating my supper. A few weeks ago, I gave her some of my dog-safe people food after I had finished eating in the hopes that maybe she would learn to beg like "normal" dogs and that I might finally get a hot meal. I thought maybe if she learned that food was tasty, I could train her to lie down quietly while I cooked and ate, and then we could go outside after I was done. I figured begging was better than 20 adventures out into the rain.
Instead, I seem to have reinforced that all food in the house is hers. She still wants out constantly while I cook and eat dinner but, on top of that, now she barks incessantly at me whenever I am eating anything. She behaves like she thinks I am eating her food. She doesn't do this with anyone else in the house.
River has arthritis now, and this behaviour (which is sometimes almost violent) always corresponds with wet, rainy days when I imagine she is in the most discomfort. Eventually I give up and crate her, and after a few minutes she is quiet and quickly falls asleep. This feels like I am avoiding dealing with the problem, but I don't know what else to do. Any one else ever dealt with something like this?