LEEEEEEEEEEEEEAVE IT!!!!!!!!!!

tk123

**BREATH TK BREATH!!!**

:mad::(:mad::(

OK I am having MAJOR MAJOR problems with my dog finding and eating rubbish - the most problematic situation being when I have him off lead in our park.. It's fine when we're there at 7:30am on our morning walk but all of the OAPs and dumpers must arrive when I'm at work because by the evening the place is littered with enough bread to feed an army let alone ducks, rubbish bags dumped - some open with lovely rotten milk and table scraps etc. This evening in the walkway by the river along the wall there were piles of bread/croutons, peas, potato, fruit salad, pickled onions neatly laid out in little piles along the wall (?!) and he went charging over to eat.

The thing is he learnt leave it when he was a baby and I can put/drop ANYTHING down in front of him at home even his bones etc and tell him to leave it and he will. The same outside if I put it down for training but off lead when it's not in a training situation it's a different story - he'll try and hoover up as much as possible and ignore my commands or pick up whatever he has and run away with it. The only way I've gotten him to leave bread at a distance is to take some of it and show it to him! Bread doesn't agree with him so I'd rather he didn't eat it.

I'm at the stage now where I'm either going to have to stop letting him off lead in the park or even going in at all in the evening which I can live with but the rubbish in the area is spreading so I need to find a solution. I'm worried if I muzzle him people will think he's vicious etc which I don't really care about tbh they can think what they like but don't think he'll do well with their reactions and might get afraid..when he's already shy

We've done lots of training and lots more outside on long leads etc and his recall is 99.9% - except when there's something like bread involved and he's swimming gone down the river until he's eaten it all..:(


GAH!!

Any suggestions? He's fed RAW but we do have to keep him lean as he has problems with his legs but tbh I think I could feed him a horse and he'd still look for bread!

ISDW

I was going to suggest a muzzle, hopefully it wouldn't be a permanent solution, depends how clever he is, whether he will realise quickly that he can't get to the food, and make the association when you remove the muzzle that he can. if its only in a certain part of the park, could you muzzle him for that bit, and then take it off for the rest of the walk?

tk123

Thats what I was thinking too tbh - that if he has the muzzle on he mightn't bother but I've put him on lead before, taken him to what I thought was a safe distance away from something and let him off..only to have him running back or crossing the river to the food! I've been looking at head collars online (wouldn't attach the lead to it) - some of them look like they'd restrict him enough that it might put him off.

Kukey

My Sister has the very same problem in her park.Yesterday her little dog nearly choked on a bone that she found,my sister had to put her fingers down the dogs throat to remove it.Her other dog is a Lab x & she is a scavenger for any food left around the park,which then results in her vomiting and diarrhoea.Monday morning is the worst day for it as people dump chicken carcasses and bones from legs of lamb etc.She is also thinking of putting a muzzle on her Lab x as well !!

Dodd

Your dog is obviously food oriented and so is mine.
If you bring their favorite food and give it a few times then when they go for bread and say you call them for chicken they will return.

I would love to have bits of chicken for my dog every day as she would not leave my side.
Where I live some people through cooked wings and legs on the ground and my dog knows I don't like her to eat it so she tries to do it fast.:(

tk123

Dodd wrote: »

Your dog is obviously food oriented and so is mine.
If you bring their favorite food and give it a few times then when they go for bread and say you call them for chicken they will return.

I would love to have bits of chicken for my dog every day as she would not leave my side.
Where I live some people through cooked wings and legs on the ground and my dog knows I don't like her to eat it so she tries to do it fast.:(

Great minds think alike :pac: - I brought sausage/hotdog (giant wurst thing from Tescos that I use for training) with me this morning and sure enough he dropped the rotten milk bottle from yesterday :rolleyes: when he saw me take out the bag...A kind person dumped loads of bread on the grass by the river and other goodies but I had seen them from a distance so put him back on and walked over practicing leave the bread and take the sausage and he played along - but I think he's just tricking me because he was on lead lol!! I'll keep bringing the bag of sausage and practice over the weekend with bread etc and use his raw dinner as treats if I need to lol. Still thinking of trying a fleecey headcollar or muzzle band - which I think might put him off. He recalls well with his whistle so I'm going to go over conditioning him to it again using the sausage..
GAH - I only thought afterwards that I should have strolled over, clipped him to the bench and started collecting the bread in a poo bag for a laugh to see what the aulwan said lol :pac:

kylith

In the park, on the street, by the canal. I've even had people dump food in my front garden. I'm starting to consider muzzling too, because I'm fed up with it, it's almost like some people treat food like confetti.

aonb

I live in the country, and I detest waste, so I dont get this - why are people putting food down in these parks?!?!? Are there ducks or something (the bread)?? Why would someone bring food to a park and put it on the ground, rather than throwing it in their bin if they dont want it???

sounds like a total pain - my dogs are food obsessed, so no practical suggestions, except avoid the park :mad: which I appreciate is probably no solution (sorry)

Dodd

aonb wrote: »

I live in the country, and I detest waste, so I dont get this - why are people putting food down in these parks?!?!? Are there ducks or something (the bread)?? Why would someone bring food to a park and put it on the ground, rather than throwing it in their bin if they dont want it???

sounds like a total pain - my dogs are food obsessed, so no practical suggestions, except avoid the park :mad: which I appreciate is probably no solution (sorry)

Some people where I live just like to put bread on the path to feed the birds.?
Others get takeaway food and trough part of it out to get to the rest of the food.
If they have wings/legs they trough the bones away on the path.

JustAThought

Have to admit this is s big problem . I was seriously considering a muzzle but a while back had asked my vet ( dog has iffy stomach) & he said why deny her one of her few pleasures!!! I suppose if it dosn't injure or cause her real sickness that's one thing . But was down at the grand canal the other day & it was rank with slimy rotting hunks if brown bread everytwhere & a woman who came from the spar & threw "away" three fresh baguettes for the pigeons that she'd just bought. I knew how the dog felt - I was starving myself & felt like running over & having lunch too!!

Problem is food is thrown away everywhere - chicken bones in boxes in bushes, mega salt laden chip bags, lots of half eaten chocolate bars & take away cups of butlers hot chocolate etc. the worst I've seen is the discarded knotted fish hooks with bait on Howth pier - total nightmare.

I've started watching her closely as she runs over to investigate & call her off prior to yomping it down - or take it from her mouth (..show...dog opens mouth reluctantly..I grab the offending article). I don't get how people can be so dirty and inconsiderate.

Gave out yards to a guy in town on Sat who threw a lit cigarette away in front of my dog ( on lead) who went to pounce on it - you wouldn't do it in front of a baby or child on the ground so why do it to a dog?

Re muzzles - my vet says & I think he's right ; once you muzzle a dog everyone looks at it differently & with fear & will always treat it differently after, long after you've removed the muzzle. I think he's right.
And Above all else I wouldn't like to be at the receiving end of a conversation with an irrational/ hysterical mother /father ( dog sniffed child, ran alongside it, came over to investigate) with a dog with a muzzle on it. I can hear the hysterics now - and with a dog you are always vulnerable - the consequences are too great for me to go down that road. : (

But I agree & wish dirty people would just stop , and use the bins or take their stuff home with them. I do it with the dog-poo when there is no bin. Why can't "you" afford me the same courtesy.

Am DREADING the summer on the beach with all the broken bottles, discarded chicken carcasses from roast chicken lunches & f'ing disposable BBQ's. They are so dangerous it is a nightmare.

tk123

Stinky bag of mince found and eaten this morning - plastic bag and all and gone before I had time to tell him to leave it. Going to try something like this muzzle band - i'd prefer a different color lol so will have a look online later for something similar if not getting the zooplus one.
A bit worried now that the bag will get wrapped up inside him etc