Trash Dog

[Kammy & Phoebe]

Hello all!

My golden doodle Phoebe is now a year and a half and is extremely well trained. Until recently, she has had free reign of the house and has never chewed anything or gotten into anything that she is not supposed to while we are gone all day.

Over Christmas break she got left at my husband's grandparents house for 3 days straight while we were having to be at the hospital. On day three, she got into a box of trash that had been left out and ever since then, she has been getting into the trash while we are gone. I'm assuming it's just one of those things that once it happens one time it really hard to break the behavior. We are getting very frustrated at her and have to keep reminding ourselves that she is still a really good dog (even though she has this new annoying habit). She only does this when we're out of the house, so we haven't been able to catch her in the act.

I know we can just try and keep our trash under a cabinet, but to me that means that we haven't fixed/trained the behavior. Since this is a behavior that could be dangerous for her, I was wondering if anyone had any experience or training advice on how to break her of this behavior?

I would be grateful for any tips at all!!!

Thanks!

-Kam & Phoebe (the trash dog)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

My opinion is that it probably could be trained with time and consistency, but it would be difficult since this is a behavior that is usually reinforced with finding something really yummy in the trash.  It can also be dangerous since she could get into something (in spite of the training) that would make her very sick.  I chose to just keep the trash in a cabinet where they are not tempted and I focus my training in other areas.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I keep my trash put away.  I have one doodle that will get into used paper goods, especially.  I am sure I could train him out of getting into the trash by setting him up and using a mouse trap, but I am too lazy and I know if it wasn't constantly reinforced, he'd begin doing it again.  Good for you wanting to cure the problem.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I keep my trash put away also.  It is just not worth the risk.  Some things (trash, counter surfing) are very difficult with some dogs to really stop.  The rewards are worth the dressing down.

[Joani, Skadi & Elli]

I also have all my trash in cans with the foot pedal and in a cabinet.  So far the girls haven't figure out how to open them!  I do train to "leave it."  I do this almost every single day...such an easy command for them to learn.  Even tho Skadi has been trained to leave things for 6 years, I still feel better keeping the trash doggy proof.  I keep my floors swept and scan the house for dangerous items.  My two are not counter surfers.  Our rescue, Elli who has been with us 2 years now, is not trustworthy and would probably get into everything when I am gone, so she is crated or kept in the garage when I am not home.  Skadi on the other hand doesn't get into anything.  She has the run of the house.  Neither one seems to miss not being able to get into the trash.

Good luck with training.  I would be interested to know how it turns out. Like some of the other , I concentrate on training other things that I know they can be successful learning.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I also have the foot pedal wastebaskets but if there is a bit of plastic bag liner sticking out, Ned can open the darn thing.  My bathroom doors are kept shut and the trashes 'stylishly sit on the toilet tank top where he leaves them alone. 

[Wendy and Myla]

I totally agree with the comments.  I love having a "well trained" doodle, but Myla is trained for what is important to us - I don't want to spend time training her on stuff that can be avoided, such as trash.  Our trash is kept in a cupboard and honestly, if she really wanted to get to it she could but I would never have it in the open.  It's just a huge temptation that I can avoid.  I would rather spend our time training Myla on stuff that we cannot avoid such as "leave it" and "drop it" etc.  If she ever did decide to get into our trash cupboard, hopefully our "leave it" command would suffice.

[Leslie J]

Now that she knows there's good stuff in the trash, I think you'll just need to keep it locked away. It's like leaving out a bowl of candy around kids... they'll be good and control themselves for a while... but eventually they won't be able to resist and they'll dive in. Since she could potentially make herself very sick eating the trash, I wouldn't risk it.