Not the same thing. If she wasn’t there to cue “leave it” the dog would do whatever it wanted. If it had been a chicken nugget it would get eaten. My dogs know “leave it” but that’s my command, not theirs. They think “get it!” Unless instructed otherwise.
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Polo !!!
Sticks and paper.
Every single walk results in examining the mouth for contraband and he’s currently removing empty cardboard rolls from the wastebasket and nibbling away.
At least it’s not my sox or nylon spandex undies.
To be fair, this is the first day the stairway gate is down
Not true.
She likely started by teaching the puppy to leave it, and had progressed to rewarding the puppy for deciding not to try. This step is important, and one that I learned later, after first teaching my dog to pick things up in the expectation of being told to leave it and rewarded for doing so. You have to catch them earlier and earlier, and reward the choice to leave it alone.
I’m not saying that every dog would think the rules still applied even when no one was present. But plenty, especially if trained thoroughly, have a charming naivete that means they do not dare get on the couch even when you’re not home to enforce the rules. Perhaps God is always watching?
Agree with start young and stay consistent.
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Sigh - there is always an “expert” to disprove everything - the example was a PADs puppy so he would not scavenge when on duty. BTW my dog does not go on the couch, or the beds, when nobody is home…because we can always tell.
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“Expert?” No of course not.
I don’t know what a PADs puppy is…presuming some sort of service dog? So not sure what “on duty” means and whether or not it is supervised.
OK sure - it is possible to train dogs not to act certain ways; service dog training is intense and specialized. And there are a lot of dogs that will “wash out” and be unsuccessful.
The average person with an average pet is unlikely to teach a dog not to eat food that is easily available when it is not supervised or contained. I think it would be an extremely rare dog that would not eat food on the floor, for example, no matter what kind of intense training it may have received. I definitely believe it is possible to train them not to counter surf. That said, it seems pretty easy to make sure they are not reinforced for trying by not leaving food out on the counter and not dropping popcorn in your couch cushions (or, at least not complaining if the dog eats it).
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Interesting about the genetic link to food obsession. My first Lab who was the one that ate everything was from a totally different bloodline than my Labs since then. The Labs I have now like food, but I wouldn’t say they are obsessed. They don’t counter surf and they will not touch food in the car if it’s on the front seat, where they are not allowed. Before I had Labs, I had a Flat Coat and he was obsessed with food. He actually broke into a boarder’s horse trailer and found some nasty leftovers from a horse show.
