Cat food obsession for the puppy
Thank goodness for the leave it command. She gets to hear it a lot. The good news is that she seems to be tiring of the wastebasket as treasure game. My goldendoodle puppy has set her sights on something much more interesting, the cat’s food. Long ago, when Fergus was a puppy we built a pedestal for the cat’s food. It kept it off the floor so he quickly learned that was off limits. Last year at the age of 18, the cat started to develop arthritis and could no longer jump on the pedestal. Fergus still thinks anything on the floor is fair game so we built her stairs up to her food pedestal.
Ebony, the smart goldendoodle puppy that she is, has figured out how to knock the dish off the pedestal by climbing up on her hind legs and batting it down. So she is tall enough to do that but still small enough that she can also climb up the steps to the pedestal. If she hears leave it, she will skulk away. As soon as we are out of the room, she will slink back and try it again. She literally licks the floor clean around the pedestal. We have one dining room chair blocking the stairs and a second one blocking the pedestal itself. Still, if she has more than a minute unattended she will try again, even if the cat food dish is empty! I am perplexed because I can tell her to leave a dog treat on the lawn and she will totally ignore it. Cat food seems to be an entirely different story.
If anyone has any suggestions, I would be delighted to hear them.
August 21st, 2007 at 11:22 am
have you thought about trying to use just bits of cat food and work the leave it i had to do this with my last working sd at first then they are setting the smell of the cat food with the leave it…or even try a new command like no touch as in never touch
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:59 am
I haven’t tried that yet, but I was thinking of something along those lines. Like having my housemate put the cat food down on the floor while I hold her on a leash and give the command and correction, Everything else she has been so good with Leave it and really leaving something behind. But I think your idea is more manageable.
Can you tell me a little more about your service dog? Always looking to learn more!