# Getting into the garbage



## Harlemshoney (May 17, 2013)

Hey everyone, my puppy is only 8 months old, 9 months on Dec.14, he has a really bad habit of getting into the garbage when no one is around. Our garbage can is a bit small so when it fills up we pull the bag out and leave it on the floor in the kitchen. When myself or DH is on the main floor he will not go near it. Any time he is left without supervision for more than a few minutes he digs in. He knows it is bad, and this time when I got angry he slinked with his tail between his legs and ears down. I was having a shower and my sister left the garbage out than went downstairs and he was left out. Usually I would lock him up until I am done whatever I need to do upstairs (he isn't allowed up there because he eats the cat poop and finds my kids toys to destroy) 

How can I train him to leave the garbage at all times, I haven't been able to find a bigger garbage can and don't want to throw out bags that are only half full. He has to learn to leave it alone even when he is unsupervised. What if there was chicken bones or chocolate or bad grapes etc, I really don't like having to scold him, I know it will not fix the problem and I don't like to see him sad!:doh:


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## Tennyson (Mar 26, 2011)

That's a tough one.
I had a bottom cabinet with a slider installed for my garbage can and recycling.
That's the way I solved it.


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## SheetsSM (Jan 17, 2008)

It's a self-rewarding behavior that the more is he is successful at getting into the garbage, the more it will encourage him to try. I recommend managing the environment so that he cannot practice the behavior as well to keep him safe. Buy a larger can (do you live in a remote area where stores aren't close) or place it in a closet. I have a garbage can that is lockable. The other thing depending on your floor plan is to install a baby-gate to prevent access to the kitchen.


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

You're asking to be able to train a very challenging skill. Like others say, put it away, get a bigger one, buy smaller bags, or just throw out partially filled bags. He's still a baby, I'd save my challenging training for some other skill at that age.

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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

Tennyson said:


> That's a tough one.
> *I had a bottom cabinet with a slider installed for my garbage can* and recycling.
> That's the way I solved it.


That's what we did. No visible garbage can and the dog can't get in it.

It's a hard behavior to break and picking up garbage srewn on the floor is at the top of my ick list :yuck: so I would do whatever it takes to make it not accessable.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Dogs are scavengers. That's a tough behavior to stop, especially when he's been allowed to practice. And when you scold him after the fact, he doesn't get that your'e bad b/c 5 mins prior, he was in the trash. He's learning that you seeing trash is bad - he's reacting to your facial expression/body language when you see the trash. He can't do the mental gymnastics to realize that your face/body language is b/c of something he did x-minutes ago.


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

I agree with everyone else. Make the trash inaccessible. Our trash in the kitchen is under the sink in a cabinet. Smaller cans in the bathrooms and bedrooms have lids with foot pedals. Over the years, we have learned that having dogs means the humans sometimes have to make adjustments for the dogs--especially for safety's sake. Not unlike putting safety latches on cabinets or covers on electrical outlets, when you have a baby.

By the way, our cat box is in a room where the door is propped open just enough for the cat to get through, but too narrow for Max.


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## Leslie B (Mar 17, 2011)

My bathroom trash is on top of the laundry basket. My kitchen garbage is in a closet. This is not a fix for the dog - he is doing what is normal and natural for him. 

Leaving the half bag of garbage in the middle of the kitchen floor is too tempting.


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## GinnyinPA (Oct 31, 2010)

We have metal bins with lids in the kitchen and are careful not to put anything but paper in any of the other trash cans in the house. I have seen dogs knock over garbage cans to get at chicken bones, etc., so we made sure we had a really sturdy can that couldn't be overturned or opened easily.


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## Harlemshoney (May 17, 2013)

Thanks everyone, here's where we stand for storage. We do not have closets on our main floor, it's an old house, there isn't any built in closets in any room! we also have no room in our kitchen for any type of sliding out drawers. I haven't been able to find a larger garbage can yet, ours is as big as I've seen! I just hate throwing out half full bags! Not only are bags expensive, it adds to the landfill. He doesn't try to knock over the garbage, he doesn't chew the bags, if he even sniffs at a garbage bag he is corrected and will walk away. It's just those few minutes if he's left alone that he decides to dig in. Guess my only option right now is to toss out the garbage or keep it tied up tight if I have to leave the room! Thanks for your replies! 


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## Jessie'sGirl (Aug 30, 2010)

Get a small garbage can with a lid for your kitchen. Keep your bigger bags somewhere inaccessible (the basement?). As soon as your kitchen bags get full, remove them from kitchen and put into bigger bags which are out of reach. 
Jess is a scavenger extraordinaire but he has never gotten into our garbage. Do you have green bin pick-up for your bones etc. We do not put food in our garbage.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Take the garbage out right away. Is there a compelling reason to leave it where the pup can get it? I'm not surprised that he gets into it...I don't know a dog who wouldn't!


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

The people in the house need training, not the dog. Train them never to leave a plastic bag of trash out even for a minute. Problem solved.
Ps. 
Try putting the kitchen trash container under the sink so it is behind a closed door


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## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

We keep the trash on the back of the counter. Sure, it would be great to have it on the floor, but we decided to get a dog. We could try to train him away from it in the floor, but that isn't worth the cost of training. Because along the way of training, the dog will fail. Failure could result in a costly vet experience.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

I agree with keeping garbage bags off the floor or away from where the puppy could reach it. If you have small garbage cans, buy small garbage bags so when they are full you can just toss them in the can that goes outside. Or buy a larger can that can fill the larger bags all the way up. We have a teeny tiny can in the bathroom that we line with a plastic shopping bag, and when that's full it goes in the large kitchen can. 

We had a few months where Bear would investigate the open trash cans. He'd proudly spit half-eaten cotton balls into my lap when he was a puppy. How we survived w/o an obstruction is beyond me. When he entered the teen stage, he would stick his nose in every open container and try to take stuff out. We worked on "leave it" and never let him leave our sight. When he tried to get into a can, I would tell him "leave it" and when he abandoned his quest, I would praise him. 

Dogs will repeat behaviors they can practice. This ranges from counter surfing, and dumpster diving to jumping on people, and pulling on the leash. If you stop letting them practice or repeat behaviors (especially self-rewarding ones), at some point the behaviors go away. 

I wish you the best of luck.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

The best place for a full garbage bag is outside in a large garbage bin. It is more sanitary to remove it out of the house, especially if you have rotting food in the bags. 

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## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

I also recommend taking the garbage out right away, better for your dog, better for you.
I am lucky, I never had a dog that got into any kind of garbage. 

I would rather put one extra bag of garbage into the landfill than have my dog die of a foreign body or pancreatitis.


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Agreed*



cgriffin said:


> I also recommend taking the garbage out right away, better for your dog, better for you.
> I am lucky, I never had a dog that got into any kind of garbage.
> 
> I would rather put one extra bag of garbage into the landfill than have my dog die of a foreign body or pancreatitis.


I totally agree with cgriffin. Better to spend more on garbage bags than to RISK my dog's health! You could be looking at a very expensive surgery.
We keep our garbage in a semi tall garbage can, under the sink, behind the cabinet doors.
Bed, Bath and Beyond has some really great garbage cans and ones with lids, too!


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

It sounds like you're already all set, but I just had to agree you can't train if you're not there to correct, so training to not do something when unsupervised isn't realistic.

When Gladys came along I had to get a locking trash can. I'm not sure what size you need but Home Depot or Lowes or home good stores they have different varieties. They are costlier but probably more cost effective than a trip to the vet for ingestion of something they shouldn't get from the trash, bones, chocolate, coffee grinds, etc.

Good luck with the trash problems.


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