# The Thief!



## Gwen (Aug 9, 2007)

Nygel, now 7 1/2 months, has decided that any food on the kitchen counter is his for the taking. 

The other day he ate a loaf of homemade bread (on the cutting board cooling), 6 bagels, 1/2 pound of butter and a bag of unshelled pistastios!!!!!!! This incident happened when I went out to get something out of the garage!!!!! I spent the night letting him in & out as he had intestional problems - surprise, surprise!!!!

Well, I just got a call from my son's girlfriend to report ANOTHER incident. She was downstairs working on an assignment when Oliver ran downstairs barking continually. As well, he kept running upstairs. When Stacy went to investigate, she discovered Nygel chowing down a freshly baked banana loaf amongst a broken plate!!!!!!! 

I've NEVER had this problem with a dog before. I'm thinking of setting him up with baited mousetraps. Does anyone else have any suggestions other than having Nyg tied to our waist.


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## goldensmum (Oct 23, 2007)

I've never had the problem, but someone i knew who had a labrador did. We put the food onto metal trays balanced on the work top (don't ask for a deeper explanation because i'm still surprised that it worked) and when the dog went to steal the food it brought the metal trays clanging down on him. It didn't hurt him but gave him one hell of a shock and it was only done a couple of times before it worked. Hope this helps. Good Luck


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## Cam's Mom (Apr 13, 2007)

Don't leave stuff on the counters! I have a two year old Golden banana thief at my house.

It supposed to take six months of no reward (ie not finding anything to take) ot break a bad habit. None of the usual deterents work with Taegan...so we just clean up well...tidiness is not my forte.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

Danny got a pile of grated cheese. Keeping an eye on him is much more humane than putting mousetraps up there. They would hurt!


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## TheHooch (May 9, 2007)

Have you ever thought of not baking. I mean dang if that stuff was laying around my counter I would be eating it too!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Gwen (Aug 9, 2007)

goldensmum said:


> I've never had the problem, but someone i knew who had a labrador did. We put the food onto metal trays balanced on the work top (don't ask for a deeper explanation because i'm still surprised that it worked) and when the dog went to steal the food it brought the metal trays clanging down on him. It didn't hurt him but gave him one hell of a shock and it was only done a couple of times before it worked. Hope this helps. Good Luck


My trainer gave me basically the same info. She said to get empty pop cans, put some change in and tape them. Balance a metal cookie sheet on top of the cans and some food on the cookie sheet. When he goes to the counter, the tower will come tumbling down with a very loud noise. I'm going to give it a try.


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## Gwen (Aug 9, 2007)

TheHooch said:


> Have you ever thought of not baking. I mean dang if that stuff was laying around my counter I would be eating it too!!!!!!!!!!!!


ALL OF IT?????? It was a double banana nut bread baked in a large bundt pan. I baked it for a house party I'm having tonight!!!!!:doh:


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## Gwen (Aug 9, 2007)

fostermom said:


> Danny got a pile of grated cheese. Keeping an eye on him is much more humane than putting mousetraps up there. They would hurt!


When he got the first food, I thought he was sleeping. I know that the mousetraps would hurt a bit, but less so than the effects of eating the food he has been. I'm NOT going to use the mousetraps but resort to the metal tower of noise.


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## gold'nchocolate (May 31, 2005)

I have 2 counter surfers and this has worked for both of them (Biscuit still steals from other places but generally leaves the counter alone now). I take a length of string...3 ft or so...then tie one end to the "bait", which could be anything that your dog loves (for Sasha it was the bananas) such as food, socks, facecloths, etc. and then along the length of the string you can tie some other noisy things such as pan lids, aluminum cans, metal spaghetti colander (filled with alum. cans...hahaha). 

After you get everything ready, put the bait on the edge of the counter and put the rest of the tied items behind that. Then leave the room, this way the thief will not associate the trap with you...it will seem to come from the environment. It should only take a minute or so for the thief to take advantage of the situation...hahaha...and as they take the bait everything else will come along for the ride, so to speak! Even after everything crashes to the floor a "hardened criminal" :uhoh: will try to sneak back to steal the bait again...but too bad!... everytime they try to take it the other tied items will "chase" them across the floor . Now is when you will come out and offer sympathy for the terrible thing that is happening to your poor doggie  and you can even scold the noisy pans so the dog will think that you don't like it either.

Sasha only tried to steal something from the counter once more after that. Now I can leave anything sitting on the very edge of the shelf (it is still booby-trapped, just in case) and she will sit and look at it, she will even sort of stand on her hind legs a little bit to see it better but she no longer takes the item. I had half of a banana with peanut butter smeared on it, sitting on the edge of the counter all one day last week and I finally threw it away because she never tried to take it!!!!!!


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