A friends dog .. a delightful black Cocker spaniel, has found his way past the fridge door and now enjoys fine dining whenever he wants ... nearly. A child lock has been put on the fridge, but it seems very weak with little purchase actually onto the door and he has cracked the "password" on that one. Can anyone reccomend a lock of good quality?
Mike P
Duct tape? Kick in the bollocks? No?
Si
Duct tape is helping to hold the "lock" more firmly on.
Bollocks ? He has had the BIG snip :-)
Mike P
Apart from getting rid of the dog simply tie strong rope around it.
It's not a lock that is needed, it's the dog appreciating it's place in the "pack". The dog needs to be treated as the lowest level pack member. Unfortunately most humans are completley un-able to treat their dogs like dogs rather than humans (equals)
Tell them to watch "the dog whisperer" (currently on sky3 I think)and stick to the rules of nature rather than trying to find solutions to the problems and confusion they've caused in the dog's mind.
The problem is not the fridge nor the dog. It's the owners.
99% of all dog "problems" are the results of owners non compliance with nature.Rectifying a delightfull cocker spaniel should be quite painless and quickly acheivable especially if it is naturally submissive rather than dominant.
They need to "own the fridge" and defend it reprimanding any attempts the dog makes to help it's self.
HTH Pete
I'd put a rack bolt on (recessed into) the door, with a piece of metal bolted on to the side of the fridge protruding forwards, with a hole in it to form a keep for the bolt.
Obviously keep the key out of the dog's reach - this is a cocker spaniel after all.
Hmmm... watch towers and snipers then. It's the only way you can be sure. Either that or "NO!" every time it goes near the fridge.
Si
How about a piece of webbing strap with one of them rucksack type fastenings where you press both sides to open it and just push the prongs in to close it . surely it wouldn't be able to open that until it gets trained and put back in the pecking order where it belongs ( and that is right at the bottom) and the sooner that retraining takes place the better for all concerned .
I have an old half-hundredweight weight which comes in useful on such occasions. I would just stand that in front of the fridge door, preventing it from opening. A human could move it out of the way when required, but a dog couldn't.
Discipline the dog. If you (or your friend) let it get away with this behaviour it'll start exploring what else it can get away with and become even worse. Dogs are pack animals and they must be kept at bottom of the human family "pack"(*). If someone in the family ends up below the dog (in the dogs eyes) they are quite likely to get hurt when they try to reassert their authority over the dog.
(*) This doesn't mean cruelty or severe punishment but firm and consistent discipline on it's behavior from all the family members.
Could tie the dog up to it .That would slow it own a bit..LOL
Until you resolve the problem, leave a bowl of complete dog biscuits down so it can snack all it wants :-}
Yell at it if it goes for the fridge, and praise it if it eats the biscuits...
It's the "all familly members" bit that is the hardest bit to acheive, which makes consistencey of heirachy in the pack more awkward.
Discipline not being whacking or hitting the dog or shutting it out in the rain, just an expression of dominance through body posture and lack of "respect" for the dogs own space - The Dog being bottom of the pack has NO space and no right to space and absolutely nothing "belongs" to the dog, not bed, nor toys, nor food, nor furniture, not garden, nothing.
Dog is nothing more than dog. This is what dog understands and knows and is at it's happiest being treated as such.
Dog gets off furniture for human to sit, human should always take furniture space currently occupied by dog even if alternative seating is available, human never ever backs down in human -> dog "arguement" no matter how long human has to stand their ground and advance into dog's temporary battleground.
Once dog is back at the bottom, then human gives affection when dog is showing submission and respect to pack leader.
Very very simple rules to understand but for most, impossible to apply.
:¬)
"See this this is a bite"
Also works well with small boys. ;¬)
This dog is no numpty .... when anyone is about, the fridge might as well be invisible, even when the door is open. he casts not an eye upon it. He lives in the kitchen and just bides his time for when he is left alone. A bin is put in front of the fridge door when the family remembers, but with forgetful teenagers in the house plan B fails.
I feel it is no use shouting at the well fed dog, hours after the event.
Mike P
You've been told how to deal with it .
Serious answer (apart from agreeing with other posts) bungee cord / luggage elastic.
Fun answer (being a horse owner and having these to hand), electric fencer
(and I don't mean it's funny to electrocute dogs, I mean that it's a humane way to provide automatic reinforcement of the "don't touch" message)
I expect you'll find the kitchen (and everything in it) is, in his mind "his". Sounds like he is very submissive and allows people to wonder through "his" domain without conflict but has never been challenged over who actually "owns" the space.
I suspect the other failing that many owners fail to consider is "breed" in respect to what the animal has been bred to do.
to quote a few lines from on-line sources..
They were originally designed as a hunting companion for flushing and retrieving game. The English Cocker Spaniel is an active, yet compact sporting dog. Cocker Spaniel is designed to energetically cover ground and penetrate dense cover. English Cocker Spaniels can live in any environment, provided they have daily exercise. Brisk walks, fetching or field work can keep an English Cocker Spaniel in excellent shape.
So basically you have a sports dog that wants and needs to be challenged physically and mentally every day. Not a 10 minute walk around the block or allowed to do it's own thing in the garden, a breed that needs to be retreiving balls and sticks, running around for an hour every day, performing it's inherrent fundamental requirements as a breed.
Sounds like the dog isn't getting enough (or any) daily exercise, or if he is it's nowhere near physically or mentally challenging enough. He's not able to do what he (as a breed) _needs_ to do so is doing it when it's clear he has no other option.
Perhaps a (small) dog bought for the kids who are now too busy to carry out all their promises to exercise the dog daily?
I have a feeling we may be barking up the wrong tree (ha, got one in at last) with the "pecking order" direction of thought and what this poor dog needs is a bloody good long, hard run for an hour a day to keep him content.
Dogs fundamental needs in order of priority are.. EXERCISE (very minimum of 40 minutes hard exercise per day) DISCIPLINE (Dog kept in lowest position of group) Affection (when dog is submissive ONLY)
I know I keep referring back to the brilliant "Cesar Milan a.k.a. "The Dog Whisperer" but I wish he had been around 30 years ago instead of "Walkies" Barbra Woodhouse.
Remember... "Sporting Dog bred to actively flush out and retreive" People mistakenly think "small dog won't require much exercise" but all dogs regardless of size need a minimum 40 minutes brisk exercise 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Walking (or running) the dog is also another place where the dog actively has his place in the pack reinforced and the pack leaders (all familly members) actively "lead" the pack !
That's as much as I have learnt and put into practice with my own beasts with dramatic behavourial changes from a very dominant and dog-aggressive 14 yr old GreatDane/Greyhound dog and an 8 yr old "wannabe boss" yappy, growly chihoua/fruitbat mix bitch. Hence my admiriation for Cesar Milan and his TV show as even after 10 years of raging savage uncontrolabillity with the big dog and incessant yapping with the small dog I have been able to make unbellievable changes to both dogs in less than 12 months by simple pack rules previously outlined.
Hope it helps your freind. But I Still think and expect it's a boredom thing and no sufficient daily emergy release.
Cheers Pete
I'll bet the owner laughed the first few times! (rewarded the behaviour)
Also - watch "Dog Borstal"
You don't need a lock.
If you need more dominance, one way is to eat from the dog's bowl before giving the food to him/her. You can do this by putting a human biscuit on a spoon on top of the meat, and let doggy watch you eat it first.
NT
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