Author Topic: Trash and Litter  (Read 675 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline xionone

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 8
  • Gender: Female
  • Spango
Trash and Litter
« on: December 17, 2017, 05:42:15 PM »
Hi,

I have a (normally) very well behaved English Cocker (Spango) - biddable, polite, calm, quiet, almost the perfect dog - except that she 'wombles' >:D

When walking off leash she will run off and pick up a piece of litter - at this point she becomes completely non responsive to any commands. After a minute or two she will return to my side / sniffing generally around and be the completely biddable dog she normally is.

I recognise this as 'challenging' behaviour but am at a loss how to deal with it.

I cant let it continue she has already picked up dangerous items - such as a party balloon (which she popped and then continued to chew) >:(

This behaviour is the more galling as her recall is almost perfect and her response to drop (it) and leave it is exceptional in most other situations.

In training her 'leave it' is so good I can put a boneless chicken leg (or other 'super' treat) on the lawn, tell here to leave it when she finds it, and from that point she will deliberately and obviously avoid the item (it will be left untouched for the rest of the day :D).
If I tell her to 'leave it' as she approaches a piece of litter it actually speeds up her grabbing of the trash >:D

Once she has the trash in her mouth I have tried several approaches - a few times each approach has resulted in her coming to me and dropping the item, or immediately dropping it where she stands and returning to me - but the success rate is less than 1 in 20 with no techniques showing any improvement over time.

I have never shouted at her, or chased her (in any situations) so here are the approaches I have used (each technique I tried consistently for 7---14 days before giving up and trying another.)

1: Stand still, let her know from eyes and body posture that I am annoyed: no response, just runs off and eventually hides item.
2: Be calm and welcoming, gentle body posture and no eye contact, returned item a couple of times (big treat) but generally she's off and chewing/hiding it.
3: Gentle approach, curving, no eye contact - result same as above.
4: Recall (verbal, whistle) - ignored, and runs off
5: If I say 'leave it' as she approaches an item she will rebel and grab it even more enthusiastically >:D
6: Calmly offering exchange for a high value toy - she's not interested and runs off again.
7: Walk away in opposite direction normally results in a quick drop, but if we go back towards the item she will rush ahead and grab it again - 17 times so far is her record for repeated 'wombling' of the same item. (I refused to go any other way until we passed the item without her grabbing it)>:(

So if anyone has any ideas how to help get control of this I would be most grateful :D

D


Offline hoover

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 268
Re: Trash and Litter
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2017, 06:54:40 PM »
I'm just impressed and jealous that this is your biggest difficulty with your cocker who sounds otherwise perfect!  :lol:

When out and about I would imagine she has a stronger sense of possession and ownership as she happens upon the item first, whereas at home with training it is more of a contrived situation and she may readily recognise that you are the true possessor of any treats you instruct her to leave.

The things we have tried with Ollie are distraction if we see something first and huge praise if he does find something 'what a good boy, bring it here!', which occasionally seems to stupefy him into releasing what he has found to us  :005:  But if it was edible I don't think we would stand much chance of getting it back, although he does leave more things in the first place now due to a little trick we played on him when he was little and very bad with eating stuff and guarding it ferociously from us. (dogs had been poisoned in the parks we visit so we were desperate...)

We actually resorted to planting foul tasting bread for him to find (soaked in hot sauce and lemon) so that when he 'found' it we told him to leave it and 'be careful' - our instruction for when it looks like he is about to do something that will cause him harm.  This command made sense because the bread was foul - so he would leave it and it made him pay more attention to our future commands to leave it/ drop it, even with things that were less obviously noxious/ harmful as he thought we must have some inside knowledge lol.

Offline Joules

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12091
  • Gender: Female
Re: Trash and Litter
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2017, 07:54:15 PM »
Have you tried swapping it for a special treat?  My dog Coco is VERY food orientated and will do anything for it.  It can be a pain, but is useful too.  She will do anything to steal food but if she can't find food, she will steal something to trade for food  :005:

You could use a very high value treat such as cheese or livercake and only use it for this sort of thing ie something that is more difficult than the usual request.  ;)  However, sometimes, we may have to accept that some treasures are just too special to give up.  I found this out a few times with Coco with a) some rotted deer entrails b) a deer leg c) a dead rabbit d) a full bag of dog poo. :o   It is hard work sometimes - you just have to try and persevere :dunno:

I agree with hoover though, I am jealous that she is otherwise such a paragon  :luv: :lol2:
Julie and Watson

Offline Pearly

  • Donator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 4235
  • Gender: Female
  • Pearl, Coral, Sally, Purdey and Kukri
Re: Trash and Litter
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2017, 08:13:02 PM »
Another very envious owner here...... :005:

Have a go at:

8.  Distraction - on encountering said contraband and not ignoring, the human should make loud / silly / excitable noises.  When Spango is suitably bemused - but looking at her human- the human should scatter a few broken treats around the humans feet!  On coming back for her reward, the human should make the recall sounds and on reaching her human, Spango should be rewarded very handsomely with lots of touchy affection and more treats proportional to the original misdemeanour (the worse the piece of litter/trash and distance, the greater the reward)

No wine was harmed in the making of this recommendation  ;)

Offline xionone

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 8
  • Gender: Female
  • Spango
Re: Trash and Litter
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2017, 01:24:59 AM »
 :D :lol2: :D

Offline xionone

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 8
  • Gender: Female
  • Spango
Re: Trash and Litter
« Reply #5 on: December 19, 2017, 01:30:57 AM »
Thanks for the advice - yep I am SOOOOO lucky that Spango is as generally well behaved as she is - that is what makes the 'wombleing' so 'high profile' - small black marks are so obvious on an otherwise almost white page :D

I like the 'be nutty' approach and will try that tomorrow - I think I'm over the looking a bit weird in public when interacting with Spango.

Wine is being harmed during the writing of this - mmm, lovely :D

D