Barney found a bone

[SusieY]

Four weeks ago today Barney was very poorly having had emergency surgery to remove a foreign body from his intestines and then being transferred to Bristol because he was going downhill.  Thankfully he recovered and has been home just over 3 weeks.  Since he's been home I've been re-inforcing the leave and drop command with him and he's been doing really well.  This afternoon we went to the park where he found some spare rib bones and all our training went out of the window - nothing would persuade him to give up his prize.  OH managed to get his hand into his mouth but he wouldn't budge.  It was only when I picked him up to carry him to a bench that he relaxed his grip and OH managed to get it.

I've been quite upset about it and don't know what I would have done if I'd been on my own.  I really don't want to muzzle him and looking at previous posts see that's not a recommended way forward but I'm worried sick that we could find ourselves in the position where he needs surgery again.  Grateful for any advice.

Thanks
Sue

[seaangler]

 I to get like you do and i to worry..
.All the training i am doing with gemma i take two steps forword and three backwords...She was an utter pain to day...we get people drop bread from of the bridge into the canal for the ducks...(BUT) it frozen over..so rather than take the bread  pita and naans back home they dump them down the side of the bridge....

Well what happens then .....Are Cindy (the golden retriever is on a diet) she will wonder down and start eating the bread if i don't keep an eye on her followed by Peggy and gemma...I can tell Cindy the drop commad and she does drop...Peggy looks at you as says this is to nice to drop and gemma runs of eating it as she running ...I

I don't like them eating it jest in case some stupid idiot has soak it in anti freeze like the morons would do....

[Bluebell]

It sounds like his training is going really well, but sadly there will always be unexpected obstacles to get in our way.
I went through a very similar experience with Lillie - emergency bowel op to remove an obstruction.
About a month later she managed to find a cooked chicken drumstick , which I had to remove from her, before she tried to swallow it whole.
I must admit, I found it so stressful walking her with the worry of her finding something else to snaffle , that I walked her on a long line for about 6 months after the op. It really put my mind at rest knowing I could physically stop her if she seemed to be too interested in an unknown object, I also tried to only walk on open areas 
That was 5 years ago now 

[Karma]

Training is an on-going process, and 3 weeks is not a long time to be working to achieve a rock solid leave/give.
It sounds like you have been making fantastic progress, and I think the lure of a spare rib bone would be a lot for most dogs to avoid.

I truly understand your worry at the situation, but try not to let it disrail your training... in a few weeks time you may see another rib and your leave will be proofed enough to avoid the temptation.

Even if he did eat a cooked bone, once he is fully recovered from his recent trauma, it is unlikely it would cause the same damage - it sounds like he was incredibly unlucky as, while there is always a risk with things like that, many dogs every day do snaffle things they shouldn't without ill effect. 

Don't let the experience dishearten you - you know how to approach the problem, so don't lose confidence!
(And FWIW, a muzzle used as an interim preventative measure isn't a bad thing - the problem really comes when people use a muzzle *instead* of training a leave... if you really are very anxious, I would go for a muzzle while you are out, but continue the training... and do remember to bring the training out onto walks - set up situations where he can "leave" low value things you have planted so that he learns that the training you are doing applies out on walks as well as at home!).

[bluegirl]

What about having a pocket full of his best treats every time you go out and a large plastic bag. (For my lot its cheese or liver bread) and if you find yourself in that situation again,then although his training may still go out the window you may be able to do an exchange with him. Plastic bag comes in handy for the discarded bone or carcass or whatever else he finds so he doesn't run back after it again once you've exchanged and thrown it away. They have a canny knack of finding it with gusto then you are back to square one.

[mlynnf50]

I know exactly how you feel, selby was eating a bone I had given him and it got stuck over his lower jaw and I have been too frightened to give him bones now, but like Barney he picks things up outside and it's really difficult to get him to let go.  I think i need to start training the drop, but dont know were to start, how are you doing it?

[SusieY]

Thanks for all your comments and advice - I feel a lot calmer about it all now and appreciate that the bone was pretty high value - the cocktail sausage I had made no difference at all.

We're continuing with the training both indoors and out and I'm carrying extra special treats just in case. 

I know exactly how you feel, selby was eating a bone I had given him and it got stuck over his lower jaw and I have been too frightened to give him bones now, but like Barney he picks things up outside and it's really difficult to get him to let go.  I think i need to start training the drop, but dont know were to start, how are you doing it?

We've always done drop miynnf50 and I'm sorry but I can't remember how we started it - maybe something we learned at puppy training but I've just seen a great video close to this on training a drop.

The one thing that cheered me up about the whole thing was the fact that a neighbour who witnessed us trying to get the bone came home to find her cat had eaten half a cooked chicken she'd left out