What next

[lynn wise]

Little Rat Bag at it again today. Went into the kitchen near tea time to find herself had pinched my onion bhajis, what that dog will pinch is beyond me. A very appologetic little dog looking up at me, no bhajis to be found, only the kitchen roll they were left on to defrost shredded on the floor. She may well wish she'd eaten that as well when they come out of the "other" end.
We await the result.

[Samsmum]

Do you know, Lynn, our previous Golden, Meg, who was not a rescue dog, would steal anything at all, jumping up even to reach stuff from the back of the worktop. Poor David got accused so many times of pinching a sausage, a bun, a piece of cake, only for me to find tell-tale remains on the floor!! I then had to grovell!!
Sam is a totally different kettle of fish. I can put food on a low coffee table, or even on the floor and just say "Don't touch" and it is still there hours later. After parties we have left remnants all over the place, well within his reach, and he never touches them.
We cannot take the credit for this, as he was already pretty well trained when we got him, and David and I are too soft anyway to discipline him to that extent.
I have to say, though, it is nice not to be having to put everything out of reach or hide things, but I often wonder just how he was trained!!
Joyce (Samsmum)

[Samsmum]

Do you know, Lynn, our previous Golden, Meg, who was not a rescue dog, would steal anything at all, jumping up even to reach stuff from the back of the worktop. Poor David got accused so many times of pinching a sausage, a bun, a piece of cake, only for me to find tell-tale remains on the floor!! I then had to grovell!!
Sam is a totally different kettle of fish. I can put food on a low coffee table, or even on the floor and just say "Don't touch" and it is still there hours later. After parties we have left remnants all over the place, well within his reach, and he never touches them.
We cannot take the credit for this, as he was already pretty well trained when we got him, and David and I are too soft anyway to discipline him to that extent.
I have to say, though, it is nice not to be having to put everything out of reach or hide things, but I often wonder just how he was trained!!
Joyce (Samsmum)

[Samsmum]

Sorry about the repeated message, combination of disobedient computer and incompetent user!!
Joyce.

[PaulZ]

Last week we came downstairs to find Dan's sweet tin on its side I was just about to give Dan a stern word when I noticed a rather sheepish Solo giving me a sticky paw,with sugary whiskers and a jelly remnant it was obvious who the guilty party was.Luckily Dan wasnt annoyed and was quite impressed that the dog had managed to get into the tin as he usually struggles!!!Mind you I dont have to remind him to put the tin back in the kitchen anymore.

[Cobi and Ginnies Mum]

The little tinker !!!! the least she could have done was to swallow the kitchen roll and destroy all the evidence so you thought you were losing your 'marbles' and hadn't cooked or bought any !!!!

Ginnie and Cobi are a pair of 'tea leaves' given the opportunity.... skin taken off the chicken and now in 'lock n lock' at rear of worktop (ready to go on their dinners later) and pieces at rear of cooker, so she sits and grizzles as if she wants to go outside and then just stares at the worktop when I go down to let her out......

[marianne]

I took my Jasper to the beach last Sunday, a real treat as it is 50miles away.
I meet my friend who lives near there with her golden retriever.
Suddenly both dogs spotted this girl walking along eating a sandwich, next thing they both ran to her and jumped,I did shout no, she screamed and threw the sandwich. Luckily the mum did n,t get cross and we apologised , and we explained they were after the sandwich and not her.
He never steals food off us, ( unless we walk out the room) but he will other people, any good ideas on how to stop him, soon it will summer and the picnics come out, then we are limited on where we walk him.

[gordons mum and dad]

Gordon and Codie don't really steal anything in the house but on a walk that's a different matter. Codie is so quick if she sees thrown away chips, kebabs, pies, butties etc that I almost have to throttle her to stop her eating them, and then usually as I'm trying to stop Codie eating the disgusting food, Gordon trots in and scoffs it before I can stop him. I wonder at times how their guts put up with what they eat!!!

[Cobi and Ginnies Mum]

I have to shake Ginnie's mouth to loosen her grip on frozen horse poo !!!!!

[marianne]

THEY DO LIKE A BIT OF HORSE POO.!

[Molly's Maid]

Horse poo, assorted beach detritus, the contents of the kitchen and bathroom bins......yes, imagine the nastiest possible thing in the world, and Molly's right in there for a feast.

We call her "the garbinator". If you put it in her bowl, she'll scoff it. If you leave it anywhere other than on top of the high kitchen cupboards, she'll get at it. If you put it in the bin and lift the bin onto the kitchen top, she'll find a way to get into it. Her ingenuity knows no bounds when there's something edible or disgusting as the prize.

Before we go out we say, "Have we dog-proofed the house?" That means, lock the kitchen bin outside the back door, put anything in the kitchen inside or on a high cupboard (she has mastered the low cupboards) lock the bathroom and bedroom doors, and fill the kong with something 'nice' and smelly! Then get out, do what needs to be done and hope to goodness you didn't forget anything that you'll have to clean up when you get home. Fortunately, we love her anyway and almost never have to leave her alone. Thank heavens!

If she could channel all her genius into doing something useful, she'd be Lassie! Unfortunately, her motivation is a little skewed. I do think she'll make a great therapy dog one of these days though. She's just so sensitive to people and other dogs.

Oh, oh, oh [Molly's Maid excitedly waves her hand in the air!] We've trained her to retrieve! It took 17lb of mackerel, 26 chickens, 14lb of sausages, 3 whole tuna, half the cheese in England, 3 cart loads of dog biscuits, a huge amount of patience and one sore arm from throwing things all the time for almost 6 weeks BUT ...........[drum roll]........da-dahhhhhhhhhhh! Molly is now an official RETRIEVER who brings back things we throw for her.

Proves you CAN train them....also proves they'll do ANYTHING for food. Catch-22 anyone?

[Hel_Pen]

Jazz and the late Daisy have form for stealing from children. They are always very polite and gentle when removing sandwiches or ice creams from children's hands. Sometimes the parents would be amused and sometimes not, so I always call them back to me if I see anyone with food and put them on the lead until safely past.

Daisy once put her head in a walker's rucksack and unknown to me pulled out a yoghurt pot. Later in the walk I saw she had something in her mouth and was amazed to see what it was. There was nothing to be done but open the pot and the two of them shared their booty!

[janrobinson]

This behaviour is all part of their charm. You all know about Tessa'a eating of 5lb of Quality Street and then Bonnie eating loads of bird seed out of the 15KG bag.

Years ago Jenny stole the beef joint from the worktop and once and only once my dear old Barney stole a chop from John's plate. It was his own fault he was eating sat in his armchair. I do hate that so I had no sympathy. He wanted some sauce or salt or something and I was outside so he put his plate on the coffee table for the few seconds it took and when he came back it was gone.

Jenny had a penchant for hats and when we were on the park would chase any child with a bob hat or such and drag it off their heads. This did not go down well with the natives so had to keep a watchful eye out just in case.

[lynn wise]

Barney and the chop brought back memeories of a friend of my Mothers. Mum told me the story of how Dorothys Whippet (note the name) pinched her husbands chop from the plate, Dorothy quick as a flash had it out of his mouth under the tap and back on the plate. Bill never knew about the episode, just sat back and enjoyed his meal. What was hard was the fact that David and I worked with him at the time, and every time I saw him I doubled up.
Our first Golden, Bracken also had a penchant for hats. At my cousins sons birthday day, a little friend of his turned up with his bobble cap on, Bracken spun round, up onto her back legs, and hey presto, 1 bobble hat stolen. We were all in stitches, the poor child just stood there gob smacked. Bracken also liked shopping bags, anybodys. Often walking down the village we would pass an unsuspecting shopper, only for Bracken to dive in head first. Oh the embarressment.
All these weird and wonderful memories of happy Golden days.

[superjazz]

The Fishermen here at Arnside use slices of Mackerel as bait sometimes and Candy is attracted to this "Sushi". However she will settle for a biscuit or bit of sandwich. Jazz does not bother and the Fishermen always ask how successful his Fishing is and where he is catching them. It has to be said that it has been a very poor Year so far with hardly any being caught.

P, S , J & C