My sneaky rat terrier is getting on the table - mouse trap? (clean, vet)
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My rat terrier Jackie is all about food. Kinda like me lol! I have cut back on her food. She still gets plenty, but I am not over-feeding her anymore. When I leave the apartment, and leave her loose in the apartment, or even lately when I get in the bathtub, she has taken to jumping up on the kitchen island/table and snatching food.
The hilarious thing is that she's very lithe. Somehow she actually gets up onto the table, which is a tall bistro-type table, without knocking anything down, and snatches what she's after - a biscuit out of a bowl for instance - and gets back down off the table without knocking anything over.
Pretty amazing, and kind of funny, but I would like to teach her not to do this, without having to lock her in the bathroom with me, or put her in her crate when I leave.
A friend of mine who had a larger dog, a GSD mix, used a mouse trap to scare her dog out of doing it again, and it worked great. But, I'm afraid a real mouse trap might hurt Jackie. She's about 23 pounds.
I'd love to set some kind of trap, though, that will cure her of this new habit.
Do any of you know of any type of contraption that will make a noise or something, but not hurt her?
She's very smart, so if I set some kind of trap that scares her good, I think it will quickly cure her.
I'm tempted to set up a video camera to see how she's pulling off this acrobatic feat.
I came home one day to a tupperware container on the floor - but no other mess. And the last biscuit was no longer in the bowl on the table, but everything else was exactly where it had been, and the bowl wasn't moved an inch. Pretty amazing, really LOL!
It isn't practical to keep all food off the table. She has to learn to not surf. If we are inconveniencing ourselves all the time just to prevent our dogs from misbehaving, then who is training who??
Scat Mat. Wow, they worked in no time to train both our dogs to never set foot in the kitchen. They won't even go in there if one of their balls rolls in. They stand at one of the openings to the kitchen and whine. If you were local to KC, I'd loan you one of our Scat Mats It really doesn't take long!
Make sure no chairs/stools are any where near the table. Misty my sheltie if chairs were left out she jump on them then on the table. Back then my table was next to the window. But if any food was on the table its gone LOL I didn't even know she did this til one day I just put dinner on the table [chicken] & my son hurt himself! Came home from the hospital she was laying on the table Stuffed! Plates were licked clean!! I near had a heart attach!
It isn't practical to keep all food off the table.
I never leave anything on my kitchen table. It is completely empty, unless we are actively eating a meal. After the meal, it is completely emptied and washed.
LOL...I can't find ANYTHING on my table, so I'm pretty sure my dog can't either.
Of course he's about 9" tall and we have the tall bistro style table too. He can't get up there.
I would try the scat mat although I've never had this problem.
It's also possible that if you could manage to keep things off the table for a short while, Jackie might realize her efforts are futile (she's not getting rewarded) and stop doing it. But then again, as soon as there's something up there, she's going after it again.
LOL...I'm not much help am I?
I had to respond though 'cause the OP gave me a great image!
Don't do all those other negative reinforcement tricks like spraying her or ONE LADY posted she sprayed BITTER APPLE in her dog's MOUTH!!!
Jackie is a sensitive well balanced dog and you don't need anything to change that.
If you HAVE to leave food out, what about a cage AROUND/OVER the food. Or the Tupperware tub thing.
Like those covers you use over food outside at a picnic but heavier like a small dog crate. But she'll probably just sit there sniffing through the bars.
These jumpers are very good at it. Is she jumping directly ON the table or using a chair?
I had a PUG client who could jump up onto the DRYER! I couldn't believe that.
I think your instinct for more exercise was a good one. But moving the food would be a cheaper option than buying a treadmill.
also for a dog jumping may hurt them and get you an expensive vet bill. a friend had her dog jump from the bed and now the dog is getting therapy over 500.00 the cost is.
also for a dog jumping may hurt them and get you an expensive vet bill. a friend had her dog jump from the bed and now the dog is getting therapy over 500.00 the cost is.
Good point. ACL surgery can cost like, $3000!
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