[nagdu] scavenging

[Daryl Marie]

Hi!
Oh, Danielle, I feel your pain!
Jenny is a world-class scavenger!  Sometimes she'll even dive for rocks and leaves if they're pretty enough!

I have a couple of bits of advice for you:
The Halti is a good tool, but is definitely not to be used all the time.  Are there particular places he scavenges more than others?  For example, for some reason I will never understand, there's a one-block bit of sidewalk where Jenny has always had trouble (I think there's apartments there); if we walk north, she's fine, but walking south is a whole other matter.  There's all kinds of good ground candy in the grass verge...  Perhaps you could take him to a place like that and walk with him there, with the Halti, and praise him for not picking up the food (I know it sounds like you're praising for nothing, but really you're not).  This worked wonders for Jenny, and now all I have to do for the most part is talk her through that sidewalk and occasionally tell her to leave it if she goes for something (which she does).  Also, are there certain things that trigger the scavenging (i.e. boredom, weather changes, after a good rain)?  Once you figure out what, if anything is triggering it, then you can be a lot more prepared and less frustrated when it happens.  Ultimately, you can greatly reduce the use of the Halti.  Over the past six months I have used the Halti nearly daily, then once a week, then less... I think the last time I broke it out for her was when we were at the vet's six weeks ago, but I always carry it in my purse.

Like Thai, jenny  knows when she's been set up for food refusal drills.  I have tackled this in two different ways:
1) Gone somewhere unknown (a friend's apartment, for example).  This tends to trigger scrounging behavior in her, so it's a perfect time to work with her on it.  She doesn't feel set up, I get to actually work with her on it, and everyone's happy.
2) use the clicker for food refusal.  Even if Thai knows you're doing it.  With Jenn, I found that treats tended to make the food much more irresistible, so I have been clicker training her with praise.  This has greatly reduced the scrounging.

I have by no means arrived, but those are things that have worked for us.
Good luck, and feel free to write me offlist:
crazymusician at shaw.ca
Twitter: blindbeader

Daryl and Jenny (who didn't scrounge at all today!)
----- Original Message -----
From: Danielle Sykora via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Sent: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 17:27:01 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: [nagdu]  scavenging

Hi all,
Over the last few weeks, I have noticed my dog scavenging more frequently. I have tried working with him on ignoring food on the floor but he knows he is being set up by thesecond piece of food. I also use a Halti but I don't want to have to use it all the time. Any thoughts? 

Danielle and Thai
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