# How to stop scavenging?



## Guest (Jun 18, 2012)

I realise this is a big ask but does anyone have any ideas on how I can stop my dog from scavenging at the park and eating anything remotely food-like? Today it was orange peels, banana peels and something unidentified :blink:

Her leave command is useless when it comes to food - even if she knows I have high-value treats and I wave them in her face, she still will try to eat whatever disgusting thing she's found on the ground. In the house she will generally leave food when I ask, just not outdoors. I'm not sure how to make the transition from indoors to out.

I'm worried that it will one day get her into trouble, like the day I yanked a big wad of bubblegum out of her mouth 

Any ideas welcome!


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Well the first thing I would do is prevent her practising this behaviour by accustoming her to a muzzle.


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## dorrit (Sep 13, 2011)

Remy is a devil for this and I did think about a muzzle..Surviving on his own in the wild he ate frogs woprms bugs and all manner of vegetation..

I have taught him 'spit'.. He will now do this even at a distance but to truely stop him picking things up at all I would have to say a muzzle is the only way..


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## goodvic2 (Nov 23, 2008)

McKenzie said:


> I realise this is a big ask but does anyone have any ideas on how I can stop my dog from scavenging at the park and eating anything remotely food-like? Today it was orange peels, banana peels and something unidentified :blink:
> 
> Her leave command is useless when it comes to food - even if she knows I have high-value treats and I wave them in her face, she still will try to eat whatever disgusting thing she's found on the ground. In the house she will generally leave food when I ask, just not outdoors. I'm not sure how to make the transition from indoors to out.
> 
> ...


If she is not prepared to listen to you with high value treats then I guess a lead or muzzle is in order, prob not what you want to hear.

Or you need to practice the leave command to enforce it properly


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2012)

Thanks all. 

I'd like to avoid a muzzle if at all possible as I feel it will severely impact on the opportunities she has to mix with other dogs - The owners around here tend to be 'precious', the type that cross the street if a staffy was coming towards them (not that we ever see staffys in this area! ), and I know they'd give Kenzie such a wide berth if she was wearing a muzzle that I wouldn't even be able to tell them it's to stop her scavenging even if I had a megaphone!

I will make a concerted effort to really improve her leave command and see if that helps. If I've tried everything and it's still an issue then I will consider a muzzle.

Thanks


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## Jesse11 (Dec 7, 2011)

If she is not prepared to listen to you with high value treats then I guess a lead or muzzle is in order, prob not what you want to hear.

Or you need to practice the leave command to enforce it properly---yes, it's true


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## DirtyGertie (Mar 12, 2011)

:yesnod: Oooooooooooh yes, I know this one!

Poppy had to go back on her long line on the beach recently due to her stealing someone's ball and running onto the promenade then straight across the road in front of a car :yikes:. 

I've been back to basic with her commands, recall is going pretty good and "leave it" is OK as long as I am close to her and the "treasure" is not of the highest value.

If there is food about she's after it like I never feed her. Last week I was with my friend on the beach and because there was two of us I felt confident enough to not use the long line. Poppy was trotting in front, spotted a dead bird (small) and promptly started scoffing. I went to go towards her and she immediately ran off with her treasure. No command worked so rather than start a game of chase I left her to it. The bird was promptly followed by pudding - some dog poo. Now she only bothers with dog poo if it's on the beach, she'll even dig it up , she doesn't bother with it anywhere else other than to sniff it.

I don't intend to muzzle Poppy and can only suggest maybe trying a long line for a while whilst you continue to work on the leave it command. I let Poppy's drag (it's very lightweight) so she has plenty of freedom but I have the confidence that I can react quickly and remove her from a situation before it happens even (I can read her like a book  ).


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## moonviolet (Aug 11, 2011)

I have a total foodie , Eyes like a hawk and building up the strength of her leave cue, in the house easy (low value treats) increasing the difficulty until she could recall past high value treats then repeating the process in the garden, doing set ups on the pavement (you look like a nut job but what the hell) again starting low value etc. in the park, in the woods pratcise everywhere you go. 

if her leave is particularly weak to begin use a container and put the treats in then scoop them out so only the smell remains so if she can't resist she isn't rewarded . 

Good luck


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2012)

Well I'm glad it's not just me with this problem 

All suggestions noted and I'll be trying them out starting tomorrow!


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## ClaireandDaisy (Jul 4, 2010)

Forget Leave - if she`s close enough to it for her to get there before you you`re on to a loser. 
Work on recall instead. Make the recall fun - play tuggy or ball with her. Make coming back to you extremely rewarding. Offer small tasty treats - better treats than rancid bananas! 
Don`t potter along in a daydream on your walks for a while - keep a close eye on your dog and keep interacting with her - in a good way. I suspect a lot of this is that she is rewarded with attention when she hoovers up a dead kebab. 
You`ll have to put in a great deal of work for a while, but eventually she`ll change her ways.


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## lemmsy (May 12, 2008)

McKenzie said:


> I realise this is a big ask but does anyone have any ideas on how I can stop my dog from scavenging at the park and eating anything remotely food-like? Today it was orange peels, banana peels and something unidentified :blink:
> 
> Her leave command is useless when it comes to food - even if she knows I have high-value treats and I wave them in her face, she still will try to eat whatever disgusting thing she's found on the ground. In the house she will generally leave food when I ask, just not outdoors. I'm not sure how to make the transition from indoors to out.
> 
> ...


How do you stop scavenging?

1. Don't set the dog up to fail. This means either avoiding walking them in places that you know is going to be abundant in items for her to scavenge (search for, track and consume) and/or make sure you employ a longline in these areas to prevent the dog from practicing the first behaviours in the cycle (searching and tracking). 
2. Give him/her constructive, controlled ways of performing the "scavenging" behaviour sequence. Scavenging is an innate, hardwired behaviour pattern in all domestic dogs but appears with differing intensity in different breeds due to the effects of selective breeding. That said, any individual dog may indicate increased inclination for such behaviours. My "barbie" (show bred) Border Collie is one such example of a non-gun dog/tracking breed that shows strong inclination for this particular set of innate behaviours (whereas my other dog is a strong working sheepdog). In a dog that is readily and frequently performing this behaviour we NEED to give them a safe outlet to do this. Suppressing instinctive behaviour will often only serve to increase stress levels and thus provide more motivation for the dog to seek out activities that allow him to relieve such stress (such as scavenging!)

In short: let him scavenge and track... but on your terms and WITH you. This will if you like, tick the (metaphorical) "need to scavenge/search" box in his head and having satisfied that need, you dog will be less likely to seek out additional opportunities (initially you will still need to use management tactics to avoid practising unwanted scavenging in environments where it has been heavily rehearsed before)!

Tracking on a long-line with tracks that are set up by you are one such way of doing this:
First Longer Track- Khuma - YouTube
Tracking Dog in Tasmania - Maddie the Vizsla - YouTube

More scent work ideas here:
Nose Jobs 4 Dogs - Scent Work Course at The Company of Animals - YouTube

Fun 'Nose Work' Ideas - YouTube

In short:

1. Don't set the dog up to fail! Management and avoidance tactics (short term).

2. Give the dog suitable outlets for innate (scavenging style) behaviour patterns (long term).

3. Keep practising and rewarding recall systematically with increasingly difficult distractions (long term).

Good luck


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## hayleyth (May 9, 2012)

When my lab kept doing this i put him on a long line, i did alot of recall work and everytime he went near something he shouldnt i would give him his "come" command and i had a squeaky toy aswell to get his attention. 

This distracted him from the object and then he would get a high reward treat when he came! He soon learned i had the treats and he didnt want to go scavenging and picking things up, and if he did he wouldnt get anything! It worked for me but he wasnt that bad at scavenging.. 

Theres so many different things which work for different dogs, so keep trying things and something will work! 

I would NEVER use a muzzle though.. i think everything can be worked at without the use of it.


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