Guest Blogger S’More Cat: Bad to the bone!
..Meow! S’More Cat here.
No, I don’t have my own blog yet. But I do have a hidden camera in the kitchen. And I caught this beast looking for a feast…
Everyone loves Cookie, but we don’t love her behavior in the house. Quite simply, Cookie is a thief. She jumps up and leans on the kitchen counters and tables, looking for food to snatch. One day, she somehow opened up a paper bag filled with bagels and ran off with one, without pulling the bag off the counter. She’ll do this sort of thing even when our family is RIGHT THERE in the kitchen with her. Every pet knows you don’t do that, right?! But not Cookie. So, these days she is getting a lot of corrections and a lot of puppy time-outs on her mat by the kitchen door. She also wears a leash and correction collar 24-7, so that she can’t scoot away after she’s been naughty. Otherwise, it all becomes a big game to her. She loves to run circles around the dining room table, because it’s almost impossible to catch her there. When you do catch Cookie in the act of being naughty, and correct her, you usually get a look from her like this…
…as if to say, “What? Did I do wrong?” My people-parents say she is very stubborn and wants what she wants but she will have to learn. To help them they have hired an obedience trainer to work with Cookie on “her issues” which these days include not coming reliably when called, barking her head off when the doorbell rings, getting up on the couch (strictly forbidden for her, but OK for me, ha!),roaming around the kitchen and snatching whatever food she can, and most disturbingly, CHASING ME! Progress is being made, but it is slow. Her trainer is great and says that Cookie is a very sweet, and strong-willed dog, but at just a year, Cookie is still very young yet. We all do notice that she is well trained now to go to one of her mats or by the people’s feet and chill out in the house. But she still chases me every chance she gets. Hiss.
The good news is, my stock in this family keeps on going up. They are constantly telling me how great I am and how I never destroy anything or give them a moment’s trouble….
…not to mention how gorgeous I am. Who am I to disagree? Peace, love & tuna fish, S’More Cat
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Tags: Australian Shepherd dog, Dogs and cats together
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Cookie of Katonah 
January 11, 2013 at 12:24 am
cookie my sweet love…
where have you been?
just hang out with me for a while and I will teach you the “ways” of good doggying!
I am a lab and really know how to be good to get my mom to think how special abc obedient I really am!
Hope to romp with you soon:)
All my puppy lovexoxoxo
Sunshine
January 11, 2013 at 4:02 am
please see my comments re: cone experience and this recent report of naughty behaviors… have you asked your parents what they are doing with all that free food hanging around on the counters? Seems like partly a case of “puppy proofing”… it’s not there, you are not intrigued!
January 11, 2013 at 4:31 pm
From what you have described I think these are a few things to consider.
1) There are no “issues”. There are behaviors that are problematic and your trainer is addressing them from what you describe. All trainers have their own methods including myself.
2) Any food that is so close to her (on butcher block) is too enticing and therefore is too much for you and the dog to be working on, especially a puppy. Move all food away from areas where your puppy is tempted; it’s just too much for the puppy to handle at this point. In any situation where a dog is jumping my command is “off” immediatly followed by a “sit”. The off/sit should become an automatic behavior with the sit becoming the default behavior.
3) The other behaviors need continous practice as I’m sure your trainer has already has gone over with you, especially “place” and “down”.
4) All herding dogs are bred to herd, it’s in their blood,
bred, etc. to do so. Your puppy is hearding you! Play with sunshine, lots of exercize.