Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with obedience

Dog Caught Stealin'

jrishel — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:19:59 -0800

How do I keep my dog from grabbing food off the table/counter when when our backs are turned? Penny, our 6 year old adopted stray (we think she's a Jack Russel/Austrailian cattle cross) has a horrible habit of stealing food that's on the table when we're not looking. some background: She was approximately 6 months old when she showed up on our doorstep. We used to feed her kibble twice a day, but she'd ignore her food when she's in the large fenced yard during the day and only eat her dinner. She seems to be too busy chasing squirrels to eat. Because of this, we've reduced her to just one meal a day in the evening. We have a 19 month old that enjoys throwing food from the table to her, and we're working on him too, but this behavior in Penny existed before there was a baby in the picture. We do tend to feed her some table scraps mixed with her dry food after our evening meal. Personality-wise, Penny is a moderately well behaved dog for me, but seems to often be in competition with my wife, and my wife has to struggle to make sure Penny knows who the alpha female is. She doesn't interact much with our toddler, as she seems to get nervous when she's enclosed by baby gates, but does well with him when they are both outside. She's a smart dog, and will do most of the standard tricks (sit, stay, laydown, rollover, shake, beg.) If she thinks you're going to give her a treat, she'll run through all of her tricks at once trying to get you to give her the treat.

Now, about her bad habit: She knows she shouldn't because she runs and hides in her bed as soon as we spot her stealing food. My solution is just make sure food is in the center of the table and not near the edge of any counters, so mainly she's stealing food from my wife, who's very tired of me telling her to make sure her plate is not near the edge. Since I can't seem to change the habits of the creature I can use language and reason with, what suggestions do you have on correcting the bad behavior of the dog? I have been successful in stopping some bad barking behavior in the past by rushing to the dog quickly and gruffly telling her not to bark, but when she steals food it is like she has already worked out the cost/benefit of stealing this turkey sandwich and decided that no matter what the punishment, this turkey sandwich is SO WORTH IT.

Should we kick her outside when we catch her? just yell at her? Be more proactive and remove her from the kitchen/dinning room when we're preparing food/eating? My wife is ready to feed her to a polar bear, but that might not be as easy as you'd think.

How can I get my 2 new puppy chihuahuas to stop running under the sofa?

arniec — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:58:41 -0800

How can I get my 2 new puppy chihuahuas to stop running under the sofa? One month ago I got 2 new chihuahuas (they're one of the few breeds of dogs I'm not allergic to). The older one is 5 months old, female, the younger one is 3 months old, male. They are generally happy dogs and we are using positive enforcement (i.e. treats) to train them. So far in the month we've had them, we've taught them "Watch me", "Sit", and "Come" (the third of which they do if they feel like it). They're mostly housebroken at this point.

My concern is that we also just got a new, very expensive, leather sofa. While the sofa is low, the two dogs just love to crawl under it (she has to do so on her belly with her hind legs dragged behind). They use it as a shortcut rather than go around the sofa, and they also do it while playing together. They hide treats under there, and I'm afraid they might be: A) chewing tags under the sofa or B) going to the bathroom under the sofa.

The sofa has only a 3" hole in front of it, but once you get under it the dogs can stand up fully as there's no bottom until the bottom of the seat cushion.

The sofa is a sectional, about 20' in total length (10', then bend for 2', then 8'). We've thought about blocking it off, but the sofa is so long it would take a huge amount of boxes, and the dogs would likely push empty boxes out of the way. As the sectional is fastened together, it would be hard to put large boxes underneath as we'd have to literally dismantle the sofa to do so.

I have tried telling the dogs "no" in a firm, negative voice. They don't understand "no" and, ironically, if I say it loudly the boy runs and hides...under the sofa!

We know of the shocking static electric mats you can put down, but the cost to cover 20' of sofa in them would be high, plus we'd have cords running from the walls to under the sofa which the dogs might chew. Also my wife is afraid of hurting the dogs (he's only 4 lbs) so that's out.

We've heard we can take plastic floor mats, like those you roll your chairs on in offices, and put them upside down so the plastic spikes stick up and the dogs won't want to walk on it. But they have tiny paws which I think could go between the spikes, and my wife is afraid that with their tiny feet they'll be really hurt by the spikes.

Any answers in the hive mind?

How do I get my neighbors' dog to stop jumping on me?

IndigoRain — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:37:57 -0800

How do I get my neighbors' dog to stop jumping on me? My neighbors have lived next door for 16 years. After losing 4 dogs and 2 cats to being hit by cars, they still haven't learned and refuse to leash their current dog, a 1-year-old very energetic black lab mix. (Their last dog had invisible fencing, but allegedly ran through it - I think the dog wasn't wearing the collar. They had a habit of leaving it off.) They have taken this dog to obedience classes and it hasn't helped. I have personally witnessed this dog run out in front of, and underneath, the school bus that brings the kids home, although otherwise she seems to avoid the road.

Any time I walk out my door, if the dog is outside, she runs straight for me at lightning speed. She jumps on me and leaves me with numerous scratches and bruises. (More than once her jumps have taken me unaware and shoved me into the corner of a table.) I am tired of being injured and having to walk her home if they aren't watching her. If they do see her, they call her, but she doesn't return to them until she's calmed down.

Sitting down and talking to them hasn't worked. They just. don't. get. it. Other neighbors have threatened to shoot the dog if she comes on their property again - this hasn't deterred my neighbors, just made them think the other neighbors are jerks. (And really, I would never do that - I'm just saying this is a problem for everyone around here and these neighbors are just not getting the point.) They don't show any interest in using their still-existing invisible fencing. The only improvement they have made with this dog is she actually has a collar with her address and phone number on it. I am nervous about calling animal control, because others in the neighborhood have had their anonymity breached in the past.

I do visit these neighbors in their home, and when she jumps on me there, the father of the family smacks her on the rump, hard. I don't approve of hitting a dog, and he doesn't do it in time so that she makes the connection. I know how to put my knee up in the air to block her when she jumps, but it's shorts season and my legs are getting scratched up. How can I make her stop jumping on me? Bonus question: How do I make her stop licking me?

Help!

bluejayk — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 13:38:10 -0800

In the famous Milgram experiment, to examine obedience and authority, why does the actor never specifically use the word 'help'? Some friends and I were talking about the famous Milgram experiment (in which volunteers believed they were giving shocks to other volunteers, though the other volunteer was always a confederate and the shocks were fake).

I brought up this idea, but everyone else thought it was stupid. I'm no longer in college, so no handy psyc professors to ask. Why didn't the actors ask for help? I know that their voices were recorded, but I've listened to the recordings, and they say things like "Stop! Ouch! Don't do it anymore!" and the toughest one "I think I'm having a heart attack!". I think the specific word 'help' is extremely conspicuous in its absence. Is there any mention of this in the experiment or criticisms of the experiment? It seems to me like asking for help changes the authority dynamic, and asks the person not merely to stop doing something, but to take some positive action. Is there some reason the word was not included? Anyone know if different versions of the experiment included this word? Did it change the results?

Which adjective best describes Inspector Javert?

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 19:47:04 -0800

Is there an adjective to describe a person who believes in absolute obedience to the law, as personified by Inspector Javert in "Les Miserables"?

Help me make Flash listen.

TonyRobots — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 05:45:57 -0800

Is there any way to make Flash respect a 'base target="_top"' directive? I have a flash application which is living in an iFrame, and it has some links in it. I need the links to target the "_top" metaframe so the links load in the whole window rather than in the particular iframe. The flash is not aware of/respecting the html tag in the page header. This is not surprising. Is there something like a thing I can do to make this work? Or is the only solution to go into the flash source?

Would therapy help my dog's destructive anxiety when he's left alone?

deliriouscool — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 20:13:10 -0800

We love our dog, but his scratching is destructive - how can we help tame his anxiety at being left alone? Our beagle mix puppy is almost two, so I'm running out of time to blame this on "puppyhood." With people around, he's as generally well-behaved as a two year old dog might be, but if he's left alone in a place unfamiliar to him (i.e. not our house, but say my parents' house or my in-laws'), he will whine - then scratch at the carpet around the door by which we left, and even at the door itself. It doesn't happen every time we leave him, but it happens often enough that neither my husband nor I feels safe saying "sure, we can leave him here while we go out to dinner - it's only for a few hours." The other night at my parents' he was fine; tonight, he caused hundreds of dollars worth of damage, and sadly, it's not the first time.

He's generally a stellar dog, and we feel like we've done a decent job of socializing him and introducing him to strangers so he's not afraid of them - what can we do to help calm his fear of the unfamiliar when he's left by himself (or maybe that's fear of being left by himself among unfamiliar things)? Whatever came first, fear of the unfamiliar or fear of abandonment, this behavior is driving us nuts! And it's getting expensive too...