the fucking dog....

[inthefuckingdoghouse]

Has snuck downstairs in the dead of night, somehow managed to eat some food that we left on the worktops (food for a party we are supposed to have today), peed on the floor, and completely trashed the rubbish bins. We usually close the door, and I'm absolutely certain I did. Maybe DD went downstairs in the night or something. Or maybe the dog has figured out how to open doors.
AIBU to be a little bit mad at the dog?

Tomorrow I think what cats enjoy is the challenge! I'm sure all the neighbourhood cats meet up and boast to each other. 'I had that fish finger right out of her hand, I did!'

Our old lab eould open cupboard doors to eat the contents and also learnt how to operate a wall-mounted dog food dispenser. She would also scale the fence to lick the fat that regularly encrusted the neighbour's kitchen drain >

sobeyondthehills thankfully a boy though as he can point and shoot

Dogs do NOT understand right/wrong or consequences, and when people say their dog looks guilty what they usually mean is their dog looks worried because it can sense it's owner is annoyed, not becaise it actualy realises it's done something wrong. In the dog world, if a resource is left unguarded then it's fair game (hence why dogs often stash or bury food or toys) so in the dog's eyes it isn't doing anything wrong by taking an unattended resource, if you wanted the food you wouldn't have left it there. If your dog looks at you before taking a piece of food it's not because it knows it's being naughty (although it might be wary of your reaction if you've shouted at it for the sane thing before) it's looking to see if you're guarding the food or not. Instead of expecting our dogs to behave in a way that's totally unnatural and overrides all of their natural instincts, work with their natural behaviours and make sure any food you don't want eaten is stored away safely. Afraid the dog is in the clear, it's whoever didn't shut the door properly who is at fault.

Next door's dog stole two packs of ground coffee off a worktop. Apparently he was awake for three days...

My dog has had to have his stomach pumped twice. He eats all manner of things, but on the first bad occasion he ate a whole role of foil Christmas wrapping paper. He was very ill and it came out almost intact! Last occasion he ate some paracetamol (they had fallen out of my pocket). The vet reported that out came the cardboard packaging, one Christmas decoration, one sock, and "various other bits and bobs".

Oh, and one time on a walk he was straining away in the middle of a cricket pitch (luckily no one playing!) and eventually something stripey emerged. A pair of dd's pants.

There was a poster on similar thread recently who told the story of her dog who had scoffed the entire Christmas goose just after it came out of the oven. So instead of a nice leisurely Christmas dinner they had to race to the vet to deal with the hot-goose-fat blisters around the dog's mouth. Not to mention the fact that it had a belly full of cooks goose bones.

Agree they definitely do know when they have crossed the line - if my springer stays under the table when I come in I know I have to look for chewed up socks, pants, cards (never anything posted by the actual postman but anything else hand delivered) but those cute brown eyes means I can't stay mad with her for long

Tomorrowillbeachicken something to be thankful for.

Between DS, the dog, the cat that thinks he is a dog and the other cat, I have grey before my time.

Another one who was sitting here thinking "it's a lab, isn't it".

I keep food away from the cats as far as possible as they don't seem to be able to register "stuff that isn't ours". I went into the kitchen one day to find them both on the work surface leaning over the hob, eating baked beans from the saucepan that I was using to heat the beans. (I'd only recently put them on, so they were warm rather than boiling). New rule from then on - until the food is boiling, put a lid on it. Which is a more effective way to heat things anyway.

As for understanding the consequences of actions, I don't think animals think it through in the same way as us. It's not a case of "I shouldn't do this". It's just operant conditioning. "When the human walks in whilst there is rubbish on the floor, the human shouts at me. When I do that cute look, they shout less". It's more of a reaction and response, less to do with a moral sense of "I did something wrong and upsetting".

The actor Jason Isaacs tweeted at Christmas that his dog had eaten a mince pie and they had to rush her to the vet. Then he said the exact same thing happened the year before

Stars! They're just like us

He's a lab. It's what labs do.

Mine doesn't sniff to find out what something is. He tastes it. 'Is it edible? No. fuck it, I'm eating it anyway'. That's his constant internal monologue, I'm sure of it.

my lab cross learned to open doors just by watching the handle come down, took ages to work out how she was getting everywhere until I witnessed her doing it (never been taught!) clever doggies

FireSquirrel

If you do a quick google of "do dogs know right from wrong", you will see some interesting information, which points to : yes they do.

He's a golden lab

That be your problem right there.

Has he done this before? If you've had him a while it's a little weird he's just started this behaviour ... Has anyone been encouraging to eat of the kitchen tops or has been fed from the table?

Be really firm - we have a "counter surfer" breed - and whilst once or twice he's had a little look at the rib of beef as it's come out of the oven and is being carved on the kitchen side, he knows he isn't really allowed to come past the fridge door when food is being prepared. He isn't allowed in the kitchen / dining room when we are eating and he's never been fed from the table.

He now "get's" that when there's food around he needs to make himself scarce for a little while.

Still not sure I would leave party food on the kitchen counter's overnight though...

"Mini pork pies, sausage rolls, sandwiches"

Thank fuck the dog ate it all- it will save your guests from getting food poisoning

All that stuff should be kept in the fridge!

Hahaha the worst is yet to come as the party food has to come out the other end! Of course they know when they have done wrong, but he wanted have classed the party food as anything other than an opportunity to eat.

In the summer our dog did an escape artist act under the gate and came back pleased as punch with a sausage in its mouth from one of the neighbours BBQ which he obviously decided to gate crash!

A friend of mine accidentally dropped the turkey on xmas day getting it out the oven - her dogs had the best xmas :)

Knew it would be lab! My JRT is crated at night thank goodness!
Black and white cat though.. she's a terrible. We live in a terrace so can see straight along the gardens.

Numerous Sundays in the warm months, next door but one neighbour has his massive kitchen window wide open. .. many of these times I've happened to see my cat hotfooting it out with a chicken leg or a piece of chop in her mouth. Never has he realised she's my cat so I've kept quiet ( he's a huge arsehole, though has recently moved!). No more treats for kitty!
She also licks butter if it's left out on the side as does my eight year old

Our lab ate a kilo of frozen mince that was defrosting on the kitchen side. He also has a sock fetish.

He drives us absolutely crazy but god I miss him! We recently moved back to the UK from Greece but couldnt afford to bring the dogs with us They have been staying at mil (and driving her crazy) and just yesterday dp left to go get them! Its shockingly expensive to bring dogs to the uk and we have had to get into debt to bring them, but they are our boys!

I am sorry but most dogs can be trained. Mine two greedy bastards are food obsessed (one a lab one a spaniel) but won't touch food on thecoffe table left overnight, Certainly not the bin or food on the counter. I'd go mad if I had to double check my house like this all the time.

I had a dog that stunned me one day by jumping up onto the work surface like a cat would. DH wasn't impressed because the chicken he'd left to thaw 'where to dogs can't reach it' was being greedily gobbled up.

Dogs will go for food unless really well trained to wait for a specific invitation. Not the dog's fault.

My dog is too small to reach the counter ... but if there's a kitchen invasion, the cats will helpfully knock whatever food they don't want onto the floor for him .

I'm with bakeoff
OP your DDog did you a favour and saved your guests from food poisoning. Hope you have time today to take poor dog out for lots of walks.

Labs are food hoovers - hunger has nothing to do with it!

I think food stealing tendencies are more part of a dog's make-up than training IME.

DHound is utterly disinterested in food we leave standing around and I know that greys can be terrible counter top surfers, but he is not. Nothing clever I did to teach him though - wish I could take the credit!

Maybe it's breed specific, cricket. Our GSDs certainly knew when they'd done something wrong. They wouldn't have taken unattended food from a worktop either.

Food rules don't really apply to labs though. Everything is fair game then.

Knew it would be a lab, mine can open doors (not bragging!) so that's a possibility!