My Dogs have Gone Insane

[Kerryann]

I have never had chronic behavioral problems with my dogs. They have had incidents of bad behavior but not like this. It started about a week ago. I came home one day and my lab had eaten a loaf of bread and a pizza crust. So i started shutting the pantry doors. I came home again and tortillas and pitas and more bread were eaten. My a hole dogs ate a whole pack of flaxseed pitas!
So i started double checking the pantry before leaving. Friday i left home to run an errand and i shut the pantry door. I want gone long but when i came home it was pushed open. Then that night we went out for fro_yo and the pantry was opened again. Yesterday before leaving my husband rigged the pantry door with a rubber band. We came home to the trash knocked over and spread around. There want much food at all in the trash. Three was some lettuce stalks and strawberry pieces. Then last night we get home and they had busted the pantry open and eaten two loaves of bread and a pack of slimwiches.
We have been trying to figure out this issue. Nothing had changed. Our schedule is the same, her feed and meds are the same, her exercise level is the same.
Is this a crime of opportunity? Like she got it once and now is repeating? Carb addiction? Worst part is my lab is allergic to wheat so her allergies have been worse.

 

[Edna]

Are you sure you don't have a little black bear breaking into your house while you're gone? A packrat?
Seriously, if you have to reinforce and bear-proof your pantry door, do it.

 

[wellington]

Once they do know they can do it and get away with it and even food, they will def. keep trying. Maybe also some boredom. Have you been going away a lot in the after work hours more then normal. Is this normally her time to sit and relax with you? I would secure anything she could get into, pantry, garbage, other cupboards that may have things in it she could eat. I would also, get her some new toys to keep her busy and try playing with her before you leave. You may want to try one at a time to see which it may be. If you secure cabinet doors and she goes for other stuff, like laundry, toilet paper, etc, then it is the fact you are leaving her and she either doesn't like it or she is bored. Good luck. It can be fixed, you just have to figure put why she is doing it.

 

[lisa127]

I think it is something she discovered she could do once and so it is becoming habitual. How old is she? I know this sounds strange, but my dog is 11 years old and she has become "bolder" with age. When she was a young dog she was perfectly behaved. She was the type of dog that always wanted to please and always looked to you for direction. It was important for her to be good then. At 11, she will try to get away with things when she can. Food stealing is an example...lol. Is there a way to totally block the dogs out of the kitchen altogether when you're not home?

 

[Edna]

Just thinking here..... You've been getting ready for a trip. My dogs become super-anxious when there are house-leaving preparations going on.

 

[Kerryann]

I am going out today to get a baby safety thing for the pantry. I have been working a lot but most of it that is after business hours i am home.
It could be the trip readiness. My husband said if she keeps it up after the trip he's getting a crate for the pooches.
I forgot to add my schnauzer has also been peeing on the floor. He mostly doors it when we aren't home but he has done it in front of me twice. I had him checked for uti and he's clear. both times he signaled he had to pee. I was getting up to let him out but almost like he objected to my slowness he squatted and peed right by the door. Both times were in the morning and i was probably half awake and fumbling slowly.
Last night when we came home my husband was like a psycho. He found our hiding lab and carried her 74lbs like sack of potatoes over to the pantry and was screaming. She was so scared she was shrieking. No dog abuse happened but it sounded like it.

 

[wellington]

Didn't you recently move? Or am I thinking of someone else?

 

[Kerryann]

Didn't you recently move? Or am I thinking of someone else?

No I am in the same place

 

[wellington]

Didn't you recently move? Or am I thinking of someone else?

No I am in the same place

OOPS, someone else that recently moved to MI. Well, then that's not it.

 

[Ashleigh B]

It sounds like your dog is anxious and is trying to stop the trip cause she doesn't want to be left alone, and same with the other dog, I have four dogs, they are all relitively quiet but if we're going some were then are chiuhahwa's or how ever you spell it, will start randomly barking at the door, we keep are bags outside to keep the cats out of them, so are dalmation and mix will like opening the bags and tossing the clothes around, and are chuhawaha's are potty-trained so they know when its time to sit at the door and wait but they wouldn't due that when we prepare for trips, they'd pee were ever they liked, sometimes are un-nuedered dog will even pee on one of us!

 

[BowandWalter]

My parents rehabilitate dogs from the SPCA that are really messed up, the last one was awhile ago, and we kept her because she's such a doll, but she would kill anything that she caught. Exercise is the one thing that always seems to help, we would take the dog, her names Mika, to the beach and run her. Not just a little bit of running, like an hour straight, she'd go to work with Dad everyday and run everywhere. She went from a dog who killed a nest of Canadian geese, and flipped a cow. To a dog that I can safely leave with my chicks. I'm not saying that a small dog could do this, they probably couldn't handle it, but working dogs like huskies and border collies need work, a job that involves lots of exercise.

 

[Jacqui]

I think I would be getting the kennels sooner then later, especially if what she is eating are things that will make her allergies worse.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm curious why they can't be left outside in the backyard when you're gone?

 

[Edna]

She's in an area where the homeowners association doesn't allow fences.

 

[Kerryann]

She's in an area where the homeowners association doesn't allow fences.

Yes and there are evil little gremlins behind me now.

 

[wellington]

Could the gremlins be doing something to upset the dogs. Knocking on windows or doors? Anything else. Maybe the gremlins are just outside playing and yelling and it is upsetting the dogs.

 

[Edna]

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T GIVE THE GREMLINS WATER!!!!!

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She's in an area where the homeowners association doesn't allow fences.

Yes and there are evil little gremlins behind me now.

No, wait, you're on the road now. So you mean Gremlins like those little AMC cars from the 70s??? Probably not a good idea to get water on them, either!!

 

[wellington]

I'm so confused now. Gremlins, kids?

 

[Kerryann]

Could the gremlins be doing something to upset the dogs. Knocking on windows or doors? Anything else. Maybe the gremlins are just outside playing and yelling and it is upsetting the dogs.

Max sometimes comes over and knocks on the glass to get cici out to play. His parents only allow him to do it when we are home. The kids/gremlins who are not as well parented could be doing that. I know last night though we left after all the kids were in so I don't think that was the cause. It was after dark when we left.

Tonight the dogs were out going to the bathroom and cici was down in the poo squat doing her business and the kids came running into the yard sounding like a flock of seagulls and were poking her while she was pooping.
The new kids (I know it's not their fault but their parents should be responsible) are so badly behaved, it makes me sad. The neighbors who have cici as a surrogate dog used to leave out larger plastic toys for their kids like a swing/slide, a pool, a sand box, and a playhouse. The new kids destroyed it all already. The neighbor went and talked to the parents and all they said was "they are kids, if the toys are out they are going to play with them". So now she has to take in everything she brings out for the kids to play with.
Anyway.. those kids could be a factor. I also think it may have to do with the sandwich snatching episode. She never had bread really before that and the pantry raiding started after the thieving.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T GIVE THE GREMLINS WATER!!!!!

---

She's in an area where the homeowners association doesn't allow fences.

Yes and there are evil little gremlins behind me now.

No, wait, you're on the road now. So you mean Gremlins like those little AMC cars from the 70s??? Probably not a good idea to get water on them, either!!

---

We aren't on the road until Tuesday afternoon. I would love a gismo

 

[wellington]

WOW, I would have to beat the kids then the parents. Train your dogs to get the kids. Then tell the kids to run or the dogs will rip them apart. Dogs get their energy warn out and the kids, well if they make it might think twice . Okay, I like kids, just not that kid. You might want to set your dog up for a lesson. Are the dogs going with you? If not, I guess all training will have to wait until your home. A couple days of training will not be enough and will really work against you if you start and then stop when you leave, then they won. Never want them to win. Seemhow things are when you return and if the problems are still happening. Have a safe trip, vacation?