My hound dog Cleo is sweet and agrreable and obedient when I'm around, but when I am at work she constantly gets into the pantry and goes through the garbage (if I forget to put the bungie cords on) and uses her teeth to drag the bedspread off so she can get to the dogfood I leave up on the bed for my other dog, a nibbler. Cleo obeys me if I can link her behavior to my unhappiness, but by the time I get home, her bad behavior is so far away from my displeasure that I can't seem to make her quit! Does she just not get it, or is she just ignoring my fussing. Any suggestions?

Hello,

For starters, you need to understand how the dog thinks.. They can only relate to something within the last 1.3 seconds, so if you come home to a mess and correct your little buddy for the mess at that point, she does not know why you are correcting her, or why you are mad at her.. so by getting mad at her after the fact will only damage the relationship between you two and increase bad behavior through an unpredictable enviorment.

There are couple of issues that can be leading to this..
-Let's start with restless spirit, do you provide an outlet for Cleo to release some restless spirit. You know she is a hound dog, so you can be creative with some games and hide treats, toys, etc. around the property, house.. This will allow Cleo do what she is bread to do.
-Another problem that it seems you are having is, seperation anxiety.
You will want to make sure you are not over petting her when you are at home, because this will only increase the seperation anxiety. Also, make sure you are not giving big goodbyes too. You may have to dencentisize her to the actions you are doing before you leave the home.
Most the seperation anxiety damage happens within the first 30 minutes that you are gone, so you can give either a frozen kong with a tasty treat inside of it, or a bully stick, or something else that will preoccupy her while you leave and she can get over the inital shock of you leaving..

Start with this, and then write back if you are still running into problems.
so we can start looking into some other solutions, but before we can get there you have to make sure you are correcting some underlying issues that may be happening.
For now I would manage the issue and not let her have access to the kitchen while you are not around..

feel free to contact me if the issue escalates..

Thanks Chris

Thanks, Chris. I will try what you said. It makes lots of sense.

Make sure she is well feed before you leave. not saying your dog has ever been "starved" but mine was with her orginal owner. She woudl get into the garbage and steal the food right off of the table because she was hungry and on survival mode. She no longer does that and she no longer takes things and tears them up.

The other thing is your dog may be bored. So also make sure he / she is well ran before you leave. it may require you getting up a little earlier but it will be worth it.

you can also go the butcher store and buy a beef bone, the dog will chew on it teh entire time you are gone and then praise him big time when you come home to a clean home.

Something I learned from a tranier...sorry to disagree with another poster....my dog was over discplined and woudl hide in the hosue to poop and pee. I coudn't get her house borken because she was just scared.

Here is what my second trainer had me do...I woudl put her on a leash and then chain her tie her to a spot in front of her mess....each time I passed her for about an 1 each time I would say NO! and point to the mess. Each time she lowered her head. One week later she quite using my house. This may work or something similiar with your dog.

(I'm dsylexic so if my typign is crazy you nkow why!)