Greedy Thieving Dog

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My new neighbor moved in and has a big Great Dane about a month ago.

When they first moved in I had peanut butter cups unwrapped in one hand and I reached to pet him, he grabbed my candy and ate the whole thing, wrapper and all.

I know chocolate is bad for dogs so I rang my neighbors bell and told him. She said “He’s huge a little chocolate won’t kill him.”

So yesterday I was eating a small bag of chips and I was talking to my neighbor who had the dog with her on a leash and must’ve put the chips too close to Mr Dog, cause he ate them bag and all.

I said “he ate the bag, isn’t he gonna get sick?”

She said “no, he eats anything, it’ll pass through him.”

She looked embarassed and said “I wish we could break him of that habbit, he gets plenty to eat but he loves food. He eats anything, we have to be so careful with locking stuff up in the house.”

Now the dog is very nice and friendly and he didn’t threaten me when he grabbed the food, he just is sneaky and took advantage of the opportunity. He’s not fat but as you can see he must be 200 pounds. He’s nice but huge.

Question is why does the dog eat the wrappers, first the candy and now the chips. I know dogs have excellent smell, but you think they’d spit out the wrapper at least.

2

When dogs are onto something tasty, it’s all about speed, not savoring. My dogs typically eat their kibble in 30 seconds or less for one cup of food. If I add something extra (veggies used to make stock, for example), the air pressure in my house changes as they inhale the contents of their dishes in under 5 seconds.

3

That dog is my puppy’s hero. I had to remove a wad of some stranger’s stale gum from her little mouth the other day.

4

That isn’t too hard to train out of the dog - she should get it to classes. If not, that critter is going to end up dead or impounded.

5

My darling Tulip, apparently, consumed a plastic grocery bag one day. She came running up to me butt first with a terrified expression one day as she started to pass the bag. The hilarity lasted a few seconds before the fear kicked in. What should I do? Should I help? (need answer fast) I waited and everything came out okay. I doubt she’ll try that again.

6

Heh. I used to drop the heel of my sandwich, or the last few bites of my burger, in my dog’s food bowl. When I’d come back in a few minutes, the bun and meat would be gone, but the lettuce would be sitting there, both sides carefully licked clean of any traces of mayo or mustard.

7

Nah, great danes have the digestive tract of a garbage disposal. My neighbor has two of those. One of them ate 2 lbs of still frozen chicken out of the kitchen sink it was being thawed in. The worst effects were the slightly larger than normal feces left later. The family did have to go out to eat that night instead of eating in though.

8

Or she’s going to end up with a huge disgusting mess to clean up. My uncle’s Lab once ate a roll of paper towels and a large bottle of castor oil (he chewed through the plastic bottle). The results were… let’s just say interesting.

OK, you owe me a new keyboard. And run and get me a napkin, willya?

9

They also have a predisposition to gastric torsion, otherwise known as bloat. I wouldn’t want them eating when I’m not aware of it, as that seems to be a good way to kill your dog.

10

My dear Maddie had the body style that is associated with gastric torsion. I made sure hse hadd foos available 24 hours a day so that she would never bolt down a meal and create the risk. Luckily, even though she was found as a starving pup with a fondness for cheetos, maddie had self control around food. All of her roommates always turned into bloated pigs, however.

11

But that’s the problem with dogs. I don’t believe it ever occurs to them that eating a bag on Monday is directly related to the horrible bowel movement on Tuesday. Wave a tasty looking bag at a dog on Thursday and it’ll probably gobble it down anyway.

Dogs are opportunists.

12

She needs to break him of that habit. Dogs are not allowed to be rude on my planet.

13

Tell her that she should teach the dog the command “LEAVE IT!” here’s some good instructions on how to do just that. This is another set of instructions for a different “leave it” game - which actually turns out to be a fun trick just like rolling over or speaking.

I think “leave it” is one of the most important and useful commands you can teach a dog. I know a lot of “good dogs” who get lots of love and listen to their masters, but they have no idea what “leave it” is and that’s a shame.

14

Seriously - a dog that big CANNOT be anything but well-trained if you want to keep him. It’s like having a carnivorous pony in your house.

15

Whatever wrong a dog does, it’s the owner’s fault. It’s that simple. :mad:

If the dog misbehaves, smack the owner in the face with a rolled-up newspaper. They usually wise up after a few good smacks.

16

I saw pics online one time of the droppings where a dog had eaten a brillo pad. I think I’d have liked to see the expression on it’s face when that one passed. :eek:

17

We had a dog that would eat crayons. It was easy to tell when she ate them, she had the prettiest piles of crap in the neighborhood.

18

Here’s a related question: I’ve heard somewhere that if given an infinite amount of food, dogs will continue to eat and eat until they die from it. Is this true? Given some of the responses in this thread, I’m starting to believe it…

19

Well, the dying usually takes the form of all the diseases an obese animal is prey to. Usually, they gorge themselves to the point of getting sick the first time (if they don’t get bloat) and then just eat too much to be healthy form then on out.

Some self-regulate, but that is the exception, not the rule!

20

I hereby propose that anyone who has ever willingly put any part of their hand into a dog’s mouth must, by law, warn me of this at the moment I meet them, and especially before I shake their hand.