Eating Garbage!

[jacquim]

Raiden recently has taken to digging through the garbage to find tasty treats such as used kleenex and dirty diapers (eww!). He has figured out how to open the diaper pail even though it has a latch and helps himself ... I now have to keep my baby's door closed at all times. He has successfully gotten 2 diapers before I caught him digging in and ate the wipes wrapped up inside (..double ew!) but thankfully vomited the wipes back up later that day instead of getting a bowl obstruction (..well, sort of thankfully ... I did step in the baby bum wipe vomit on my way back to bed the other night in the dark at 5am after being up with my son for 2 hours and almost slid across the floor and bailed). He is crated when no one is home but is sneaky and fast so has gotten a few things chomped down before I get the chance to discover what he has found. I know that the diapers can be toxic to dogs (and it is just plain disgusting!) so have been very diligent keeping the door shut now. However, my family of 4 is also riddled with a nasty cold right now and Raiden has started stealing kleenex out of garbage cans and parading around the house with it, then trying to eat it if I don't pull it away in time.
He is 10 1/2 months old so is hitting those terrible teenage years ... can I hope that this is just another annoying phase that he is going through with an end in sight, or are there any ways other than locking all of my garbages shut to get him to stop? It's funny, I never had to baby proof my house with locks and safety devices on everything for my kids but am beginning to think that I need to for this dog! I get after him and redirect him every time I see him poking his head in the trash (and he is often in the room with me so I catch him the mass majority of the time) but he doesn't seem to care!

[AoscarT]

Ah you have my sympathy! Unfortunately digging through the garbage and getting "stinky goodies" has become a reward for your pup. It's basically similar to stealing unattended food off of the kitchen table. My boy, Oscar, recently discovered the art of trash-diving when a piece of salmon was thrown out. We have a lidded garbage can, but it just proved too enticing for him to pass up!

I've had to resort to keeping him in my room while I'm gone and also just hiding garbages/making them inaccessible to him. As much as we love them, and subconsciously personify them, we do have to remember that they are animals, and driven by instinct. I would guess that you may have to continue to just keep these garbages inaccessible. One trick is to put a brick on the bottom (outside of the bag) to make it harder to tip over. Otherwise, the only thing I can think of is negative reinforcement, but we of course don't want the garbage can to become a big, scary monster that makes them nervous, either! Maybe try spraying bitter apples or even sprinkling a bit of hot sauce on some tissues on top so they become less of a reward?

Overall, preventing a disaster before it can even occur may just be your best bet. Sorry I can't offer definite hope that he will grow out of this Good luck and please feel free to share any tricks you try that seem to help! I would also love a way to beat this

[jacquim]

Thanks for the suggestions! I've been keeping doors closed with garbages in them (babies room, bathrooms) and keeping the kitchen cupboard shut tight (although with some effort he can open it to get to the garbage, but at least I hear him trying and can stop him before he gets there. He is never left to roam free when we aren't home with him (we have much bigger issues than garbage when that is the case!) so I just have been trying to be more diligent to catch him and redirect him if I see him with his face shoved in a garbage can. Thankfully he hasn't gotten any more diapers since I posted this! That is definitely the biggest gross factor! He has snuck the odd kleenex though and paraded around the house with it in his mouth.

The funny thing is, our garbage in our back entrance that usually has the food waste in it is the one that he doesn't generally bother. It is covered but he knows how to open the lid. I have been careful to not put anything too "stinky" in there though or any meat leftovers that would draw the dogs to it. The bathroom garbages are the most commonly dug through ones. He likes those snotty kleenexes and waxy q-tips! (eww)