Jo

Question
We have a 13 yr old female(fixed) part german shephard mutt. Brought home from the animal shelter. She had training as a young dog. But the problem we now face is where we live has filled up with KFC and Subway and although our place is fenced we don't fence the front which is by the highway or the back which is by the woods. So every night and probalbly mornings to she sneaks over to the dumpsters to enjoy some leftovers.  I have tried to punish her. I have tried to talk and reward her for "Staying Home". I  have been taking her for walks and buying her food that she likes to eat. She acts like she can"t hear me when she heads for her junk food dig.She stays in the house and is a great dog otherwise, but when 7 to 7:30 a.m. OR p.m. rolls around and you  or one of my boys, {lot of people going in and} out let her out. Thats where I find her.  Is she too old to re-train. Should I keep her inside and only out to go potty?  What should I say when I walk to the drive thru and there she is scrounging? I think she has developed a taste for SAT FAT and I don't know what else to do. We all love our dog. But she was brought home by the police the other night and she's been in the newspaper under" for the record." I don't know what to do. Please help me.

Answer
Dear Patty,
Thanks for the question. One of the exercises when training protection dogs was to teach them to ignore food. We were very effective, but the situation was very controlled and the dogs were never ever working without a handler nearby.

For thousands of years before man and dog hooked up, the dogs had only two jobs - to forage for food and to seek out mates. These two behaviors were absolutely necessary for their survival. These behaviors are hard-wired.

I'm not sure that there is any method I could share with you that would prove to be successful, especially if your girl was able to practice the behavior in between teaching sessions.

Sorry I can't offer a workable solution other than the obvious non-behavioral ones. Don't let her out to roam, teach the children to keep her inside or attach a leash before they take her out. Your best tool is prevention and educating/teaching the family to be more careful or installing a containment system fence/invisible fence, et cetera.  

OF course she still needs to go outside for walks and to experience the outdoors. Keep up the walking routine, teach her some tricks or obedience commands to enrich her life experience!

Happy Training!
AT