Hmm... not for Takara She no longer steals from us while we're eating which is a bonus, but every now and again she has a naughty streak (usually showing off if we have visitors) and instead of laying on her bed during dinner (as she usually does), she'll jump up at the worktop and no amount of bellowing gets her to get down Banging on the kitchen table tends to work though or pushing the chair back across the floor makes her think we're coming to move her

I remember when Ludmilla did this . We tried child lock she sussed thatwithin a couple of weeks and when I was looking for anew fridge I kept saying no that one wont do cause it has handles. The Salesman must have thought I had a screw loose.

So the only help I can give is to get a fridge with no handles. This stopped her as she had nothing to get a hold of to open the fridge door.

The other option is , if , and when you are changing your kitchen get an integrated fridge.

My Willow,[ BC ], used to be able to open the fridge door by pawing at the edge of it.
I taped it so he could`nt get it open, [ so I could pull the tape back when I needed to open it of course ], and after a few failed attempts, [ no aversive`s whatsoever used, he just could`nt get the door open ], Willow stopped bothering.
He now believes its a magic door which only I can open

[ my interpretation of his thought processes ]

On some fridges you can change the direction the door opens. Is it not possible to swap the direction the door opens so she's confused by trying to open it at the hinge side. She may get bored, like Patch's dog, and give up. LOL

Heidi

OOh a clever idea. Maybe my OH will fail to get the tinnie out as well!!

Two birds with one stone then. LOL. Let's face it, men can have the same mentality as a dog. LOL

Heidi

Just caught this thread Rach.

I'm not sure what to suggest - I guess we're just very lucky to have dogs that don't try to pinch food.

Was just going to suggest sound aversion but as you say she is sound sensitive, but would that not just serve to reinforce the training. Sorry probably a stupid question. A bomb could go off in our house and Ivan would still snore peacefully.

Fudge is getting better with sounds but is scared of sudden noises. I would not want to use fear to tarin her to stay away from the fridge. I only use it as a last resort. I was wanting some positive methods really and wondered if anyone had a positive way of training a dog to not go near an area?

Well we trained Alfie to leave food on the floor and such, by putting our hand over it when he tried to go for it, calmly and without saying anything, and clicking & rewarding when he looked away.

How well this would work with the fridge I don't know. We have a food-stealing collie who goes for worktops & bins, training the leave thing did help but hasn't solved. Luckily e have a very heavy fridge door, but all the bottom cupboards are child locked! What we do eh !