Laytoniana Jones and the Raider of the Kitchen Bin

Sigh... I appear to have a bin-raider on my hands and nowhere else to put the flipping thing. He's a very efficient, intelligent bin-raider mind you - he can work a pedal bin, leave the pedal bin upright... just the entire contents all over the kitchen floor.

He did it once - we thought it was a one-off, started bagging up all food waste and he hadn't struck again, till I had to leave him this morning for a couple of hours (he doesn't have any separation issues we can see - this is pure food scrounging mischief)... came back to the contents strewn over the kitchen floor. Had done as much as I could in terms of leaving him with a jammed Kong, radio on, rushing home asap at lunchtime (was a rare as heck half-day work), and it's not even an open top bin, it's a pedal jobby anyway... so kind of at a loss with what to do to stop the little so-and-so puzzling his way into it again. We can't move the bin out of the kitchen which is where he is when he's left alone - since it'll be a long time before him and moggy get left together unaccompanied he has to be in the kitchen.

On top of which came back to half the roof slates blown off in the wind, we STILL have damp on one wall of the house and we've got nooooo savings left so was generally stressed anyway - before he'd improved the kitchen floor with rubbish!

Hubby's going to insist it was because I left him with Radio1 on for company and not Radio2

My previous dog did this, mine wasn't a pedal bin and she also used to turn it over so she could get up onto the worktops I started to empty the bin every morning and make sure there was no food of any kind on the worktops. Once she realised there was nothing in the bin she left it alone. After a few weeks I was able to leave the bin with stuff in it without her touching it.

Are you not able to move the bin into another room just for the times she's left alone?

ah, I have one who raids fridges/freezers, so I think you should count yourself lucky!

My husband's dog when they were a kid managed to open the oven door, take out the chicken waiting to be cooked and dispose of the entire thing, bones and all once! Think it took raw feeding to new, epic heights.

Current plan is to turn the bin around so it opens at the wall side and see if that thwarts Professor Layton... if that doesn't work I'm considering a shed padlock type hook to just latch it shut, but that requires my husband using drills and he tends to damage things with that!

LOL..Kerrie is a bit of a nightmare. I have to put our food in their freezer (she hasnt figured that one)

Today when we popped to the shops it was my dog walking bag that got snaffled - because there were treats in there. This is rapidly becoming a pain in the rear.

Going to try sticking a tambourine on top of the bin next (when I find where I put it)- so when he goes to open it it'll fall and make a noise and hopefully deter him a bit, otherwise it's going to be drilling holes and tying the bin shut when we leave the house at this rate. Grrrr.