What treats do other Setters get at this time of year?

[Andy Benstead]

I am interested to know what treats other Setters get at this time of year or any other times of the year.
I am not talking about the ones given to them. I am talking about the ones stolen by them.
I was upstairs today and Riley was making so much noise. I went to check and found him playing with a plastic watering can. The back door was open and he was charging in and out with it and banging it on the walls.
Cassie was not involved as she was with me.
A while later I went downstairs to find the remains of a Maltesers Advent Calendar and an empty Maltesers packet. Not an ideal treat for a dog.
Somehow he had managed to get it from the top of an upright freezer that is about five feet tall and it was as far back as possible.
As far as I can see, he did not bother to open the doors in the correct order!
He is so naughty, but so clever.
My Grandson will forgive him.

Andy

[Jennie Benstead]

Thats what happens when I leave you in charge......men!!!

[martina mckeag]

Sophie loves to steal things out of the laundry basket so you can guess what she gets in the summer i had to chase her a round the garden to get a pair of my husbands underpants of her    

[Sharyn Latchford]

Socks are Finn's thing.....but then as he is running off with them, he gets a fit of the guilts....and brings them back to me.....LOL

[Cornelia]

Sorry Andy - no stealing at our place - I can even leave the roasted chicken on the kitchen surface and walk out. But our girl is never left out, when we are having something and does get her own Christmas cookies this year - tuna flavour - so maybe you have not yet learned the art of spoiling your dog :-))) - overlooking the unimportant fact, that he is still a younster, maybe you should seriously consider creating a doggie Advent Calender and teach him how to open the little doors... :-))).

[Peter Hennig]

are you kidding Cornelia ??? leave a roasted chicken on the table AND WALK OUT !!!! in our house that's like saying it's all yours help yourself

[Andy Benstead]

Hi Peter

I agree with you. We have owned Setters for 30 years and have never been able to leave food on the table and turn our backs. Riley will steal most things. He has stolen shoes, socks, toilet rolls, mobile phones, TV remotes and numerous other items, but he loves to steal food mostly. Very few areas in our house are safe from him as he is now quite big.

Cornelia, I think you have a near perfect dog (or dogs). I would have thought that most dogs steal food if left alone with it for 10 seconds or more. Perhaps the dog/s you have do not like the way you cook! I have lost many dinners over the years.

He can open most doors in the house (apart from the ones with the handles upside down) but I doubt if I could get him to open Advent Calendar doors in the correct order. If I had a dog that did not try to steal food, I would be a little worried about it. I could be wrong, but I thought it was a dog's natural instinct to steal food.

 

Andy

[Cornelia]

No kidding, Peter - and Andy! I once forgot some roasted chicken leftovers when Joy was still a teenager (with bones!) on the kitchen surface and they were still there the next morning - and chicken is her favourite! She started to 'talk' however: She would stand in front of whatever she likes with her nose in direction of it, saying 'uohhh' = 'smells nice, can I have some'. And as I said, she is perfectly spoiled - I try to always give her what she likes or give her something else instead and she always gets the best piece from my plate for waiting patiently!!

The only thing she sometimes pinches is a shoe to engage me in play or a glove, but I throw that one for her anyway when hiking to bring it back to me - and as a teenager she had a weekness for paper napkins - it was really funny to watch, when we had guests and she would sneek in from behind and pinch the napkin form the table or the lap of the guest! Ah yes - and she still likes brushes and brooms - I just can't use those without a perfectly playful Joy around me, trying to get a hold of what must be the ultimate toy!! Maybe this is, what I should get her for Christmas :-)).

[Andy Benstead]

Hi Cornelia. Riley & Cassie love brushes too. Our last Setter (Penny) used to eat the ends of shoe laces, but would never damage the shoes.

Riley often gets the best piece from my plate too, but he steals it. He is just so quick.

Perhaps he will be better when he is older, but I doubt it as most of them steal even when adults.

I must say our other Setters were not as bad as Riley for stealing (Other than one called Bonnie, many years ago), but they all did it. Riley & Cassie are on a raw food diet and always have the best meat with bone. They never have dry or tinned dog food. We do give them any meat that we have left on our plates.

Riley and Cassie are in perfect health and are not under fed. They have no reason to steal food, so it must be natural instinct.

Although it is wrong for him to steal, it does makes me laugh. (Not in front of him though!).

Joy by name and Joy by nature. You are very lucky.

 

Andy

[Elizabeth Ball]

My girl can be left with food and doesn't steal it either, in fact as I sit here typing this in the dining room she is lying on the sofa with an open packet of biscuits on the coffee table next to her (I can see her through an open door) and she hasn't even moved though she knows they are there. 

When I'm cooking she scoots her nose along the edge of the worksurface to suss out what is being prepared and if I am chopping meat or fish she sits next to me with her nose up at the work surface for any offcuts which "accidentally" fall her way. She just sits there patiently and would never dream of jumping up.  Also like Joy she "woo woos" you to let you know she fancies a bit of whatever is lying around but if it isn't suitable for her she never goes to take it if not given any, she just sighs and slopes off.  She gets a bit of our dinner at the end of a meal if she has stayed on her bed not begging too obviously (you can feel the eyes searing into you every now and again!)

She has her own doggie advent calendar at the moment and she knows when my husband comes home from work it is time for the treat so sits under it "woo-ing" to remind him which does make us laugh.

Bella's favourite steals seem to fit the rest of the Setter mould though: socks, gloves, tea-towels... and all to get you to have a play, which of course we do therefore ensuring they will continue to be stolen in the future.  It's fun though.

[Sherry Miller]

Had to smile over this blog!  My Molly borrows dish cloths and loves to borrow and hide our socks....she will greet you with a mouthful of her stash of socks and try to roo roo at you with her mouth full in hopes a game of chase will ensue.  Like Corneila I can leave food on the table and it is not ever touched by Molly.....our very first IS Shilo was like that also but all the hooligans who came inbetween those two were wonderful borrowers....and very talented at trickery with my girls .  My favorite was my last Shilo.....when Cam would have a peanut butter sandwich he would jump up at the other end of the table and pull the newspaper off the table so she would get up to pick it up....and while she did that he would abscound with the sandwich.....we could not believe that Cam never learned to not pick the paper up!!! 

    We do find it funny that Molly will climb up to retrieve a dish cloth or her "special " pot holder but will never touch food left on the table or counter.  She is very polite while we have dinner....just lies there watching every bite Alan takes.........in hopes he will remember she loves salmon......or any other tidbit she might be rewarded with at the end of our meal.  Salmon is the one thing that might tempt her to try borrowing food from the countertop as it is her special favorite treat.....so far she has not had to resort to borrowing it as Alan is overly generous with her .