Does anyone else have my problem? I would love to have one or two ground feeding stations for the blackbirds, dunnocks etc etc but my dog eats it all! Please don't suggest a protective cage because she would either break in or carry it off! She totally ignores the birds and they totally ignore her, by the way. She just likes bird food! All I can do at the moment is spread some meal worms in the flower pots and borders, but any fruit, fat, and even seed, gets eaten.
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Hi Sparrow,
I don't have a dog but just think your post is really funny - I've never heard of a dog eating bird food before!! You probably don't think it's really funny do you, it must cost you a fortune......sorry!
Regards
Kerry
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kezmo6310/
Lol Kezmo!
Sparrow, does she dislike pepper or maybe chilli? Birds apparently don't taste it, so it could deter her if she doesn't! Can't think of anything else at the mo...
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr
Hi Kezmo,
She probably doesn't eat as much as the pigeons!
She is the sole reason I have been asking advice on feeding stations that are taller than normal. She is capable of removing feeders from their hooks and taking them off to her "nest" in the bushes at the bottom of the garden. Only yesterday she managed to grab a coconut shell full of fat and seed mix, and off she fled like lightening to her nest. It took us ages to rescue what bits were left of the coconut shell. She had cleaned it out then chewed it up. The seed went right through her, as we witnessed this morning !!!
Never tried her with pepper or chilli, but she does like onions!
Oh my goodness! Is that her in the avatar??? She looks adorable (even if she does eat bird food!!)
Yes, that's her in my avatar, howling at the moon. She was a baby then and is now almost 2. If she keeps on eating the birds food, she may not reach her second birthday. I have murder on my mind!
My aunts dog would scrounge around the bird feeders, my old dog would take the tastier morsels put out for the birds, including a whole load of uncooked bacon rind on one occassion! I think the best is to catch her at it and stop her - call her over for a reward (food would probably work by the sounds of it!) or play, make a loud clapping noise/shake a bottle filled with nails to deter her The food reward is probably be the best one to start with. It will probably take time but she should learn to ignore the food that is out there but it has to be consistant and she can't be allowed to swipe a bit of food while no one is watching. Have you thought of trying putting a short fence around the feeding area (one of the border-type fences) so the feeder side is a no-go area for her? It might help to create a boundary that she should learn not to cross. So, say we are using a food reward (this does rely on the dog having good recall):
1. put out food for the birds
2. Allow dog to wander round garden
3. when dog goes to bird food area call back and immediately reward with treat (might be worth getting something extra tasty in such as cooked chicken, cheese, corned beef or something equally yummy) and ONLY give that type of treat as a reward for leaving the food. So that treat is an exclusive treat for not eating all the bird seed.
4. send dog away and repeat
5. reduce the frequence of the rewards to one every two returns and continue to reduce the frequency of treats until she leaves the bird food without needing a reward.
I would avoid leaving the dog out in the garden when you or someone else isn't there to watch and reward until she starts to ignore the bird feeding area otherwise it will spoil previous training.
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
Hi Sparrow
She is lovely, is it hard keeping a straight face when you tell her off, she looks like the sort to go all gooey eyed because of what she has done.
Sparrow, our dog used to eat any bird seed that fell to the ground but we still had to stop him as he was always on a special diet. We used the method that KatTai advises and it worked, thank goodness. Good Luck.
Sparrow - she (I could her he on another thread so sorry) is lovely - just remembered our neighbour looks after her son's boxer sometimes and he adores all vegetables inc onions and pinches them whilse she is preparing the evening meal cabbage stalks as well - is it something about Boxers???