Aaaaaaargh! Get out of the bin!

greyflintstone · Master

Aaaaaaargh! Get out of the bin!

Teresa · Enlightened One

ah. clever barney !!

on a serious note tho, he could get into more than a bit of bother! luckily, dave and daisy are ok - mainly because they can't get into the rubbish bin (unless we leave the kitchen cupboard door open) and they can't get at their kibble either (unless we leave the understairs door open). when we open the door to get their dinner ready, dave very often sneaks in under my line of sight and steals a small mouthful of their brekkie bikkies but that's all.

good luck with a solution - i'm sure someone will have an idea to help you out.

Karen G · Master

Hi

Dinah is a bin raker, she always tries to stick her nose in the bin & me being 2 foot from her dosen't bother her in the slightest!

I have to move the bin into the living room & close the door when we go out or she would think all her christmases had came at once!!

Honestly you would think she was never fed.

Good luck with your menace

bluesmumanddad · Master

Poor you I sympathise with you whole heartly as Blue is a compleat foody. No bin is safe with him around. Fortunatly he can only get in the kitchen if we leave the door open and even then all things such as the bread bin (he managed to open it and eat the bread and none of us were any the wiser until we looked for some at lunch time!) and butter dishes are kept on top of the fridge freezer.

Not quite sure how you can solve the helping himself to his food part. We have decanted Blue's food into a cereal container which is in a high cupboard and the large bag is kept in a box in the garage. This is fine with 1 hound but with 3 it would be very impractical.

Sorry to be no help but at least you can take comfort in the knowledge that you're not alone!!

weeewelamb · Old Hand

Ah ha, I might just be able to help here. You see, we fostered the, errrmm, "character building" Meg who was the absolute maestro of all maestros for thieving, pickpocketing and lock picking! An innocent angel if you were in the same room but, if not, then anything was fair game. She could open all the doors in the house bar the bathroom which was a knob instead of a handle and I lost count of the number of times she trashed the bin. "Och!" I can hear you say,"they all do that,why didn't you put it up high?" The bin in question was on top of the high kitchen units approx 6 inches from the ceiling !! Ohh yes!

Opening the doors of the kitchen units was kids play to the bold Meg and she would have a good rake about in the cupboards when I was at work, usually finding some interesting article with which to amuse herself. This could be, perhaps, a bag of self raising flour to empty on the living room carpet (door into living room would start off closed) and then what fun it is to jump ontop of the pile so the stour lands on every nook and cranny in the room. That done she would go back for, let's see, oh yes, mum likes coffee granules. The top on a jar of coffee? Noooo problem! And then let's mix it all together, put on some Scottish music and dae the Highland Fling! Sometimes, if she got a wee bit excited, she would even have a wee pee on it aswell but we'll no go there.

Basmati rice and raw egg was a particular favourite.

Now, there's a limit to the amount of stuff one can stack in the bathroom (only safe room in the hoose). Something had to be done! Being one who liked a challenge and not to be outdone by a mere lurcher and stopping just short of borrowing the horses' electric fence, I came up with a cunning plan.

Which I'll tell you about tomorrow.

Julie

Carol · Master

Oh Julie...I was enjoying that!!!!

Eagerly awaiting your next installment.

greyflintstone · Master

Noooooooooooooooooo! You can't leave me in suspense like that!!

Calatria · Master

We have a lock on the pedal bin in the kitchen, it was the only way to keep Belle out of there. Her food is on a high shelf in the cupboard, out of reach. The other day, when she was outside, I put some doggy treats on top of the unit in the livingroom. Forgot all about them, till the following day when I discovered HUGE scratches all over the base unit. She couldn't even see the treats, and they were in a sealed bag, but she'd obviously been trying to climb up to pinch them.

They're unstoppable!

Christine Young · GAL Newsletter Editor

I can hardly wait for your next instalment, Julie. Meg sounds an absolute food monster!! I don't have a problem that way with Vegas, like emptying bins or anything, but I'm still intrigued and interested in how you sorted the little madam out. Hope to see you on Sunday at Strathclyde Park!

Christine

weeewelamb · Old Hand

Ok folks, here we are --- The cunning plan.

As I said, something had to be done to stop Meg the Muncher devouring or rearranging contents of all cupboards, boxes, bins, bags and drawers. Although, I must say, the drawers were quite funny. She'd managed to open a drawer in the bedroom, just enough to get a pointy nose in, and pulled out, one by one, all Jonathan's boxers! During the inevitable "happy hour" that followed had managed, quite neatly, to get her head stuck down one of the legs so came to greet me that lunchtime with this "pink piggies" flag draped round her lugs!

I did try to explain where she'd gone wrong.

So I came up with "The Meg Mugger"

Materials required --- Plastic cups, 2 ltr lemonade bottles, string, water.

( No, we're not making explosives. Tried that. She ate them! )

Method : Place the beasty in the kitchen and close all doors leading from that room. Place plastic cups strategically around work surfaces above any doors likely to be opened by offending hound. Tie one end of string round cup and other end round door handle below, keeping string just taught. Fill cups with water.

We used lemonade bottles 1/3 filled with water on the cooker 'cause that required REALLY drastic action after she went into the oven and ate our dinner!

Finally fill more plastic cups with water and balance on handles of doors leading from that room, then exit out the back door and find a good vantage point. Believe me this is not to be missed.

Can't tell you the feeling of utter glee when you hear the first "kshplosh" closely followed by anguished yowl.

This certainly worked with Meg and we found we only needed to sit out empty cups, once she had learned the lesson. As long as she saw the cups were there she would behave.

A word of warning, try really hard to remember to undo "The Meg Muggers" when you come back in 'cause they work equally well with humans!

Hope this is of some help to you greyflintstone.

P.S. Just incase there's anyone out there who thinks Meg had a hard time when she was with us, I'm going to whisper this very quietly ( she used to sleep, upside down, in the bed between me and Jonathan!) Ssssssshh !

Julie

lizzy · Graduate

your story made me giggle,

we have the same problem with Dornie she will steal anything and eat it. we now use black bin bags which are kept in the dining room and the door is jammed shut with brush siting behind the fridge then the handle slid round and behind the door handle so that it is impossible to open the door.

Our pets really keep us on our toes but that is why we love them so much, it is the guile or brazen cheek that makes them so special.

Good luck and keep smiling

Lizzy Jasper and Dornie

Carol · Master

That's absolutely fantastic, Julie!!!

Oh how I wish I'd seen Megs face.

BOWGANG · Master

That's so funny Julie trying to picture Megs face!! We're lucky that all our three steal is biscuits from the shelf..at their level I have to say... from the cupboard under the stairs.They tend to do this behind our backs when we are getting their food and are so quiet that we don't realise it's happened until we find the trail of crumbs into the living room!!

Shirley

Dawn · Guru

I like this one Julie, thankfully haven't had that problem with Mac......yet!, I say yet, because he has emptied the bin twice, but I blamed myself for putting the empty dog/cat tins in it ...! I will def keep this solution up my sleeve for future use.

Where is Meg now? Would love to know if she is still full of devilment!

Dawn, Mac & Den x

weeewelamb · Old Hand

Hi Dawn,

Meg has been rehomed in Glasgow and I keep in touch with the girl who has her. I believe she's had a few incidents with cornflakes and muesli etc.

Julie

Chas · Old Hand

That's fantastic BUT I can see one problem with this...........

Meg is a lurcher and Barney is a greyhound. What's that little thing the makes the difference..... Ah that's it a brain cell !!

We've moved the food bin out of the kitchen for now until we decide which of your tips to use!

Thanks for the laughs and your tales of Meg's adventures.

Chas

(greyflintstone's other half)