I am hoping the experiences of other members can help me to alter the behavior of two former soi dogs that I've taken in as pets. Part of the problem is they became used to scavenging for anything they could find prior to them becoming pets. Even though they are well fed now, they still go after any kind of discarded food bits they come across. I'm worried that sooner or later they will encounter something that has either been intentionally poisoned or has become contaminated through carelessness.
I have posted about the two dogs previously and some here may be aware of them already. One is a dog named Val who is very high strung and likes to run away at the slightest opportunity. We keep Val restrained by leash whenever she's outside for a walk.
Bonnie was on her own for about 7 months before we took her in. For the past 6 weeks she's been going through a transition to becoming a pet. When I go out for a walk with Val, Bonnie goes along but not on a leash. She has not been trained to walk by leash yet and will not budge if one is clipped to her collar. I like the idea of her being able to run around on her own when we're out, but she constantly goes after discarded food.
Whether on a leash or not, both dogs will go after the 'junk' food. With Val I can control the problem by keeping her away from it. Not so with Bonnie being unrestrained. At some point I may have to get Bonnie used to a leash as well.
To complicate matters, my wife has a tendency to over feed the dogs. We are making an effort to cut back on the amount of food they get, but that is probably going to make the situation with them going after 'junk' food more difficult to stop.
They are typically fed a combination of rice and different kinds of protein; chicken, pork or fish.
Do you have any helpful ideas you can share to control their urge to 'dine out'?