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Staffy Pulling Washing Off The Line


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HI

I have a 10 month old female staffy who no only chews everything which we were expecting but she has developed the terrible habit of pulling the washing off the clothes line and she has even put holes in some of the things she pulls off. Can someone help me with some ideas of how to try and stop this?

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I had a Doberman that did this periodically for years. Eventually observed that it was done when the wind blew the line around & the washing flapped.

Felt mean but I waited until it was a windy day & hung up a pair of stockings with the feet filled with white pepper. Left a big bowl of water close by.

Watched her grab one from the window. She never touched the washing again.

She destroyed clothes, bedding,anything & I had tried training & less drastic measures to no avail.

This worked instantly.

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:thumbsup: I am hoping that my 9 1/2 m/o Rottie has just gone through this. She was a real bugger for pulling clothes off the line. I have only just started to trust her with the line again. So far so good. :o

I tried to keep an eye on her when she was younger (I had her sister here too until they were 8 m/o) but the little buggers would wait until I went inside - just long enough to make a coffee. In that time they managed to pull half the washing off the line. Luckily for them very little damage. I think they were in such a hurry to pull every thing off the line they didn't have time to actually wreck anything.

I usually lock her away until the washing is dry or turn the house into a Chinese laundry with washing on the clothes horse (x 3 of them). Windy days are good for drying the clothes but way too tempting for pups to leave it alone. :thumbsup:

Lately I have been leaving her out when the washing is on the line. I lock her away when I am putting it on or taking it off so she doesn't see me do it.

Some how I think if she doesn't see me touching it then she leaves it alone. I have watched her go under the line and sniff the washing, but that is all she has been doing now for a little while.

Fingers crossed, I am hoping that she is over it.

If the next load of washing is pulled from the line I will blame this thread for it. :thumbsup:

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A number of ballons filled with water each hanging down level with some old rags (put them inside old pillowcases or similar if you can) will usually work for Staffords since they usually hate water!

You might have to do it four or five times over a period of a couple of weeks if the pup goes back to her old ways.

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Does she get much exercise? Does she have any toys to stimulate her mind? A kong or boredom buster or a home alone toy? Do you do any obedience classes?

Chopper used to be a frickin nightmare. He destroyed everything in his path, including washing on the line. He's nearly three now and he's still got bucketloads of energy. He has calmed down somewhat by doing all the things above. I also leave nothing of any value in his vicinity, it'd only set him up to fail :thumbsup:

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A number of ballons filled with water each hanging down level with some old rags (put them inside old pillowcases or similar if you can) will usually work for Staffords since they usually hate water!

May I pretty please swap my Staffords for yours? Mine LOVE the water! To the point where I have one that continually sits in my horse troughs in ALL weather and another who gets his head stuck in the tyres of my round yard because he would prefer to drink out of those than from a water bucket!

:rofl:

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Does she get much exercise? Does she have any toys to stimulate her mind? A kong or boredom buster or a home alone toy? Do you do any obedience classes?

Chopper used to be a frickin nightmare. He destroyed everything in his path, including washing on the line. He's nearly three now and he's still got bucketloads of energy. He has calmed down somewhat by doing all the things above. I also leave nothing of any value in his vicinity, it'd only set him up to fail :rofl:

Willow gets daily walks, has a kong, home alone, and goes to obedience :rofl:

She still loves to pull the washing off the line purely as a revenge thing when we go somewhere without her :rofl: Shes never once damaged anything, just leaves it there on the ground, lol. We tried the pepper thing, it stopped her for a little while, but now shes smart enough to work out which ones have it on them, and which ones dont :eek:

We just make sure washing days are days when someone is around to supervise, lol.

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Daisy used to pull washing off the line. One day she just stopped doing it..?

You seriously expect me to believe a staffy 'just' stopped doing something......... you sure Daisy ain't broken? :confused:

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Daisy used to pull washing off the line. One day she just stopped doing it..?

You seriously expect me to believe a staffy 'just' stopped doing something......... you sure Daisy ain't broken? :laugh:

:eek: I agree! Or perhaps the question should be.....what else did she start doing instead of pulling the washing off the line? :confused:

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A number of ballons filled with water each hanging down level with some old rags (put them inside old pillowcases or similar if you can) will usually work for Staffords since they usually hate water!

May I pretty please swap my Staffords for yours? Mine LOVE the water! To the point where I have one that continually sits in my horse troughs in ALL weather and another who gets his head stuck in the tyres of my round yard because he would prefer to drink out of those than from a water bucket!

:)

Er yep mine hops in the shower with me and just sits under the stream of water. Then when its time to get out just sits there :eat:

Willow gets daily walks, has a kong, home alone, and goes to obedience :mad

She still loves to pull the washing off the line purely as a revenge thing when we go somewhere without her :D Shes never once damaged anything, just leaves it there on the ground, lol. We tried the pepper thing, it stopped her for a little while, but now shes smart enough to work out which ones have it on them, and which ones dont :)

We just make sure washing days are days when someone is around to supervise, lol.

Oh damn there goes that idea!!

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You mean like this?

bart_washing.jpg

The ONLY way we stop this, is by locking the gates in and out :)

My Keeshonds have NEVER touched my washing, but the Amstaffs are TERRIBLE for it, and are banned from that part of the yard when washing is hanging.

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Orbit does this :) For some reason he only seems to go for socks and bras though! I guess the other stuff is not challenging enough for him as he doesn't need to reach for it!

Might give the water balloons or pepper a try - thanks!!

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My staffy is now 5 months & doesn't touch the washing. Sometimes it is on the line for days & she still doesn't touch it.

When I first got her I made it a habit to hang the washing up with her being present & would say sternly "Don't you touch" etc. Hopefully she will continue being good.

I tried doing it this way because I had a Dobe that always pulled stuff off the line until he was about 6 years old. My father actually fenced the yard off into 3 areas but when I moved out, I wasn't able to do that.

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You mean like this?

bart_washing.jpg

The ONLY way we stop this, is by locking the gates in and out :)

My Keeshonds have NEVER touched my washing, but the Amstaffs are TERRIBLE for it, and are banned from that part of the yard when washing is hanging.

exactly.

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  • 3 years later...

Pebbles (11 month old stafford) has just started doing this.... she usually gets two walks a day (morning and night), has kong, toys, bones etc.

I was thinking about getting her an aussie dog 'home alone' bungee thing, but we do not encourage tugging with her as a game, so i dont want to make her think it's ok... any ideas?

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Orbit does this :) For some reason he only seems to go for socks and bras though! I guess the other stuff is not challenging enough for him as he doesn't need to reach for it!

Might give the water balloons or pepper a try - thanks!!

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I think for some dogs the only solution is to not hang stuff on the line when they are going to be outside unsupervised!

This is pretty much what I do- if I need to leave mindy outside, I put my washing inside on one of those portable clotheslines. The weather had been unpredictable lately as well so I've just been leaving everything inside anyway.

My lab used to be terrible when she was a puppy. She would destroy stuff, dig up and chew irrigation, rip down shrubs, dig holes everywhere, ruin hedges by jumping in and out of them etc. She actually did just stop doing all those naughty things over time. The other day i was very pleased with her, she was left alone outside for about 6 hours and there was no destruction!!!

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