Originally published at: My dog is on a mission to destroy all Roku remotes | Boing Boing
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It would train the behavior?
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The Roku remotes tend to be smaller and more rounded than others, so perhaps they have a more enticing treat-like appearance to doggos like Electra.
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Only 8 months old? Golden retrievers are puppies for about 3 years.
You might have to lock up all your TV remotes, and your cellphone to access your devices. Or get a small dry box to lock up your remote. The “small” size of this is big enough for multiple remotes. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KENWZY or get of the more expensive clear pelican cases.
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My mother offered the sage advice “put them in a drawer.”
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But she looks like such a good girl!
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We used this bitter apple spray to get our dog to stop chewing shoes, and it really worked, but IDK how well it would stay on a remote? I would think it would come off the plastic pretty quick.
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I have a flatcoat retriever/chow mix who went through several Comcast remotes and one Palm Treo while a young dog. Just loved them. Something about the mix of soft rubber and hard plastic: like a bone with marrow maybe?
Several years later, long after I though he had passed his chewing phase, I dropped a stack of exams I was grading by my bed and passed out at about 3AM, only to wake to the horror of paper shreds on my bedroom floor. Fortunately only the cover sheet of one exam was really destroyed, and I was able to patch it all up with an apology to the student that my dog had quite literally “tried to eat their homework”.
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I pulled the batteries from my Roku remote because it put out a constant signal and there’s already enough RF noise in my house. (Check with an AM radio if you don’t believe me.) Could your darling be sensitive and be hearing the remote, and chomping it to make the whining stop? Would you hide the remote out of sight and tell us if she finds it?
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I’d posit that the dog would be able to smell it’s favourite Forbidden Tasty Chew Toy wherever it was hidden rather than it could hear radio waves.
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I dunno. Seems pretty cruel unless you have really large drawers.
/s
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I had a pup who loved remotes too, including chomping down on the batteries. Funny enough, it was the rubber membrane behind the d-pad that ended up getting lodged in his lower stomach. My vet recommended surgery, but my coworker recommended vaseline, which ended up being successful at a fraction of the price. A little goes a long way!
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You should get @markfrauenfelder to build you a metal cage around your remotes that still allow you to access the buttons.
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Roku remotes are notoriously fragile. Just picking one up is sure to make it completely fucking useless. Angry? Bitter? Who me? Naw!
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That does look like a tasty remote control. A custom-made steel cage with openings for the buttons would be oh so cool.
I don’t blame the doggo or the remote.
The problem is the owner who is spending more time with the remote and not the doggo.
(Bonus points if you can design a remote that can be controlled by doggo.)
Down in the buttons or battery slots, should do the trick that cayenne pepper (or pieces, or a thin baggie of pepper) would do in that it would make the particular dog like spicy/bitter food enough to either play with the spice rack, or leave the remote alone. eta: Remote can be inset in wooden board?! ‘Lemon pepper’ also rather a strong scent.
I mean, surely the dog stopped once it had subscribed to Troma Film!
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From which end, though?
We used to put Louisiana Hot Sauce on the porch steps to stop the Corgi puppies from chewing on them. That only works on some dogs,however. My Chug dog, The Joker likes hot sauce so it doesn’t work on him. You might try putting the remote in a zip lock bag. Worked great on The Joker. I don’t know why they like remotes, perhaps they smell like the dog’s owners.
