Understand What the Bin Pays
From your dog's side of the story, the kitchen bin is a puzzle box that occasionally contains a roast chicken carcass. Intermittent jackpots like that create some of the most persistent behaviour in all of dog training — the slot-machine effect — and each successful raid pays for weeks of trying. This is why a dog who 'knows he shouldn't' still does it the moment you leave: he was never choosing between right and wrong, he was choosing between a possible jackpot and no jackpot.
Win by Making Raiding Impossible
Start with engineering, not training. Swap the swing-top bin — an open invitation to any dog taller than a spaniel — for a heavy bin with a locking or firmly latched lid he cannot nose open, or move the bin inside a cupboard with a child latch on the door. Cooked bones, carcasses and other high-value waste go into a sealed caddy, ideally out of the kitchen entirely until collection. Every raid that fails because the bin simply will not open weakens the habit without a single word from you.
Train 'Leave It' Away From the Real Thing
Build the skill on boring items first: a treat under your hand, then on the floor, with a better reward paid from your pocket every time he turns away from the covered one. Only when that is solid do you practise near interesting smells, on a lead, at a distance where he can still choose you. Asking a dog to leave the actual bin while it smells of Sunday roast, before the foundations exist, just rehearses him ignoring you. When he can leave a loaded situation calmly, reward that choice like it matters — because against a chicken carcass, it does.
Remove the Other Rewards
Raiding often peaks when a dog is hungry, bored, or on a new feeding schedule, so check the basics: is he genuinely fed enough, fed at times that leave a long hungry gap before your evening, and given legal chewing and sniffing work during the day? A dog who has scattered his dinner through the garden and worked a stuffed chew is a dog with far less motivation to crack the bin at midnight. Note too that countertops beside the bin often extend the raiding zone — clear food from worktops during the retraining weeks, and warn anyone who cooks in your kitchen that the chicken carcass now goes straight to the caddy, not 'temporarily' into the open bin while the pans soak.
The Safety Stakes Are Real
Bin contents are not just messy — cooked bones splinter, sweetcorn cobs and skewers obstruct, and mouldy food can be genuinely dangerous. If you come home to a raided bin and your dog is drooling, retching, off his food, or has a tense, swollen belly, contact your vet promptly rather than waiting to see. Mention what was in the bin as precisely as you can; it helps them judge the risk.
The engineering only works if nobody undermines it, so sharing the latched-bin rule, the caddy habit and his leave-it progress through KinsLe with Family Sharing keeps every person in the house running the same kitchen system.