Dog-proof the grease pan

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balexander667

New member
My #3 came thursday, seasoned it that night, made a rack of spare ribs saturday and after dinner I put 20lbs of boston butt in to go for about 20hrs for dinner sunday.  Thing works like a charm.  I experienced the temp swings, but I've researched well enough to know the temp is averaging out and besides, all the meat was delicious so who cares. 

The one problem I ran in to: sunday afternoon I pulled the smoker out of the garage (it's detached so i often just let the smoker run in there with the door shut :)).  A couple hours later my 22lb beagle threw up this red mess that smelled like a camp fire....Turns out, he found the grease tray.

Anyone have any tips for securing the grease tray or should I just make sure it's well out of reach?  I don't think the cart would be tall enough.

PS: Meat picks attached.

 

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Welcome from South Texas.  I also have a dog that LOVES to sniff around looking for even a drip from the meat taken into the house on a pan.  Let me know when you find a way to stop the dogs from getting into the grease pan.  Mine will even try to pull it out while the smoker is on to lap up the goodness.
 
Just in case your pup hasn't learned a lesson, you could drill a hole in the outside drip rail and drop a small nail thru it to block the tray from being removed. A small C clamp might work as well.
 
old sarge said:
Just in case your pup hasn't learned a lesson, you could drill a hole in the outside drip rail and drop a small nail thru it to block the tray from being removed. A small C clamp might work as well.
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Holy Crap you're a genius!

also; ibbones:  my beagle pulled the tray out, it was laying about 3 feet in front of the smoker when i found it. :)
 
My son's family have 2 small dogs: a Dachshund and a Maltese. We have 2 large dogs. We are dog sitting for a few days when I decide it is brisket time.  Four dogs total. Put the meat on around midnight. The brisket smoked throughout the nite. Turned out great. Pulled it and wrapped it and grabbed the grease tray to clean. Lunch time and only 3 dogs present.  The Maltese is missing.  My first thought is that a hawk got the little white 9 pounder, thinking it was a rabbit. Through the house I looked then the yard.  No dog. Went to close the door on the smoker and there she was.  Her tail wagging and barely visible.  She had crawled into the smoker and was pre-cleaning the rack and cleaning up drippings off the foil. And no longer white.  Quite a sight.  Lesson learned?  The smoker can cool off with the door closed and latched just fine.
 
keeping a beagle out of trouble

this has been a challenge to mankind since dogs first became man's best friend
 
Oh you MUST post pics of that one!!!!!  That is hilarious, probably not so funny at the time but seriously, inside the smoker cleaning up?

old sarge said:
My son's family have 2 small dogs: a Dachshund and a Maltese. We have 2 large dogs. We are dog sitting for a few days when I decide it is brisket time.  Four dogs total. Put the meat on around midnight. The brisket smoked throughout the nite. Turned out great. Pulled it and wrapped it and grabbed the grease tray to clean. Lunch time and only 3 dogs present.  The Maltese is missing.  My first thought is that a hawk got the little white 9 pounder, thinking it was a rabbit. Through the house I looked then the yard.  No dog. Went to close the door on the smoker and there she was.  Her tail wagging and barely visible.  She had crawled into the smoker and was pre-cleaning the rack and cleaning up drippings off the foil. And no longer white.  Quite a sight.  Lesson learned?  The smoker can cool off with the door closed and latched just fine.
Click to expand...
 
I should have taken a photo but I had my hands full with a greasy and smiley ball of fur. And I am not much of a picture taker. But the pup likes baths so it was not as difficult as I first imagined.
 
old sarge said:
I should have taken a photo but I had my hands full with a greasy and smiley ball of fur. And I am not much of a picture taker. But the pup likes baths so it was not as difficult as I first imagined.
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Geeze, i can imagine.  Our poor dumb beagle smelled like that inside of my smoker for the reset of the weekend and slept like a baby that night :)
 
My dog "Jack" is wondering why I'm looking at him right now and laughing but great tips on securing the drip pan.

I havent had any problem with the dog getting into it (yet?) but I think its because the fire ants like it so well and keep him smoked off?
 
Welcome to the club!!

Easiest way to keep the dog from getting the grease pan?  Remove it, clean it and keep it in the house.
 
balexander667 said:
DivotMaker said:
Welcome to the club!!

Easiest way to keep the dog from getting the grease pan?  Remove it, clean it and keep it in the house.
Click to expand...

This happened during a 20 hour smoke :)
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Ha!  Missed that!  I thought it was after the smoke.... :-[ 
 
First time I cleaned out the smoker after smoking some baby backs I pulled the foil out of the bottom of the smoker and from the cover of the fire box and threw it in the trash can.  A couple of hours later our Miniature Schnauzer, Bruno threw up on the living room wood floor.  The vomit was full of tiny pieces of aluminum foil and some yucky oily fluid.  Bruno had found the trash can and ate all the drippings and a bunch of the foil.

My wife got scared and took him to the emergency vet clinic.  They did some kind of scan of his stomach.  They didn't find much of anything there, but charged her $300 for the exam.  For the next two days I picked up all of his poop, put it in a baggy with hot water and dish soap to liquefy it and then ran it through a screen.  Found a little foil, but by the 2nd batch didn't find anymore foil.  ;D

Dogs will literally eat anything.  I'm a lot more careful about making sure I get the foil in a secure trash can so Bruno can't get to it. 
 
Just smart enough to get to the food. Just dumb enough to eat the foil :). We don't even bother having a trash can in the house with our beagle
 
wehill said:
For the next two days I picked up all of his poop, put it in a baggy with hot water and dish soap to liquefy it and then ran it through a screen.  Found a little foil, but by the 2nd batch didn't find anymore foil.  ;D
Click to expand...

is this because you are just that serious about recycling or you were concerned for your dog?
 
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