Hello everyone, I am currently frustrated with my 6 month old black lab Gabby. She is constantly stealing items and will not drop them when asked even though she knows this command. I have tried using her favorite treat to do a swap with the item she may have and although this worked when she was younger, she now runs when I go get the treat and ask her to "drop it". This morning I got a sweater out of my drawer to wear to work and she grabbed it out of my hand and ran. I finally got her to drop it, but only after I raised my voice and I hate to do that because I don't want to scare her. I have worked with her on not stealing food from the table and she has done really well with that and no longer does this. She also does really well outside on leash if I ask her to drop something she may have picked up. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Any suggestions would be helpful!
Re: Puppy stealing items You could try it with a very high value bit of food and something she wants but you don't mind her having (one of her toys?). It may have to be far more tasty than her regular treats - maybe a bit of cheese or sardine? She has to think that she's getting something better than she's losing. Swap the toy for the treat and hide the toy behind your bak while she eats the treat, then immediately give her the toy back. That way she thinks she gets a win/win and, if repeated often enough, is more likely to give up things you don't want her to have in the future.
Re: Puppy stealing items Experienced this problem? Oh yes definitely. Rolo pinches things and sometimes eats them. Sock and most recently a used wipe. He brought them both back up 2 days later. Thank god. You really do have to have eyes in the back of your head. I feel I am treating him for pinching things that I want back. I sympathise totally. Kris
Re: Puppy stealing items Labradors are retrievers, thats what they do. You must not chase her for whatever she has stolen, high value or not. Train her to bring things to you with a high value reward, chicken, cheese or sausage.
Re: Puppy stealing items I'm with Sue. Do your best not to chase - or in fact react - they oh so much enjoy the game of chase! IF you can - assuming its not your £200 cashmere sweater, or such like, ignore her running off with it. Do something for a few minutes, then rustle your treat tin and attract her attention to you. I think I eventually worked this up to a "fetch" by insisting that the stolen item was brought back before the treat was delivered. These teenage hooligans can be hard work.
Re: Puppy stealing items Thanks everyone for the great advice! I will try some of these techniques and use a bit of cheese to see if that helps.
Re: Puppy stealing items If I catch Bailey in the act I just act like it's a wonderful thing she has like "oh, what have you got there?" And calmly walk up to her or let her bring it to me - she won't run with it. Now, the other night when it was a pinched steak knife I was a bit quicker and breathed a huge sigh of relief after. It's usually our fault if she finds anything she can't have. Not looking forward to the counter surfing age. At five months she is nearly there. She is already table-thieving height.
Re: Puppy stealing items Mine have never counter surfed, so they don't all do it! My rule was to never feed them from the counter. Even their own food comes from another place, it worked - neither have even looked up to 'see what's there'. My friend's Lab, Zaba, does it. When he comes to stay I use a 'pet corrector' spray - I make sure he doesn't see the spray so he doesn't know where the sound comes from. He only surfs once or twice then stops completely. (Frowned upon, I know, but nothing else worked and I didn't want my two copying!)
Re: Puppy stealing items Charlie was a dreadful, dreadful counter surfer, but it is fading. The longer they are unsuccessful, the less likely the behaviour. Charlie has a reliable "give" cue. Once trained, he doesn't get treats for handing over pinched things, but only gets treats for handing over things I've asked him to pick up. Obviously, the cue has to be rewarded to keep it strong so we do quite a lot of handing over things in a game. [quote author=Boogie link=topic=8831.msg125621#msg125621 date=1416556435] My friend's Lab, Zaba, does it. When he comes to stay I use a 'pet corrector' spray - I make sure he doesn't see the spray so he doesn't know where the sound comes from. He only surfs once or twice then stops completely. (Frowned upon, I know, but nothing else worked and I didn't want my two copying!) [/quote] Yes, much frowning from me I'm afraid! I really dislike the idea of surprising or shocking a dog with a loud sound - I think it's a terrible idea. Too many problems with dogs being scared of loud noises - fireworks, traffic etc - to risk that, I think. Counter surfing is an annoyance, being scared of loud noises really quite a serious problem
Re: Puppy stealing items I don't think dogs steal they don't think like that, we just don't leave things that are interesting to Elsie where she can get them, her counter surfing only works because I feed her when I am cooking she never finds anything herself, around the flat we dog proof by putting things away that she may find fascinating. She has taken us by surprise a couple of times, who knew a fireside companion set could be so fascinating ? LOL and Betty loves paper any paper but if she gets any that is our fault for leaving it where she can get it.
Re: Puppy stealing items I am with you Julie, I think it is wrong to assign the word "stealing" to a puppy taking things. They don't have the concept of theft, they just have a mouth and a brain that thinks that looks interesting. I find Molly has great fascination with things that we have handled. I think she finds our scent reassuring. She is also a demon for paper, which is made from wood pulp and she loves wood.
Re: Puppy stealing items Hollie has never been fed from the counter but takes the opportunity to eat anything she can reach, we are trying to stop at the minute but failing it's got to the point she isn't allowed in the kitchen if we are preparing things. Our kitchen is small and can reach all sides from a couple of steps, if I turn around for a second she is up Its not even always food she is taking its anything she can get her mouth round I will be watching this thread for tips
Re: Puppy stealing items We have a tiny kitchen too. Two humans and a Labrador and it's full! We've trained a 'get out of the kitchen' cue (that is the cue). There's a clear divide between in and out of the kitchen - in the kitchen is timber floor and out of the kitchen it's carpet. 'Out of the kitchen' means 'all bits of you have to be on the carpet'. Because food is happening when this cue is involved we quickly developed a very strong response to the cue, which at first we trained using luring to get him out and rewarding for being out there. He gets the odd tiny scrap tossed to him for staying there. Training to sit or lie on a mat just outside the kitchen would work just as well.
Re: Puppy stealing items We have the same with Willow. I've trained her to sit outside the kitchen (we have the distinction of tiles in the kitchen and wooden floor outside). If she comes in, I just have to look at her most of the time, sometimes point and she walks backwards until the floor changes, then sits down. I treat her sporadically for staying out. I need to start working on this with the little man. If my hands are full and I can't point, I say "get out of my kitchen" and she goes
