Hello - I am new to the forum so hi everyone! I have a 15 month old male Fox Red working Labrador (note, he is a pet dog only but comes from working lines) - we are working on many things, training in short stints throughout the day but there is one behaviour I can't get my head around how to fix. He tends to "steal" (I know that's not the right term for it as stealing implies conscientious thought but lets go with it) things from tables, counter tops, bookshelves etc runs away with it and proceeds to chew it. How i've been trying to manage is to redirect his behaviour - when he runs away, call him into the kitchen, get him to sit and stay, go and fetch the thing he has stolen and remove it, return to him and praise/ treat for the sit/ stay. The problem is that I believe he has now associated stealing = call to kitchen = treat therefore stealing is good. As this has not changed his behaviour at all, and if anything, he has gotten worse! So how do I manage this better? A solid "leave it" command is being worked on but the problem is that I'm not always in the room when he takes things Any help would be much appreciated!
First, you need to let him understand that the kitchen/countertop is a "no dog zone". I did this by putting an object that is scary for him on my countertop then it worked!
