Pup has started stealing items from the counter!

[CantThinkofFunnyName]

So I've googled and finding lots of different types of advice for this. It's just started happening in the last day.

He is 5 months old and obeys the "leave it" command. Thing is - he is doing this when I am out of the room. He never attempts it when anyone is around.

This morning I found 2 tea towels on the floor and thought hmmmm. He must have jumped up - then I saw him chewing and realised it was my mobile! Thankfully, all still in one piece and working. He must have just got it. Tonight it was half a pizza I was in the process of making and then two baby bottle teats and lids from the drainer.

So - how do we stop this from happening in the first place?

The kitchen is the one area of the house he is allowed free reign during the day as it has immediate access to the garden with door left open.

Hmmm, really it is a case of not leaving anything out when you are not there to supervise. Prevention is a million times better than cure.

I know that some advise lots of creative ways to set the dog up to fail, eg to make them pull down something that makes a loud clatter like oven trays or soak them like a bowl full of water, but this can have undesirable effects on their behaviour too.

Not doing it when you are around shows a good level of respect and training tbh, it is something he will probably grow out of as he grows up.

Ha WTWTW - you should see my counter! There is always lots of things on it. Baby bottles to be washed, a pile of paperwork to be filed, sterilising equipment, recycling.... The only time it is completely clean and tidy is last thing at night having at some point, managed to find time to deal with it all. Perhaps should explain that have 3 DCs, including a 6 month old baby plus 5 month old pup to look after .

Any other advice?

Oh tell me about it, my kitchen is much the same, though v.v.v. impressed that you get yours sorted of an evening, it's more than we manage .

What breed is the pup? As depending on how tall he is could you make sure everything is pushed to the back out of reach? Or get some cheap storage boxes to throw stuff into for the time being?

Really I can't stress enough that prevention here will be so much easier as he will cease to be rewarded for the behaviour and so (hopefully) as he grows up he will stop.

Food though, I would never leave within reach when you are not there, dogs noses are so sensitive and we expect them to be such paragons of virtue, sometimes it seems a little unfair.

Another thought, could you somehow partition off the part of the kitchen where the door is, so he doesn't have access to it all?

I am afraid that WTWTW is spot on. Each time the puppy jumps up and gets things it is self rewarding - so if it jumps up and canot get things it stops jumping up.

However as the puppy has already been rewarded it will take him a while to stop doing it. But it is the only full proof way. You may need a bit of creative thinking to make it work for you as well.

Thanks guys - sound advice. OK - a box I think it will have to be. He's already worked out how to get into the box we use for his treats though .

Another idea is the noise theory. When (and ONLY when) you catch him red-pawed, yell NO as loudly and forcefully as possible. Better still, if you have somewhere near to the kitchen door to keep it, an old plastic bottle filled with lentils or similar you can chuck that to the ground (not near pup obviously, you don't want to hurt him!) for the same effect, which is shock value. Immediately he should leap away, which is the time to distract and lead him away. Never prolong the scolding as he won't have a clue why. He will soon learn though that the behaviour results in an unwanted reaction and associate it with an undesirable outcome.

It's for this reason that the bottle idea is even better than a loud yell as he won't associate the action with YOU but with the noise of the bottle.

Prevention IS better than cure and sometimes it's more beneficial to stop unwanted behaviours altogether rather than not giving the dog the opportunity to perform them by clearing the surfaces of anything he might want, as one day your DC might leave a bar of chocolate out or your DH leave aspirin on the side. Far better to teach your dog not to touch than to trust everyone to remember to clear the surfaces every time they use the kitchen and end up with an ill or injured dog on the day someone forgets.

hmmmmmmmmmmmm reminds me of our woofa - he stole many items of food as well as attacking/shredding blue dish cloths

a fim no and DONT leave any food about in his reach

assume you have a big breed of dog who can reach counters if only 5mths old

If you can't be in the room all the time, and you have the time and the inclination, it may be worth sticking double sided sticky tape to the edges of your worktop. Aluminium foil is meant to feel horrid too. I haven't tried the tape thing, because you should see our worktop too Our pup has been spotted ON the kitchen table, helping himself. He is not such a twinkle-toes that he won't knock things off, unlike one of the older dogs, who just cleaned up when no-one was looking.

at tales of the naughty dogs. Oooh, not funny though really is it. As Valhalla says, there is always the possibility something will be left out that could seriously harm them.

So - at the moment, the worktops are clear and have been for a couple of hours. But he still jumped up and got a dishbrush from the middle sink IYKWIM.

Again, when I walked out of the room for about 1 minute!! Found him in the garden and knew immediately he had got something grrrrr.

He's a Labradoodle and will inevitably get quite big. Frightening how high he can already jump!!

Going to really have to put thinking cap on as he only does this when I or someone else is not in the room....

If you can clear the worktops, you really may find double sided sticky tape does the trick!

One of our dogs ate an entire course of Rimadyl from high enough up to think it was safe. We didn't know which dog had eaten it, so both had to go to the vet, be watched and have their stomachs pumped. V tiresome and v expensive and fortunately not too dangerous. It was a borderline dangerous amount.

Just some random thoughts, I may be on the wrong track so let me know.

Does he steal stuff from other rooms or just the kitchen?

Does he have the opportunity to steal from other rooms, or is he never left anywhere else unattended?

Does he get alot of attention for doing this, eg you chasing after him trying to retrive the article? (Perfectly understandable if it is your phone btw).

Labradoodles are a cross between two very intellegent working breed and hence can be very clever and devious about getting attention.

It may help to give him a 'key', which is a toy that he has never played with before, but something you think will float his boat, you keep it in you possession for a while and produce it a few times, each time having a very enthusiastic game. Once he learns that that particular toy = a fun game with you, you leave it in his possession, then here is the slightly tricky bit, as I know you have a 6mo, every time he presents you with the toy, play with him, even if only for a few minutes, this way he has a sure fire way to get your attention and no longer needs to steal.

However, this won't work with food as it is too much of a temptation and he is not stealing it for attention but because he want to eat it.

Also it will only work if you always respond when presented with the toy, even if you are on the phone, changing a nappy, having a row......(that was when our old dog always used to present his key, maybe because he was stressed). But it does become a very useful communication tool for your dog.

WTWTW - great ideas. Thank you. When he takes things it's always out into the garden. So I calmly walk out there with another toy in my hand and call him. He inevitably tries to run away because he is either trying to have a game with the thing he already has - or basically just doesn't want to give it up. Maybe some dog psychologists would have other explanations too. Anyway, I typically encourage him over to play and if he still has the "stolen item" in his mouth, I will either retrieve it - or it gets dropped. We then do have a little play before and/or during the time I quickly whip up the "stolen thing".

He has taken things from other rooms. Usually baby stuff that has been left too low down. He seems to much prefer all of those things to his own toys anyway. But as you rightly point out, it is probably a way of getting me into the garden for a play anyway!

Let me know how you get on. Hopefully it will help, dogs tend to prefer our stuff over their own as they get a reaction when they pick it up, if we make as much fuss when they pick up their own toys they soon begin to see them as 'high value' and something to be cherished.

You have my sympathy ! I have a labradoodle who is just over a year and have failed miserably with this. We try really hard not to leave things for her to reach and stick things in the microwave etc. But it's so easy to slip up for a second and it's all undone in a moment. Last week I answered the phone whilst making muffins and Madam took two uncooked muffins out of the tray. And DD dropped a sausage which was gone in an instant.

Sorry, that is no help whatsoever, I just wanted to sympathise !

I think you need to set about sticking everything you posess to the ceiling

Sadly, dogs don't differentiatwe between what we percieve as 'theirs' and 'ours' as far as the dog is concerned, until taught otherwise, anything within reach is fair game.

My dogs are pretty good and won't steal objects, but I don't leave food within their reach as I don't doubt all but the oldest would attempt to get it once I was out of the room.

Our youngest Golden once stole the last egg as my son was getting his cooking ingredients for school packed up on a Sunday night, he had left the egg on the worktop as he popped to ask me something. The cheeky madam also decided to start licking the baing trays I had buttered to bake biscuits yesterday, whilst I was in the room but with my back turned and not paying enough attention obviously! Hard not to laugh really, they are generally well behaved and she has never chewed any of my possessions, so I forgive her.

Moving things is the only way really.

It is a pain but I am chuckling away reading this!

I'm not chuckling anymore . DS came back from walking him tonight in tears. Percy had found a rubber bike handle grip on the ground in the park and eaten it. He's now at the Royal Veterinary Hospital undergoing xrays, cameras and possibly an op. I will know more by 11pm and then again in the morning.

Oh bloody hell, CTOAFN, the poor mite and poor you too.

It's so hard to get dogs to learn not to snaffle anything they find on a walk - even most of the most beautifully trained ones I know struggle with it.

It won't help you now of course but for future reference, if anyone has any training ideas for how to stop our dogs eating things they find outside, be they bike handle grips or discarded KFC remnants I'm sure I won't be the only one to be grateful.

I hope that Percy is doing okay and that you have had comforting news from your vet by the time you read this.

Good news is that at the 11pm phone call last night they had done x-rays and everything looked "unremarkable" - that is, they couldn't see any obvious obstruction .

They kept him in for observation overnight in case he did any more retching because they said that sometimes it just doesn't show on x-ray. Need to call at 9am for latest. Rather hoping he's had a peaceful night and I can collect him.

Oh dear, I am sorry . My friend's lab puppy had to have a sock removed and is now a boncing, health two year old who has finally stopped eating everything in sight.

Plog is pretty food motivated and I can usually get her to leave stuff with a leave it, or drop with a drop command as long as she gets something tasty. When she first started being trained on that she used to eat horse poo and would spit it out as fast as she could to get a bit of cheese or whatever and you had to keep your distance or get spat out horse poo on your feet.

Fingers firmly crossed here for Percy's swift recovery.

oh dear, I was chuckling away at this until I read your last post OP, so sorry you are going through this.

All ideas posted are good ones, you just have to find the right one for you and your family. All of you have to be consistant and soon he will give up if he isnt rewarded.

Could he be needing more stimulation in his life. I know he is only 6 months and I dont mean huge amounts of exercise, but challenge him mentally and he might calm dowm. A new game, a pyramid with his food in where he has to work out how to get it...

So sorry, poor Percy. I hope you get him home today.

Lab's and Goldens are a bit renowned for this kind of behaviour, I used to walk two Goldens one of which was a terror, with me she ate a sock, a plastic water bottle, a childs shoe and four tennis balls, she would just run and eat and there was nothing you could do. In the past she had eaten (I kid you not) a small umbrella, she lived to the ripe old age of 16 too.

Percy is absolutely fine ! Have him home now and he has wolfed down a bowl of food and now wants to sleep. I will take him for a walk in a couple of hours once food has digested.

They could see items in his stomach and it wasn't food as he hadn't eaten for 8 hours! However, they feel they will be passed normally as seemed pretty chewed up! I am to look for lack of appetite, discomfort or more retching and if any of those occur, take him back to my vet or the hospital.

Hopefully he'll have a nice big poo later which I have clean up whilst holding my breath !

Also - vet said to put a piece of bread on the counter sprinkled with a little chilli powder and he should stop jumping up!

Glad he is back with you, give him lots of extra cuddles