Anyone know to train a dog to stop pinching things to chew?

[Al1son]

We have a 2/3year old Jack Russell which we adopted from Dogs Trust in December.

He's a lovely dog with a great temperament, very well behaved and easy to train. He has company all day, spends lots of time in the garden but also chooses to use his crate to sleep in lots.

My DDs spend lots of time training him in the garden to do basic tricks, rewarding him either with his everyday food or proper dog treats.

He has lots of toys to chew, some of which are squeaky. He also gets rawhide chews but not that often as he has a tendency to guard them a bit so only when the children aren't around.

He sometimes takes things like socks, small toys or pen and pencils back to his crate if he finds them lying around. If I speak sharply he drops them and gets rewarded/praised and we obviously remove them from him whenever we realise.

He been vomiting and eating grass since last night (didn't want to go for his evening walk last night which hasn't happened before) and today I found a chewed up pencil in his bed. DH took him to the vets where he was treated and has to return on Friday. The vet told DH that we have to train him out of pinching things to chew.

Obviously we've reinforced the message to the girls about no leaving things where he can get them but how do we actually train him not to take them to chew?

From my experience with 8 month chewhollic lab (first ever dog so am no expert) you need to watch him all the time, unless in a crate or other completely safe place, I use a small utility room with nothing in it except his bed.
Ideally try to catch him as he's just about to go for something and tell him to Leave It, or if he's already got it tell him to drop it and give treat. Keep treats easily accessible for emergencies.
Sometimes I put tempting chewable things, pile of papers, pencil, packet of biscuits etc within easy reach when he's out of the room then let him in and pretend not to watch him, as soon as he goes for something I'm there with a very loud Leave It. Seems to be working as he doesn't always go for things i've left out now, but I still don't completely trust him yet so will keep up with the training.
One advantage with a smaller dog is they can't reach things on tables and shelves, my dog can now get his head in the sink as I discovered when he pinched a very sharp knife and delightedly pranced around the garden with blade sticking out of his mouth.

Thanks misschenko. I can see this is going to be hard because he doesn't do it often. About once a day at the most I think.

Sometimes this is something they do out of boredom, sometimes because they can. My puppy steals things all the time, not to chew, just to hold and as she is a GSD she can reach everywhere!

She gets the leave it command too and drops it if caught, otherwise the weirdest things end up out in my garden. The best thing to do is not leave things around, which isnt always feasible especially where little children are concerned.

Keep going with 'leave it' and reward training, it does work, but takes time.

on serious painkillers for back problem so advice may be sketchy at best, ridiculous at worst. Apologies in advance for spelling mistakes.

Echo what misschenko says concentrate on catching him in the act and using leave, only reward when he leaves or drops the item. Do not reward for items found in his bed just remove and say no. Practice on walks if he shows interest in litter or objects repeat leave training. I am so proud of my dog when she ignores fast food on pavements nowadays. You can practice with favourite toys in the garden helps build control and even when feeding making the dog wait for food teaches them not to rush in and blank out the owner. Commands like no, wait, leave teach the dog to hesitate and puts the control in your hands.

Some dogs take items that smell of their owner socks and shoes are very popular and I've had the pup who brought my knickers to guests as a trophy from the wash basket define dog toys clearly play with them and encourage your dog to take them to his bed if suitable.

I'm going to have to rethink how we care for him. At the moment he has free range of the house all day unless I'm childminding and I can't possibly watch him constantly. It would be a shame to restrict him but perhaps I'll have to until we've go this sorted. DH has just taken him back to the vet to be checked over again but he seems to have recovered.

We'working on 'leave' and he getting good at it but I've also found a hair bobble in his bed this morning

He pinches DD2's sock quite often but doesn't chew them. No knickers so far thank goodness!

Our GSD nicks anything that's dropped and runs off with it, looking over her shoulder as if to say "hahahaaaaaa you can't catch me".

Git.

Sounds like our little fella.

He pinches toys, puts them in his crate and then comes to get you and brings you to the crate to show you. He then expects a treat in exchange for the item