How to stop destructive chewing and stealing?

[dustofneptune]

Hi everyone,

I have a 14 month old working Cocker Spaniel (so help me Jesus). Mad as a dozen boxes of frogs, obviously. We adopted him about 6 months ago and, holy hell, the teenage phase was ROUGH. He destroyed a couch, half-destroyed the cat tree, chewed through all of his own beds, ripped up our bedding, and so on.

He's coming along nicely in so many ways, but he's still so destructive, and it's driving me crazy.

The thing that's driving me the most crazy, I think, is that I think I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to do??

I work with dogs for a living, I've had dogs my whole life, and I thought I could easily train him to leave the furniture alone and stop stealing pillows/cushions/socks/laundry, etc. But nothing seems to be working, other than restricting access, which I worry isn't actually teaching him anything (and is maybe making the restricted objects more appealing, once he gets access??).

He knows "let go" and will do it quite well. He knows "leave it" and will do it if he's in the mood. Otherwise he'll just ignore me then look at me drooling while getting his rocks off grinding his teeth on whatever delicious piece of forbidden fruit.

He has all the pizzles, bones, chews, antlers, coffee wood, etc.
He gets about an hour off-leash exercise (more at weekends, though it seems to make no difference - if he's awake, he's being mischievous). We actually used to do 2hrs per day, but it just resulted in one seriously WILD dog who wanted to go go go all the time.
Plenty of play and training, scent games, brain games, puzzle toys galore, food in kongs, all of that.
He knows how to settle also, and will do it.
I rotate his toys and chews periodically so that he doesn't get bored.
... But there's nothing he loves more than chewing my chair, the cat tree, or stealing a pillow.

Have any of you been through this? Did it ever stop?

Do you have any tips for how to teach him to stop? Is it even possible?!

Thank you in advance!!

In my experience the only thing that stops destructive behaviour is management - just don't let him have access to stuff he can chew.

Have you crate trained him or is there a safe space he can be left while you're out so he can't practise the behaviour?

I would also make sure you're not accidentally turning it into a game - when he steals, he gets your attention - so he steals to get your attention (and repeat forevermore )

So again - management is key. If he can't be trusted, use a tether to keep him attached to you so he can't access anything he can't reach, or puppy proof.

Our beagle is almost four now and we still go down the environmental management road as it's a million times less stressful than risking him ripping things up and destroying them!

Yep. Only let him have access to what he CAN chew.
Brain games can help tire without exercise. Scatter feeding etc?

@icedcoffees Thank you!! That's actually reassuring!! I've been feeling like... shouldn't this phase be over now?? Am I doing something really wrong here?!

Have you crate trained him or is there a safe space he can be left while you're out so he can't practise the behaviour?

Yeah, he goes into his pen when we're out (he loves it in there, thank God, haha). It's when we're home that's the problem. If we don't gate the bedroom, he'll run in there and steal a pillow then run around like a pillock and refuse to let go. Definitely for thrills/attention! AGH. We've tried just ignoring him, but then he legit rips up whatever he's gotten his gob on.

Then other times, he'll start chewing the chair I'm sitting on, or the cat tree, which is nearby. Trying to think of somewhere else we can move the cat tree too, but honestly I don't think it would stop him. Tastes like cats, so he loves it?!

So again - management is key. If he can't be trusted, use a tether to keep him attached to you so he can't access anything he can't reach, or puppy proof.

Might have to start doing this I think!

@Wolfiefan

Brain games can help tire without exercise. Scatter feeding etc?

Thank you for the reply! Yeahhh, we're doing the brain games. He gets at least 5 brain games a day, plus training in bursts. One issue is that once we start scattering food, our cats get interested, and doggo starts guarding and getting snappy, so we have to be careful. We don't have a garden, so can't do it outside either.

I guess the problem is that he's a dog who would love to do a job all day, and there just aren't enough jobs to give him!

He's great when he's got something to do - like a kong or whatever. But as soon as he's done with it, he'll start chewing something inappropriate. It's often when he's already tired. It's like he just prefers the texture of forbidden things agh.

1. My approach would be management as already mentioned

1. Make sure he has loads of appropirate chew toys

1. Teach calm - indoors in certain room the only behaviour he should give is to be still on his bed/mat. Reward any interaction with the mat, increase reward to him being on the mat, then reward interaction with lying on the mat. Dont cue him, wait for him to offer it. He will do this very quickly when he realises he gets rewarded for being on his bed.

1. Another thing to do which helps with calm although seems unconnected is to have some food on the floor. He only gets the food if he backs away from it.

So when he goes to eat the food cover it with you hand. He may paw your hand try to nuzzle your hand, try to push your hand awy, he may nip(!) if so wear gloves but most dogs dont. When he slightly backs away from the food give him a piece of food. Very quickly you will get a dog that sees the food and will sit back from it to get rewarded.

This is magic as your dog will have learnt a bit of self control, learnt a bit of a wait, learnt to think and how to change situations.

It's when we're home that's the problem. If we don't gate the bedroom, he'll run in there and steal a pillow then run around like a pillock and refuse to let go. Definitely for thrills/attention! AGH. We've tried just ignoring him, but then he legit rips up whatever he's gotten his gob on.

Yep, that sounds familiar ours didn't have free run of the house at all at that age - if we were downstairs, so was he. If we were upstairs, so was he etc. It really is all about management unfortunately!

You say he runs about - I bet at some point someone's chased him, right? we made a similar mistake - you chase and they find it AMAZING FUN and learn that to get you to chase them and play, they have to steal things and run off

The tether worked wonders for us - it was amazing. We would tether him to us and only give him a couple of chews to pick between. He couldn't' reach anything else and if he tried ripping blankets or something we would just remove them and give him a chew.

I can't remember when he stopped doing it but I don't remember the last time he tried to chew anything! We still do the management thing though as I still don't fully trust him, lol.

Ha, I am no expert dog owner, first timer with a nine month old collie!!! am getting some good advice on another thread.

She’s actually reasonably good in the house but if she has repeatedly tried to nibble something she has not supposed to then I have put her on a lead too in the home and after some protestations she had fallen asleep for a bit! It’s probably crackers but I almost feel she is asking to be put to bed, (she just normally slumps down on the floor, we have bought her beds she ignores/destroys)

Anyhow, maybe try the lead in the house? Good luck!

@Mediumred you're not crackers

They're like toddlers - they don't know when they're tired and need us to physically stop them being silly so they'll sleep.

The house lead was an absolute godsend when mine was a puppy.

As others have said management is the key.

My WCS loves nothing more than grabbing a shoe as a greeting present. He also grabs one and runs past me to get my attention and has started doing that around dinner time when he is feeling mischievous. I just close the baby gate so he can't get to the shoes and eventually he settles on the sofa after making it very clear by huffing I have spoiled his game

Sorry but you have a psycho ddog and no garden?

@BiteyShark the huffing is so amusing

If mine huffs and I laugh at him, he huffs even more and turns his back to me!

[quote icedcoffees]@BiteyShark the huffing is so amusing

If mine huffs and I laugh at him, he huffs even more and turns his back to me![/quote]
They show their emotions so clearly don't they . I can see the glint in his eyes when he's being 'naughty' to get my attention

He’s still really young.

I have a shredder but fortunately he restricts himself to toilet roll centres, tissues and crisp packets. He steals everything and anything and parades with it but the threat of being sent to the futility room and he soon drops it. If I won’t throw a manky piece of chewed cardboard for him he eats it in protest.

@icedcoffees ahhh thank you, haha. Your response really made me laugh after a crazy weekend with loopy doggo ;)

You say he runs about - I bet at some point someone's chased him, right? grin we made a similar mistake - you chase and they find it AMAZING FUN and learn that to get you to chase them and play, they have to steal things and run off wink

We did even worse than this originally He came to us with some resource guarding issues, and our trainer told us to always swap him for a treat and never grab anything from his mouth. So of course, clever sod now thinks he'll get a treat for stealing things. Haha. We can now hold things that are in his mouth, then basically slooowwwwly pull things out. Basically, I'm on Amazon right now ordering another baby gate hahah.

The tether worked wonders for us - it was amazing. We would tether him to us and only give him a couple of chews to pick between. He couldn't' reach anything else and if he tried ripping blankets or something we would just remove them and give him a chew.

Going to do exactly this! Thank yooou!

@Mediumred Haha you've got your work cut out for you too then! Don't suppose you have a link to that thread do you? :D Will go back to trying the house line method. He chewed through the last three so we had given up! haha

@BiteyShark We have the same breed ;) Haha they just love sticking things in their mouths don't they?! (Was your username created when he was a puppy, by any chance??) Mine used to dart and snatch my shoes while I was putting them on Somehow, I've managed to train him to stop that. If only I knew how.

@Brollypackedforscottishholiday Yep, we are insane, gardenless peasants. ;)

@JayAlfredPrufrock Futility room? As in, a time-out area?

@BiteyShark just realised I already said in my original post that I have a WCS. So of course you already know that. Doh. haha

@dustofneptune aww I'm so glad!

If it makes you feel any better I had to bring the tether back out for my beagle this evening as he was being a tit and refused to settle down

@dustofneptune

It’s the collie v cocker thread, my girl is not too bad at home but I can’t let her off the lead as she just chases people!! Oh well, it’s a work in progress, she was v good at a busy pub today so that’s nice. Here’s the thread.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/4060231-Border-Collie-vs-Working-Cocker-Spaniel

Oh they love to parade around with their stolen treasure, don't they?!
AwkwardPup is almost 11 months, typical cocker thief, never happier than when he is carrying something...
Careful management is the only thing that seems to work at the moment. He thinks the recycling bin is his second toy box. Nothing is safe on the clothes airer.
He stole the oven gloves earlier, swapped for a piece of hotdog. I'm pretty sure he is bringing me stuff in order to obtain hotdog, but we had some guardy behaviour starting so at the moment I'm actively encouraging swaps.
Sometimes I strategically leave out the odd safe item (such as an old teatowel) to encourage him to bring me what he finds as our "drop" command needs a lot of work, so I set him up to practice with safe items.
It sounds like you've got a solid drop command which is brilliant!

(Was your username created when he was a puppy, by any chance??)

Yes he used to launch himself at me and hang on to my jeans with his teeth

They are so bloody clever aren't they. We also managed to 'train' ours to steal stones so he would get a treat. Honestly I think some training techniques that you get given just aren't good for some dogs. I had to do the ignore and walk off to eventually stop him doing that one.

Also have WCS and also had this - we ended up emptying out the hall cupboard and building storage in it so all our shoes could be in there, and putting up a pulley so all small items of clothing could be well up out of reach. He’s two now and only steals pants, socks, woolly jumpers and stinky trainers when he can get his paws on them … which believe it or not is an improvement! He stopped chewing the furniture when his puppy teeth fell out, thankfully. We also did swap for treat after advice from a trainer and he also goes off to find something to wave at you when he wants an extra snack - if you ignore him he goes out of the room and comes back in to see if you notice the next time! I find playing excitedly with one of his toys usually makes him less interested in the thing, especially if I take the toy and run away - he is endlessly nosy. I did stop him chewing my expensive sideboard as a pup by shouting ‘no!’ the first time he set tooth in it and he never touched it again, but I know that’s not recommended - it was a reflex.

@icedcoffees That does make me feel better... haha... which also makes me feel like a horrible vile sadist basking in the collective suffering Thank you!