Please help, I really have run out of ideas to stop LuLu stealing.

We have had her for 6ish months now, since she was nearly 3 months old. We have never fed her from our plates, any left overs she might get are put in her bowl. I have taught her the leave command, which she will do for a few minutes, and when she thinks you've forgotten she will try to get whatever it is again, so she is then told leave, which she will do, and this will go on untill I've had enough of saying leave and move whatever it is that she's after.

She has now taken to stealing food. She will jump up on the sofa (which she is not allowed to do) to steal food. She will take it out of my little boys hand, so we have to watch her like a hawk if he's eating anything, and she will even try to steal from me!! She ran off with one of Reece's cups the other day and chewed it up as it had a tiny drop of milk in the bottom.

It is not just food either. She will try to steal toys from Reece's hand too (toy cars, teddies, etc.)

I really don't know what to do anymore. I have just found out I'm pregnant again, and not sure how I will cope with her trying to steal from the baby, and chewing things up. So I have 7ish months to make her stop. Any tips and idea's will be greatly appreciated!

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oh bless ya, what breed is your dog hun.
All my 3 will leave food which is around, even if you drop[ something on the floor.
How i did this was:
Held food im my hand whilst open, the pup comes to investigate, close your hand, the pup will paw, sniff, nudge, you keep your hand close, and dont say anything.
When your pup looks directly at you, take one of the treats out of your hand and reward puppy. start to use a key word, like "leave"
Next open you hand by now puppy will realise he gets a treat when he looks at you only, close yur hand if he/she tries to get it out of your hand. Soon he wont appraoch your open hand as he knows he wont get anything.
Next move treats around the open hand, reward when puppy look into your eyes.
Next phase place a treat on pups paw, again dont let them take it by this stage he wont anyway, when you say "leave" pup will or should be automaically looking into your eyes rather than the treat, one you have mastered this stage.
the next step drop a treat on the floor, puppy will leave this treat alone.
you can move onto more stages by doing this but wont stress you right now.
This seems long winded, but you will be suprised how quickly the puppy will pick this up.
Libby is 20 weeks and wont touch food when it falls on the floor, even if i dont say "leave" she looks at me instead.
Outside i say "leave" she looks to me for another command
anyway hope you can make sense of my waffle, if not shout me
xx

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Sarah xxx

Thank you for repling. That all made sense. She will do it with treats on the floor, and she will sit before I put her food bowl down, but she doesn't seem to pay attention with "our" food, or anything. It's like she seems to think that she should have it all. LuLu is a chinese crested, so unfortunatly Reece is perfect hight for her to steal food off. We had a staffie before that we taught to leave, and we could leave anything anywhere and she wouldn't touch it.

If something gets dropped on the floor and I spot it before her I can tell her to leave it and she will (for a few minutes anyway, untill I have to tell her again) but if she's already there and I say leave she will pick it up and run off eating it (it's normally a tiny piece of biscuit that Reece has dropped or something so it is gone before I can get to her)

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Just reinforce things, get her to look at you when you say Leave, then reward, by her looking at you, you will be getting her full attension if you get me, so she looks to you for reward rather than finding her own rewards, ie when Reece drops something
How old is she..
By doing things this way she is choosing to leave whatever rather than doing it because she is told to.
Glad my waffle makes sense, im better explaining in person ha ha.
xx

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Sarah xxx

She is coming up to 9 months old, so still a pup.

I will keep reinforcing it. Maybe I could use some biscuit or something to do it with, as I don't have a problem with her doing it with her treats? I don't want to make her think she can have them though, and maybe make the problem worse?

How do I stop her running off with his toys? Is that the same sort of thing? She will go into his room sometimes and try to run off with them too (and I'm sure chewing on little metal cars isn't the best thing for her!)

Besides this problem she is a fantastic dog, and is brilliant with Reece and other children. I have no worries about her being good with a baby, except for the stealing!!

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once you have masteredd the leave with food, this should work with anything really, whether it be dog poo, toys etc.
as i said you need her to know leave means leave, and not ill leave it for 2 seconds.
As i said this technique i found worked with all of mine, I have 3 pups, two of which a hooge, i found most of the techniques i use make them think rather than just doing as the are told, i certainly would loose the battle trying to take a toy off my two boys they are too big and strong haha, but a leave they will leave. Its more of a focus game. so when they look at me, its almost hypnotic and then do as i ask.
Dont get me wrong i have had issues with both boys at one time, trust me, but i use brains not brawn with them.
Keep rewarding any positive behaviour, dont reward it with chasing her to get the toy back, get another toy, play with the toy she will want that one, as its more interesting than the one she has
xx

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Sarah xxx

Thank you for all your advice. I will start it all straight away. I have 7 months to turn her into a dog that doesn't steal, I'm sure that is long enough, and if it's not, I need a kick up the ****!!!

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Yes 7 months is long enough, infact you should start having results really quickly, just be consistent, keep at it, do 5 minutes here and there, dont crowd her with it, just do little and often.
This works brill for all mine, i have 2 GSD's and a little Border collie, so you should be ok hun
good luck, and congratulations on your pregnancy hun
xx

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Sarah xxx

Hi

What an excellent description of what to do!

You can actually use any word with this method, I use AH, with my dogs, but it has the same affect.

Kate

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Just because I can't talk, doesn't mean you can't understand me

hey, charlie! :--)

this is not only a training problem (meaning the dog is being bad),
it is a management problem - meaning humans provide opportunities for the dog to do the un-wanted behavior.

here are my suggs to eliminate opps:
1) baby-gate the dog away from the food area,

2) do NOT allow kids to walk around the house with food in hands -
they must sit in the kitchen or dining area, on a high-chair or chair,
and the dog should *not* be in the room, so that when (not if!)
the child throws or drops food, the dog cannot possibly get to it.

3) set the dog up with tether stations around the house,
by either screwing an eye-bolt into the baseboard + clipping a double-ended bike cable to the eye at one end,
+ dogs collar at the other...
OR make a portable tether by taking a 2-ft length of 2 x 4, installing the eye-bolt in the middle of a wide-side,
and clip the bike-cable to the eye-bolt. THEN put the 2 x 4 section behind a door on the floor, slide the CABLE
under the door, and Close the door! Ta-da, U have a tether-station, and a portable tether...
Any door in the house can now become a station for the dog, where the dog is under human supervision,
not alone, but cannot get to the fallen food, toy in Babys hand, etc.
the cable-length in these restraints should be 18 to 24-inches, Max.
clip the free end of the cable to the dogs collar, and U are in business~!

U can lay down a mat at the tether-station, the dog can have chew-toys, a stuffed Kong with part of their meal in it, either damp/frozen or mixed with low-fat grated-Mozzarella, and melted into a single hunk in the microwave for 20-seconds...
either freezing or welding together makes the food in the Kong harder to extract, and it lasts longer.

4) if U do not like the idea of the tether-stations...
try an umbilical cord!
take a 6-ft long leash, and either run it around Ur waist, then drop the clip thru the wrist-loop and
lip the free-end to the dogs collar...
OR -- take the wrist-loop, run a sturdy BELT thru the loop and then buckle the belt.
slide the wrist-loop to whichever side U want the dog on, clip the free-end to the dogs collar.

Now wherever U go, the dog goes... and the dog cannot possibly snatch anything + run off with it,
they are right under Ur ALL-SEEING Eye,


one or the other of these, or a combination, should cover the period until the children are old-enuf
to be TALL enuf that the dog cannot snatch items from infant hands...
and eventually, the kids ** will ** stop dribbling food, everywhere they go, LOL,
and it will stay in the bowl, on the plate, etc.

Dogs are opportunists... The Dog Rule is that if No One is in actual POSSESSION
of food, or a bone, toy, etc, then the item is Up For Grabs. by being careful
NOT to leave items lying-about where they can be snatched, Ex - on the counter,
on the table with no on in the room, etc --
we can avoid presenting opps for the dog to profit by our poor management.

the more-often the dog finds yummy bits lying-around, the more times We Are Rewarding
The Very Behavior That We Claim To Dislike, And Are Maintaining That Un-Wanted Behavior.
sad, but true...
be the change U want to see in the world, LOL...
put Ur stuff away!

wouldn;t Ur mother love to hear that, LOL?
manage first... Then train. cheers,
--- terry

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terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007