advice needed

[Ash]

alfie is 18 weeks old now, he isnt biting as much but he keeps stealing things, mainly trying to take food from my 3year old, been trying time out, when he outside he takes washing offline and its up high!!! aaargh help


he such a cutie tho

[neepnipper]

Alfie's a spaniel isn't he? It's a spaniel thing to nick stuff, I can't put my washing basket on the floor without socks, knickers etc disappearing!

[dragonfly]

get a water pistol and squirt him everytime he tries to steal something, he'll soon stop unless he absolutely loves water!

[neepnipper]

My spaniels would think that a great game! Harry just loves jumping at the water from the hose pipe!

[Lolabelle]

Kruger is 3 and still steals things. I caught him in the act of taking washing off the line and roused really severly, (before anyone asks, I didn't hit or smack him) just roared NO. He hasn't done that since, but he still steals small items.

[Wish]

Definately a cocker spaniel thing, my spaniel is 4 and still nicks the washing, even presents people with my pants!!!

[porshiepoo]

Perhaps some kind of retrieving / tracking training would be beneficial?
Spaniels are gundogs and maybe some kind of training in this area would help, he obviously has the instinct to retrieve. If your dog is trained in retrieving work (I don't mean competitively) then he may learn to associate mouthing things and retrieving with 'work' and only do it during those times. Much the same as sniffer dogs are used, they don't constantly 'work' they know when it's time and when it's not.
The other thing with these 'working' types is that they need alot of brain stimulation, if they don't get it it can show in less positive, inconvenient ways.
Lots of energy means lots of exercise! I don't know what your exercise regime is but a humans amble just won't be rewarding and fulfilling enough for certain types of dog. If you're finding that your walks aren't really walking him enough see if you can get hold of (or make) a doggy saddle bag for him to wear and fill the pockets of it with a couple of bags of sugar. It'll make hime work harder and actually does make them more focussed on what their doing - as bizarre as that may sound.
A fulfilled canine is less likely to exhibit 'naughty' or negative behaviour.

There's obviously other ways of working the problem out but I think it's always a good idea to work with what you've got and maybe his being a gundog type could work to your advantage when looking for a solution to your problem with him.

[porshiepoo]

Definately a cocker spaniel thing, my spaniel is 4 and still nicks the washing, even presents people with my pants!!!

Cute as you may think that behaviour is and lets face it, it is sooooooo cute lol, it's actually an animal crying out for stimulation.

As humans it's hard for us to understand the nature of the animal (as much as we think we do) and so we tend to humanise them and treat them the way we would want to be treated ourselves.
The kindest thing we can all do for our dogs is to treat them as canines first and pets second.
It isn't in a dogs nature to laze around all day, go for a couple of walks, wait for someone to feed them and then live with humans that have no concept of the idea of the pack.
Dogs may have been domesticated over the past however many years but instinct is still strong within them and in unnatural enviroments and negative situations this instinct comes right back out again.
Learning the nature of the pack and dog psychology and bearing in mind that all dogs have 97% wolf DNA can be extremely beneficial to every single dog owner worldwide and it's quite amazing how much human psychology we presume to dump onto our canine pets.

[lauraspetportraits]

alfie is 18 weeks old now, he isnt biting as much but he keeps stealing things, mainly trying to take food from my 3year old, been trying time out, when he outside he takes washing offline and its up high!!! aaargh help


he such a cutie tho

It's beacuse he's a baby and wants to play. Whatever you do, don't chase him with what he's stolen - this is an excellent puppy game!! And don't pull whatever he's got out his mouth without giving anything in return. Be careful about what you leave lying around, try to leave nothing he can't have where he can get to it and teach him to retrieve. This might come naturally is he's a spaniel. (One of mine has always done it naturally, the other was a stealer of everything and it's hard work to get him to bring stuff back as he's so used to me taking everything off him when he was little.) When you've taught him to retrieve play this with him regularly (several times a day) - it will wear him out and use up some of his natural predatory instincts. If he does get hold of something you don't want, get him to come to you with it (don't chase!) and swap it for something brilliant - either really yummy food or another toy he particularly enjoys.

This book is really good at explaining why dogs do stuff and it has a training section in too - "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson.

He will take food off your 3 year old coz he's a dog and they are opportunist scavengers and i'm guessing a 3 year old's hand is about puppy nose height! The only way of stopping this is to not feed the 3 yr old where the puppy can get to him. If he's trying to get food off the table, shut him out the room while you eat.

[Wish]

Cute as you may think that behaviour is and lets face it, it is sooooooo cute lol, it's actually an animal crying out for stimulation.

As humans it's hard for us to understand the nature of the animal (as much as we think we do) and so we tend to humanise them and treat them the way we would want to be treated ourselves.
The kindest thing we can all do for our dogs is to treat them as canines first and pets second.
It isn't in a dogs nature to laze around all day, go for a couple of walks, wait for someone to feed them and then live with humans that have no concept of the idea of the pack.
Dogs may have been domesticated over the past however many years but instinct is still strong within them and in unnatural enviroments and negative situations this instinct comes right back out again.
Learning the nature of the pack and dog psychology and bearing in mind that all dogs have 97% wolf DNA can be extremely beneficial to every single dog owner worldwide and it's quite amazing how much human psychology we presume to dump onto our canine pets.

My dog is allowed to be a dog, although I do understand what you are saying, it doesn't apply to me, as I already know dog psycology and all about their needs, I hope your post is helpful to someone reading who is experiencing problems or is a novce dog owner, it really does pay to research dogs and see things from their prospective.

[divanp75]

My Jack Russel Basil is always collecting things.

Nomally in a morning he goes round and collects everyones pjs and takes them either to his bed or the (human) bed he has decided to spend the morning in.

When we come home he waits till after we take off our shoes then collects them up when you are not looking and (get this) sticks his nose right inside and goes to sleep.

I have even found my mobile phone in his bed, it started ringing so he thought that he would take it for a bit. Didnt chew it but liked it in his bed and was not interested in giving it back.

Diane

[divanp75]

even presents people with my pants!!!

Yes I have had this before as well

Diane

[jsherris]

Definately a cocker spaniel thing, my spaniel is 4 and still nicks the washing, even presents people with my pants!!!

Hehe, not just a cocker thing - we often find Andy's pants/socks, my bras, Nikki's thongs trailed around the living room on wash days! Or a 5 stone Basset rolling in the wash piles on the floor where I'm sorting it out!

...When we come home he waits till after we take off our shoes then collects them up when you are not looking and (get this) sticks his nose right inside and goes to sleep...

Yep, and our tabby cat does the same - the sweatier the better... yukk!!!

As for children, well, Burtie only likes kids when we're out on the prom - kids means ice-creams!

[Anne x]

my cocker is 7 she mainly collects socks preferably dirty and takes them to her bed

once when she was 2 she took all the dirty washing out of basket through the dog flap and had it strewn all over the garden
my next door neighbour rang the bell and said quote do you realise you have a selection of underclothes scattered round the garden

I was mortified