I have a black lab that is about 1 year and 4 Months old. I give him lots of nylabones for chewing, Toys and an occasional rawhide.
How can I give him more time out of the kennel without my eyes constantly on him?
He has no dominance issues; they are and have always been my toys and I can take them at will.
He is still in his crate when I'm gone so I have no troubles with destruction.
He likes to get into things like socks as so many dogs love to do. When he manages to find one laying around he'll take it, Walk with it way up in the air as if to show me that he has my sock. He'll run with it until I corner him and take it. Of course I allways tell him "no" and I've been giving correction in the form of either a Scruff or the pinched upper lip against his tooth. (Just a little upward pressure to pinch him). Is this correction too Light or Is this not really a correction? I'd like to avoid e-collars and I don't want him to wear a prong and a leash 24-7 either.
This guy will steal things right out from under my nose and then to him its "Game on, Come and get it Daddy". I have given him a correction Everytime, Thats Every Single time he has stolen. He has NEVER won out over me and kept the item. He still Steals any chance He gets.

I try to keep him out of areas where he can find items by closing most of the doors to my rooms, I try to keep everything out of his reach so he can't steal but that gets difficult. I can't sit down to watch TV without making sure that Everything is guarded. He takes anything, Reciepts, Credit cards, CD's, he Loves Match books, knives, pens; Dangerous things for a pup... I can't leave one thing out for him to take! I'd like to start giving him a little freedom without my continued supervision. (His entire life so far has been either in that kennel or under my supervision) I don't want to kennell him all day either. Do I just need to be patient longer and continue to Keep him under constant supervision and Kenneling?

The toughest part is when I'm outside doing yard work. I Cant plant a plant without putting him in his kennel because if I'm distracted for just one second He'll steal either my gloves, or my hand shovel or anything he can get. Then, outside, He is very difficult to catch.
If I Ignore the situation then in some cases he leaves the item but, he'll Usualy be more content destroying whatever it is he has in his mouth. You should see the handel on my hand shovel.

On only a few occasions I have offered a treat to drop the Item. This works well but I wonder if he will put it together and see that as a reward for stealing my Item?

So I've considered, and have used, a Drag line but it gets caught up on things and Hes a big boy now; He's liable to get it caught and then pull whatever it is down. (I feed him HALF of what the label reads and he's still over 90lbs).
So My entire house Inside and out, is kept free of Items he can steal, But thats like impossible and its not working. To never set ANYTHING down, Inside or out, that he might steal or otherwise destroy is just not going to happen.


Any help? I'm not expecting a quick fix but perhaps someone might have a little input that wil change the way things are going for us.

Aric - sounds like you just live with a young Lab! Pretty classic... A coworker of mine had TWO pups like that, just 6 months apart or so, and it took them until about 2.5 to really settle down and stop eating everything in sight (she'd kennel them most of the day, but even under her watch they would do just what you describe).

I don't have loads of experience with this, but the first thing that comes to mind is to work on some obedience with your boy. There was a LOT of correcting going on in your post, but you never mentioned if you do any positive reinforcement work with him ever - do you? Aside from just working on the basics (sit, down, stay, heel, etc.), teaching him to "drop it" would be a more constructive way to get your things out of his mouth, while making it fun for HIM to give them up. There are some great threads here about teaching beginning obedience...

Does he get good exercise as well?? At his age, he has more energy than he ever will and he needs a lot of outlets to get that out (or he'll MAKE outlets by playing 'find the sock - now chase me!!'...). A tired puppy is a good puppy, and I bet he'd quiet down a bit in the house if had a good run, hike or play time with a dog buddy before hand.

At the very least, continuing to "dog proof" your house will help ensure that more important items won't be eaten - it's a 24 hour job, but that IS what you sign on for with a high-energy puppy...

Good luck!

~Natalya

*Sorry, just noticed that you HAVE treated him for dropping things, but it doesn't sound like you stuck with it - I'm not sure if it may correlate to him picking things up just to get a treat (I'm thinking not, but I could be wrong) but if it does, it will still be turning a game of keep away into more of a retreive and drop wherever you are (as you have the treats...) - which puts you in more of a position of control than you are in now... Then you could start adding other commands onto the 'drop it' BEFORE you treat, so it's not ONLY about the thing he wasn't supposed to have, but more about getting him thinking and doing things for you.

Edited by Natalya Zahn (11/06/2007 12:05 PM)
Edit reason: re-read original post...

Let me understand if I got this. The dog steals your things, wants you to chase him, so you DO chase him?

I am raising a litter of puppies (my first). They will be 10 weeks tomorrow. I can tell you right off, that your dog is being a puppy. My pups will take ANYTHING in their mouths, from a huge log to a leaf, and take off, hoping that his brothers will chase him. of course they do, trying to be the one to "win" the item. They love this game and play it all the time. The adult dogs will also join in. An adult will bring a bone over to a group of puppies, show it to them, and then take off (in slow motion) so the puppies can chase them.

Why am I telling you this.... so you can see that your dog is trying to play with you in the only way he knows how to. The only problem is that he doesn't understand which items are the toys to be played with. All he knows is that if he grabs one of your things in his mouth, you will chase him and it will be fun!!

You did mention that you have traded for a treat but there are 2 more things I wonder if you have tried.

1 is to play back. When he takes something of your in his mouth and runs off, you take something of HIS and run off. He WANTS to play that game. He will drop his "prize" because you are the leader and whatever you have is automatically better than what he has. I do this with my pups when they have something they are not supposed to. it is the only way I can get them to stop chewing on my picnic table. So if you are planting your garden for example, throw his ball. (He's a LAB for goodness sakes, you need to keep that retriever mouth busy.)

2 is to just ignore him. If you aren't playing his game, he won't have any fun. The only thing I have found wrong with this is that my adult dogs will then go lay down and chew whatever it is that they have (my puppies will get bored and go find something else to do).

Have you tried any of these things and what was the result?

Sounds like a really nice dog who just needs something to do (been there!!!)

Edit: LOL, Natalya was typing at the same time as me. Her advice is great too! Train that dog and make him think.

Edited by Angela Burrell (11/06/2007 12:01 PM)
Edit reason: add a thought

IMHO, this sounds exactly like a Lab and I have a 2 year old that shooting Lab (hunting) that is the same way.

All I can say is that it sounds like "attention seeking" behavior and he needs more structured one on one exercise and play time with you.

I HAVE to do something structured with our lab everyday or he will get into things that are unacceptable.
We use him for bird-hunting so we work with the "dummy" launcher daily for retrieval work since this is his favorite.
I also take him for daily runs with the four-wheeler or on a long walk in which we also work obedience. He also just likes a normal game of fetch.

You need to find out what his favorite (acceptable) toy is and use this to your advantage. (I would highly recommend ditching the rawhide, it is really bad for dogs)

With the program our lab is on, he is able to run while we are home and outdoors working and he sticks to carrying around an retreival bumper and he leaves anything else alone. If we do not do something with him, he lets us know about it by dragging something (a lawn chair is not uncommon) up onto the deck and then staring into the window (if I have gone inside for something), or he drags it to wherever we are working outside and stares at us with a really innocent look on his face and a furiously wagging butt.

 Quote: Carol Boche

If we do not do something with him, he lets us know about it by dragging something (a lawn chair is not uncommon) up onto the deck and then staring into the window (if I have gone inside for something), or he drags it to wherever we are working outside and stares at us with a really innocent look on his face and a furiously wagging butt.

Does he expect you to throw the chair for him, Carol??! Or is this just a ploy for another favorite game??? Too funny....

~Natalya

Oh, I think if I threw the chair he would bring it back....

He is absolutely hilarious because he looks ssoooo "innocent" when he does it.

 Quote: Angela Burrell

Let me understand if I got this. The dog steals your things, wants you to chase him, so you DO chase him?

That grabbed me, too. Why would you train the dog that you will join in the chasing game?

 Quote: Carol Boche

If we do not do something with him, he lets us know about it by dragging something (a lawn chair is not uncommon) up onto the deck and then staring into the window (if I have gone inside for something), or he drags it to wherever we are working outside and stares at us with a really innocent look on his face and a furiously wagging butt.

Man, the lawn chair thing is hilarious

How long of a drag line were you trying to use? I have a small 3-4' leash with no handle I have tried on my dog and it's worked wonders. It isn't quite long enough to really ensnare or entangle if she's moving around, and not too short that if she does something I can't reach and pop her a correction. And my dog isn't nearly as big as yours, maybe 45lb max, just smaller than the female purebred husky living with us. And our apartment.. as I say later is MESSY, and there's more things to get caught up on than in a landfill, I swear. Every ashtray, card deck, soda can, TV remote, game controller, and cord has been tail-wagged off a table or pulled across the room at least twice. :P

Good to see you're so understanding of his behavior.. many owners get frustrated and quit.

Everyone has some great advice, I'm not that experienced, but maybe use a lead line on a flat collar and not a prong. You can still use it to gain leverage without the corrections of a prong lead.

I completely understand the frustration of a dog that will take anything. My apartment is messy, no joke, and proofing it for my dog was hard.. then the husky that lived with us picked up on all the places my dog left off with taking things, chewing stuff, and making messes.. and now we own small sugar gliders that I let run in my room at night, and talk about "thorough houseproofing" - not one cord, wire, or 1" space is safe from these things!

Good luck, I hope you find some answers here.

 Quote: carol boche

Oh, I think if I threw the chair he would bring it back....

He is absolutely hilarious because he looks ssoooo "innocent" when he does it.

That's fantastic!! I see an excuse here for one of your neat video clip postings!! You'd have to construct some sort of catapult for the lawn chairs through - It's hard to get good distance with just an arm's throw... you could even throw in some moving-target rifle practice with that: launch, shoot, retreive! Sounds like whole family fun to me!

~Natalya