Dog steeling objects

[LambertIvana]

Hello, 
I started your training two weeks ago and I think that we are doing ok. 
I have one question for you and it’s a problem that you didn’t mention in your program. 
We have one year old Epagnol Breton and among other things, the thing that is disturbing a lot is that we can not leave anything without surveillance. A book, cloths, newspaper, pen, whatever object we forgot to move from his vision he is “stilling “ It  running away and destroying it. 
I am not running after him, I am taking a treat , I am saying to him to let it go and I am taking the object. But his behavior is not changing. 
Do you have some suggestions how we can solve this problem? 
It s a kind of a dog who is very frustrated in inside space. Just for a record he started to pee again from time to time in the appartement???
Outside he is a great dog. He is going along very well with other dogs, he is without a leash and he is following us without any problem. 
Please help😀
I thank you a lot and send you greetings from France. 
Ivana   
Envoyé de mon iPhone

[JMFS]

Bonjour Ivana!  And that's about all the French I know.  :D

You are not alone.  Most of us have dealt with the "stealing" from our new companions.  This one is dear to my heart because it was my first post (cry for help) here when we adopted Gertrude Marie.

Thieving Pooch

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/topic/296-counter-surfing/?tab=comments#comment-1453
https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/topic/271-my-dog-is-a-thief/?tab=comments#comment-1340
https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/topic/242-raiding-the-waste-basket/?tab=comments#comment-1178

The other three are from people with similar issues so you can see it's something nearly all dogs go through.  A flirt pole comes to mind for your pup, or the "treasure hunt" game.  I read a bit about the Epagneul Breton and it seems they're great at agility and hunting.  With agility I'm thinking he has energy and with hunting I'm thinking he would enjoy using his nose.  The flirt pole would help get that energy out and is an excellent tool to train "leave" and "drop," which are two things a "thieving pooch" definitely needs a lesson in.

Treasure Hunt Game

 

[Adrienne]

Hello and welcome to the forums!

Good to hear that your training with your pup is going well! Please see your questions in bold, and my answers right under.

I have one question for you and it’s a problem that you didn’t mention in your program. We have one year old Epagnol Breton and among other things, the thing that is disturbing a lot is that we can not leave anything without surveillance. A book, cloths, newspaper, pen, whatever object we forgot to move from his vision he is “stilling “ It  running away and destroying it. 

We have a guide for dogs who steal right here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/stealing-things/

I am not running after him, I am taking a treat,  I am saying to him to let it go and I am taking the object. But his behavior is not changing. 
Do you have some suggestions how we can solve this problem? 

It is good that you are not running after him as that would encourage the 'keep away" game and make him more reluctant to give up items. 

Training him to "leave it" and "drop it" is very important, for his safety. All dogs should learn these life-saving skills. Jennifer posted the links for you on how to train those in the hyperlinks. 

It s a kind of a dog who is very frustrated in inside space.

Your dog is right now at the adolescent stage https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/ a time when dogs have great needs for play, training, exercises and mental stimulation. Make sure he has access to plenty of safe toys and that you rotate them routinely. Play brain games, go on walks, take him on sniffing adventures, do clicker training, nose work, work on gaining better impulse control and frustration tolerance:  https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/

Also use management. Remove as much as you can items that he tends to steal, especially those that are valuable to you or that may harm him from chewing them into pieces. Puppy proof your home and leave around plenty of toys you rather have him play with and chew so that he can make good choices. When you have time to actively supervise and work on leave it and drop it, add a few items he commonly steals (as long as they aren't things he can destroy or ingest) and practice on these cues. 

Just for a record he started to pee again from time to time in the appartement???

He is one year old so he should be fully capable of holding it by now, but incomplete potty training can be an issue at times. Is he neutered or intact? Do you know if he is urine marking or simply peeing? Here is a guide that covers some forms of urine marking: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/urine-marking/

Does it happen only when he is left home alone? When he sees triggers from the window? Has there been any stressful events lately?

The more details on when these accidents happen the better!

Hope this helps!

Best,

Adrienne 

 

[LambertIvana]

Dear Adrienne,

thanks a lot for your long answer. Nioko started to pee a month ago just like this. He is really peeing. He is castrated  ( neutered) with 10 months.

It’s not dog marking territory .

He is not peeing when he is alone only in our presence. Actually, he is a very good dog when he is alone. Sleeping, not barking, not peeing. Very pleasant. In our presence he is sometimes really difficult to cope with. Barking( on the noises that only him can hear), peeing, steeling, jumping on to gat food in the kitchen...

No, there was not a stressful event. But my husband since he thought that he is peeing again just to show his bad character reacted angry few times. Of cours it didn’t help. 

When we trained him , he took ages to understand that he should not pee in the flat. He stoped very late , he was 8 months old.  We were not yelling, we will just let him pee and then take him immediately out side to finish the job, and then give him treats and verbal rewards.

I really don’t know what to do. Shall I start all over again as when he was a puppy? 
 

Conserning “steeling things” I will do as you suggested 😀

Thank you, thank you for your help, I want to keep him and I am giving my best. 
 

 

[LambertIvana]

On 5/30/2021 at 6:31 PM, JMFS said:

Bonjour Ivana!  And that's about all the French I know.  :D

You are not alone.  Most of us have dealt with the "stealing" from our new companions.  This one is dear to my heart because it was my first post (cry for help) here when we adopted Gertrude Marie.

Thieving Pooch

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/topic/296-counter-surfing/?tab=comments#comment-1453
https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/topic/271-my-dog-is-a-thief/?tab=comments#comment-1340
https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/topic/242-raiding-the-waste-basket/?tab=comments#comment-1178

The other three are from people with similar issues so you can see it's something nearly all dogs go through.  A flirt pole comes to mind for your pup, or the "treasure hunt" game.  I read a bit about the Epagneul Breton and it seems they're great at agility and hunting.  With agility I'm thinking he has energy and with hunting I'm thinking he would enjoy using his nose.  The flirt pole would help get that energy out and is an excellent tool to train "leave" and "drop," which are two things a "thieving pooch" definitely needs a lesson in.

Treasure Hunt Game

 

Thanks a lot for your answer. Don’t worry for your French language, French are as bad when speaking English. I am actually from Serbian background😀, that’s why my English is a bit better.

The games that you suggested are totally for Nioko. I am already hiding his dinner in the flat. Under the carpet, beside the commode, on the balcony. I am dividing his dinner in 19 portions and he is finding everything very quickly. He is a real nose champion😀

I was thinking of agility, I know that he will be good. I have to find were we can go training. 
We are training leave and drop

 

[FrederykBlot]

Salut ! Un autre Français dans la place, ça fait plaisir 😃

Bon courage pour les soucis du moment et bravo pour le reste 

Y a un post sur les photos, faut pas hésiter !

le mien a 3 mois et demi du coup je peux pas vraiment donner de conseils mais tout sujet est bon à suivre pour avoir des infos 

A+

[LambertIvana]

😁nice tu meet you  

Oui, notre vie a changé complètement. Notre chien n’est pas facile mais on donne notre mieux. Courage pour vous aussi et à très bientôt 

Ivana

[Adrienne]

Nioko started to pee a month ago just like this. He is really peeing. He is castrated  ( neutered) with 10 months. It’s not dog marking territory . He is not peeing when he is alone only in our presence. Actually, he is a very good dog when he is alone. Sleeping, not barking, not peeing. Very pleasant. In our presence he is sometimes really difficult to cope with. Barking( on the noises that only him can hear), peeing, steeling, jumping on to gat food in the kitchen...

No, there was not a stressful event. But my husband since he thought that he is peeing again just to show his bad character reacted angry few times. Of cours it didn’t help. 

When we trained him , he took ages to understand that he should not pee in the flat. He stoped very late , he was 8 months old.  We were not yelling, we will just let him pee and then take him immediately out side to finish the job, and then give him treats and verbal rewards.

I really don’t know what to do. Shall I start all over again as when he was a puppy? 

 

Hmmm, this is interesting... 

 

So by exclusion if likely Nioko's peeing is:  

 

-not hormone- related (because he is neutered and this behavior is recent starting just a month ago)

-not territory marking (which entails usually peeing in small amounts, typically lifting the leg in male dogs and having a preference for vertical surfaces)

-not separation-related (because he's not peeing when left alone, and actually does very well when left alone)

 

This leaves us with a few other possibilities:

 

Submissive urination, however you would see this form of urination take place mostly in specific circumstances. You can read more about it here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/submissive-urination/

 

Excitement urination, you would see this mostly when you say hi to him after being away or being in another room, you can read more about it here too: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/submissive-urination/

 

Anxiety, I know you said there is no lately stressful events, but you said he is frustrated with being inside, so that can cause enough emotional turmoil to elicit this type of peeing. In this case, it can help to make the indoors more stimulating (with brain games, fun training sessions etc).For some sensitive dogs even minor changes in their lives can be disruptive such as furniture rearrangement, conflicts between household members, new household members (a human baby or another pet), unusual noises (thunderstorms, fireworks, traffic), changes in the dog’s routine and schedule.  These dogs benefit from an anxiety-reducing program.

 

Incomplete housetraining: this simply means that dog wasn't completely potty trained to start with so have moments of regression. You mentioned he took long to potty train and stopped when he was 8 months old and now being 10 months, it could be he is regressing. Studies on adolescent dogs have found that they may go through regressions in their training, so it wouldn't be unusual for potty training to be impacted too. 

 

In this case, yes, going back to basics is what would be needed, putting the dog on a potty schedule, careful supervision, confinement (not full run of the house), jolting down when accidents happen and preventing them, cleaning all urinated areas with an enxyme-based cleaner and using a black light to identify any missed spots. 

 

However, it may help to play it safe to exclude medical problems just in case. When a dog is perfectly housetrained and start peeing again out of the blue, this should raise a red flag. Sometimes male dogs can get urinary tract infections too or they may get bladder stones. 

 

I looked up your breed because the name was new to me and just noticed he's a Brittany! I worked with one a few years ago. She also had some peeing problems but was more a matter of spay incontinence. She was high energy so lots of outdoor activities and lots of indoor mental stimulation was needed. We had play mates for her too as she was very sociable so that helped drain a lot of energy that way that too. She was very fast and light on her feet and Einstein could never keep up with her.  She loved the agility tunnel and I told owner to consider enrolling her in agility. Below are some pictures of her:

 

 

 

[LambertIvana]

You are such a great professional!
Answering so quickly and so profound. Bravo
I forgot to tell that when this started we went immediately to a vet who did all the check ups and no bacteria found. He even did an abdominal ultrasound. So it’s not an uriner  infection . 
It’s not submissive nor excitement urination. I read your article. 
mai what is left is anxiety or not well trained at the beginning. 
I well start learning him again as if he was à puppy. 
I ordered as well Fleur de Bach for animals. It’s a plant preparation ( natural) that should lower anxiety. 
I keep you posted. 
Thanks a lot for listening, answering and helping❤️
Greetings from Paris

p.s. If you and Einstein come to Paris you have a door of our hous wide open  😀

 

[LambertIvana]

And some photos...

[Adrienne]

What a handsome fellow and what beautiful markings!

It's so great you did all that testing to rule out medical issues. 

Bach flowers have good reviews for anxiety. DAP (dog appeasing pheromones) diffusers and DAP collars are good too. 

Yes, please keep me posted, I am always here for doing more troubleshooting. 

Thanks for all your kind words!

Best, 

Adrienne 

 

[LambertIvana]

Hello Adrienne, 

so I started from the begginig trainig Nioko to pee outside. This morning all of a sudden he pooped in the living room while we werre having brakfast ??? He was taken out in a regular time, one hour before he did it in front us.

My question is how should we react if we catch him in the moment? 

Thanks for your answer 

Best regards 

ivana

[Adrienne]

In such a case, it may help to try your best to persuade him to follow you outside. I am not a big fan of using startling actions like making a loud noise to startle them, but  I like to use upbeat “let’s go outside!” as I try to entice the dog to following me to the door and go outside. I often train this beforehand so that I get a strong response. 

Important is to clean the mess using an enzyme-based cleaner to remove as much as possible traces of odor.

If this pooping is a new behavior, it may be his tummy is upset for some reason, if so, he may have more accidents and it would be important mentioning these potty regressions to your vet just to rule out medical conditions out.