Chronic thieving

[Lab_adore]

As you may have read on the Kennel Club thread, Maxx's crime sprees continue and are showing no sign of abatement. We keep surfaces clear but of course sometimes forget and he is there and like lightening it's in his mouth and chewed. Just about anything.

Last night I took myself off to bed and OH was watching telly and fell asleep. Maxx firstly either gently took his thong (flip flop) off his foot or maybe it fell off - but anyway he chewed it. Then he took the Foxtel remote from OH's lap and chewed it. Both are chewed beyond recognition

So is there anything we can do to stop this? Or is it just a case of waiting it out until he grows up? He is 14 months, nearly 15. OH tends to get frustrated and sometimes yells at him or just at the world in general (he's human) so I don't know if that is exacerbating the problem? I have to admit I have huffed at him (Maxx) sometimes too, but I don't yell.

GAH!

 

[SwampDonkey]

Don't fall asleep leaving anything vunerable around him. Ever. It will be while yet before he stops. Rory was still crated at night at 18 months. He ate a washing machine.

 

[snowbunny]

This seems to vary so much from dog to dog. Try to remember that Labs have been bred over many, many generations to carry things in their mouths and for some of our dogs that means they are more inclined to chew things, too. Yup, it’s annoying (and sometimes expensive!) but it’s something that we have created in this breed, so we need to try to understand that it’s not “bad behaviour”, it’s just what the dog has been pre-programmed to do.

That doesn’t mean we have to accept it, though - just that we should understand that the dog is doing what he has been bred to do, but doesn’t have the full structure of what to do in this picture. He picks stuff up because he has generations of that in his breeding, but without knowing what to do with the thing in his mouth, it ends up chewed.
Squidge is very much a picker-upper of things and would previously destroy said things. I just worked really hard on getting her to bring me everything. At Maxx’s age, that meant I would pay out for her giving me anything, even the stuff she “shouldn’t” have picked up at all (but how was she go know?). Yes, it meant she brought me all sorts of stuff, but the key thing was, she brought it to me instead of destroying it. THAT is the job she was bred to do, she just needed the tuning to bring it to me. Once she got that, we were dandy.
Now she brings me anything she picks up. She does it when she’s bored and I’ve been neglecting her. She will normally bring me one of her toys, but sometimes it’s something that’s not hers. But that’s the thing; she will find something outside (in Spain, where we have our door open), or downstairs, or in another room; she will pick it up and she will seek me out to give it to me.
I am cool with that. She is trying to engage me in something, and in what I consider a really positive way. If she brings me a toy, I will play with her. If she brings me something that’s not hers, I’ll take it and direct her to bring me a toy to play with.

So, that’s my suggestion; train a really strong “give” cue so that Maxx will give up your precious thing, and then redirect to something more appropriate.

 

[Lab_adore]

He ate a washing machine.

I will stop complaining

OH just rang Foxtel and managed to get a free one claiming that we are hiring the equipment, it is faulty (he obviously didn't say the dog chewed it) so yay for that! Otherwise its about $90. We are going to tie it to the high shelf in the loungeroom so we can't move around with it and leave it for dinosaur jaws.

 

[Lab_adore]

That's interesting @snowbunny; Maxx brings toys to me all the time for attention or if he wants to play, so it shouldn't be too hard to train him to bring the contraband as well!

 

[Anne123]

Hmmm, Finn had to be in his crate for 4 years due to gnawing everything he saw...He is our third lab and the first one who destroyed everything he laid eyes on. He didn’t mind being in the crate, in fact it was his safe place where he happily went to! He wasn’t to be trusted, that’s why we kept him so long in his crate. After 4 years it became obvious that he didn’t like his crate so much and preferred our couches. That’s the time we at first tried him with an open crate, after a few times of doing very well we let him have his own couch

 

[Jacqui-S]

Wow!
That remote ain't gonna work no more, is it?

 

[Lab_adore]

Wow!
That remote ain't gonna work no more, is it?

Nope. He has gone to remote heaven (where I would like to send Maxx some days - be it remote heaven or just somewhere remote!)

 

[SwampDonkey]

It will pass. Rory has been the worst chewer so far and even he is trustworthy now. It just takes some of them a while. His particular line are known for wanting things in their mouths.

 

[Selina27]

@Lab_adore , could you teach him to retrieve? Alongside @snowbunny 's suggestion.

I'm no dog training expert at all, but it always strikes me Maxx is a bright dog just looking for an outlet. You could try clicker retrieve perhaps? That way you would be working with him, and they do enjoy it.