Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Got a thief on your hands? Reconsider your training methods . . .

How to stop your dog stealing – a summary (please read entire article, link below).

The best way to get your stolen things back, relatively unharmed (apart from some drool) is to swap the thing in your dog’s mouth for some really tasty food.
  • Don’t chase dogs with stolen objects in their mouths as this encourages them to steal again.
  • Punishment leads to evasive dogs and to dogs that swallow potentially harmful objects.
  • You can’t prevent most normal dogs stealing food without a lot of training. Do the training or put your food away.
  • Clearing up prevents other kinds of stealing too. Nine times out of ten, dogs steal people’s possessions because they have been given too much freedom in a paradise of other people’s clutter.Keeping a young dog out of family rooms that aren’t fairly tidy, and crating young dogs that steal, when you have to leave them alone in the house is often a temporary solution that enables you to break this annoying habit.
Dogs are opportunists, and it is important for your relationship with your dog that you stay friends and pick your battles carefully.

If you can remove some opportunities for your dog to steal using baby gates, life will be more pleasant for you both!

And then there were NONE!

Baby Gigi (Purple Girl) stayed at Moonlight Vizslas and became "Emery" and she's exceeded my expectations in every way ....