Question
Charlie with gift!
Hi, Please Help,
how can we stop our dog from stealing food? and particularly from the
dustbin/trash?
He is about 7 months old, we have managed to train him to sit, give his paw
for treats, He now knows, no, be good, & thank you, when he brings you
other things he has stolen, you wish him to drop. He is also a little
distructive, but also quite fun.
We cannot how ever stop him stealing food!
(He is, at the moment, tied to his lead outside for stealing the sunday roast
joint)
please can you help?
many thanks,
Chris & Iyan x
AnswerPunishing a dog for doing what comes naturally (obtaining food) is NOT the way to stop the behavior. Do NOT tie the dog up or use any other method of discipline; he has no idea why he's being ostracized and it is eroding his trust in you and making him more anxious and more likely to offer unwanted behaviors.
Obviously, leaving food of any sort on counter tops or table tops, if you have a dog, is not the smart choice. And leaving a dog in close proximity to garbage cans/trash cans, when you know he has this highly self rewarding behavior, is actually helping to train and further develop the behavior. First, you need to safeguard the garbage/trash by either purchasing locking lid containers or moving them out of the reach of the dog altogether; then you need to stop offering this dog ANY human leftovers (and especially ANY AND ALL food from the table while you are eating, as this gives the dog the clear signal that it's HIS.) I'm assuming the toilet scrubber in the picture was something he stole (and not actually a 'gift'); he seems to know full well that something about this behavior amuses you (or you wouldn't have taken the picture) and this is absolutely a REWARD for his behavior. Dogs know what laughter is and, if you laugh at the antics of a dog (even when they're funny, as in the picture) you are actually rewarding the dog. So some degree of this behavior has been trained by YOU. Imagine the dog's confusion when it's ok to steal one thing, but not another; this sort of confusion can create defensive aggression.
The way to eliminate food stealing (other than keeping all food sources out of the reach of the dog) is to teach the dog to stay out of the dining area DURING your meals and to set the dog up with a negative reinforcer so that he can make a 'mistake' when you are not in the room and get a not so rewarding surprise. So you must teach the dog to stay OUT of the kitchen on command (when you are preparing food and/or eating in there) and out of the dining room on command (when you are eating.) You do this by teaching an "away" signal; you can do this by manually leading the dog out of the room while saying the word and then physically blocking his reentry and/or removing him over and over until he understands the concept of "away" (this can take quite a while and requires a lot of patience, but it works.) You can also, using a clicker, create a strong conditioned response between the place itself ("away" place, on the other side of the threshold) and his CHOOSING to be there. This requires going from the interior of the kitchen/dining area to the threshold area with the dog following (as he most likely would) and, when he reaches the "away" spot under his own steam (the very moment his feet get there), saying "away" and offering a click/treat. Within a few repetitions, the dog will begin to associate the "away" with the reward, at which time you can wait a bit longer between click and treat, slowly building the dog's ability to remain in the spot for the treat. Within approximately thirty six trials, the dog should go to the spot (for click/treat) when you say "away". The difficult part is now making him do so when there is food in the kitchen/dining area; this will still require your physical intervention (hands off) and persistence. Obtaining food is so highly rewarding and so much a part of survival that extinguishing this behavior, once it has been acquired in a dog, needs a great deal of patience, calm, consistency and dedication. BUT IT CAN BE DONE.
A negative reinforcer is a benign device (several small empty coke bottles with their lids on and about ten pennies in them). You set the dog up by leaving an article of food on the counter top or table tob (such as a peanut butter sandwich); use strong paper towels, put a portion of the towel INTO the sandwich (peanut butter is sticky and the paper towel will adhere to the sandwich), cover the remainder of the paper towel with a few of the bottles, and leave the room. The dog will attempt to take the sandwich and when he does the bottles will come down, making a terrible racket. This will not interfere with the use of the clicker (as using cans might). The startle response should attach to the behavior (stealing food) but there's no guaranty that it will forever extinguish the behavior (or even stop it at all in future) because food is such a powerful reinforcer. Multiple set ups might need to be done but they have to be staggered over time and not overused. However, some dogs are so confident that this technique does not work unless the dog is conditioned to experience a negative response to the bottles. If that occurs, repost and I'll explain how to do it.
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