dog seems to use shoes as talismans

Question
Every since she was a puppy, my 10-year-old shelter dog (Carolina dog,or Cretan hound?)has been very diligent (just short of obsessive) about placing shoes in certain places in the house. When we go upstairs to bed, my other dog comes upstairs with me, but Rosie hangs back, and soon I'll hear a "thump" as she deposits one of my shoes in the middle of the bottom step. Then she comes upstairs. There have been times when she forgot, and after curling up in her bed, her head would pop up and you could see almost the light bulb go on. She'd get out of bed, go downstairs, put a shoe on the step, and come back upstairs. This happens in the daytime, too, when I come upstairs to work in my office. Once, I went upstairs and forgot to close the sliders to the deck, and 3 hours later, when I came down, I found one of my shoes on the deck, just outside the door. It looks for all the world as if the shoe placement is meant to "guard" us against intruders. I'm wondering if this is some sort of pack behavior that she's adapted in order to give herself a job (she's very smart). Could she be marking territory, in a way, by putting my scent there? She never chews on the shoes. She does sometimes place a shoe in the bed that my other dog uses, as if she's saying "I have dibs on that bed, you stay out!"
I've tried putting my shoes out of her reach, but she will substitute a slipper or a sock, and I'm afraid I'll stress her out if she can't find anything to put on the step, so I've gotten used to it, and I automatically look for the shoe, now, so I won't trip on it. I'm very curious to know, though, whether this is a behavior seen in other dogs. She's a dog that loves being helpful--if I drop something on the floor, she'll pick it up for me, and she taught herself to bring me my slippers. She's very well-behaved, and her only vice is barking at squirrels in the yard. She spends most of her outdoor time peering up at trees looking for squirrels to warn away. Because she has the look of a wild dog, I tend to think that she's acting out some sort of pack behavior. I'd love to hear your ideas on this.

Answer
Dear Maryann,

Wow.

I have never heard of this before, and I am enormously entertained and interested in it, and I think your gal must be extremely smart and lots of fun.

I wish I could give you more insight.  I have spoken to clients whose dogs are in some way or another compulsive about toys, i.e., putting all the toys in a line in a particular room, or other household items. I suspect this is a similar compulsion to what your girl is experiencing.

I say take pictures and enjoy having an unusually wonderful and unique and intelligent dog, but I'd keep digging around online to see if you can find anything else out about this behavior.

Suzanne Harris, BSc, CPDT
http://www.dogdaysusa.com