Dog collecting sticks

Question
I have a year old lab who collects sticks out of our woods nearby and drags them to our front door.  I was just curious about why she does this behavior.  I know we won't be able to break her, but I thought understanding it may help us tolerate it better.

Answer
Your dog must perceive the sticks as trophies and she's delivering them as a token to her fellow, and higher ranking, pack members.  In order to control a behavior, it often helps to capture it (train it).  You might try training your dog to "fetch" sticks on command.  Create a word (something unusual) that's associated with the sticks she's already collected (one at a time of course).  You do this by showing the dog the stick, saying a special word at the same time while popping a small treat into her mouth.  She will learn the word following approximately 10 to 36 trials and you will know when she's learned it by her body language.  During this training period, play 'find it" with her around the house.  Hide a cookie in plain sight, tell her to find it, when she does find it praise her; repeat this until she shows signs of knowing that "find it" means go get the cookie, then hide the cookie a bit better to the point where you can hide it behind something or under something and she still goes to find it.  The cookie is the primary reward, your praise is secondary to her finding it.  When the dog can 'find" the cookie and has acquired your word for the stick, play "find it" with a stick that you throw for her outside.  After many repetitions (up to 36 trials) your dog will "find" the "stick" outdoors.  Having made the strong connection between the stick and your command, her voluntary retrieval of sticks should extinguish.

Bringing you sticks might also be a strong signal that your dog requires more social time and is getting your attention.  Playing the "find it" game and then transferring it to finding sticks outdoors should satisfy this need.