The Canine Bandit - The Dog Who Steals Everything

Do you have a dog who loves to put everything in his mouth?

Do you know the 3 main reasons why dogs will often steal items they shouldn't have? 

There are 3 main functions...

1. Attention-Seeking

This is the dog who is looking for reinforcement and who has likely found reinforcement in the past from taking something in the environment. A dog who loves to be chased, who loves any sort of feedback from you or the environment, the dog who loves to play keep-away, the dog who loves to play tug...

2. Enrichment

This is the dog who takes things because he's bored. It's something to do. He's looking for something novel and exciting, in the moment. Maybe it tastes good. Maybe it feels good to chew on or chew up. Maybe it's just something different!

3. Resource-Guarding

This is the dog who wants to possess the resource, wants to keep it. This is the dog who might be genetically pre-disposed to guarding valued resources. This could also be the dog who has learned that there is value in hoarding resources, either based on past experience at home or in the litter (or sometimes even in the womb!) 

If this is a problem your dog has...

There are a few things you'll want to understand before you try to change the behavior. Here are the pieces of my Building Blocks Framework, as it applies to the Canine Bandit!

What's the EMOTION behind the behavior? Is it fear or anxiety, competition-based? Or is it fun and joy? You'll want to approach this behavior problem differently, based on the emotion behind it

What BODY LANGUAGE are you seeing from your dog? Are you seeing any signs of early resource guarding? Do you know the signs? 

What Management Tools do you need to consider and have in place, in order to avoid letting your dog practice the behavior when you can't be watching (because, let's be real, you can't be watching ALL THE TIME!)

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Ready to dig in further? Check out the Canine Homeschooler Academy where we really dig into all those details plus all the ways to teach leave it and drop it, before applying those skills to real-life scenarios

Learn what you need to know to train your dog (in your pajamas!)