Little Thief

Does anyone else have problems with their corgis taking things that don't belong to them and refuse to give them back? Oppy is almost 7 months old now, and if he decides he wants something, and he actually gets it in his mouth, good luck getting it back any time soon. Corgis are so quick that it takes me and Hilliary a couple minutes to corner him and take back whatever it is he's stolen. What's even worse is that recently he's starting grabbing things off our desks when we're in the bathroom or kitchen. He's already ruined my headphones by eating the padding off of them, and just this morning I found Hilliary's camera case on the floor (luckily he didn't get inside it, it's just held shut by a magnet). We used to punish him by shooting him with a little squirt gun (similar to the squirt bottle), but he doesn't seem to be affected by it much anymore. I don't know what to do, it's making it hard to trust him, especially now that he's getting a little older and we were hoping to start leaving him out of his crate little by little when we weren't around.

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Permalink Reply by Meredith and Paisley on June 26, 2009 at 10:30am: My dad's corgi is a little thief as well. He usually doesn't take very important things, and usually sticks to socks, tissues or pieces of paper that may be left on the floor. I have found that for him it is a game and a way to get attention, since he always does it when we are all busy doing something else. For him, it only makes it worse if we chase him around, since it makes it a lot more fun for him. Instead, I have taught him the command "drop it" or if you like the show It's Me or the Dog, she uses "leave it." That way he will just drop it and doesn't get to be chased around the house. We usually then proceed by playing with him or giving him a treat since all he really wanted was attention. I would also make sure he has plenty of appropriate toys and things to chew on that are his own.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Talula the tabby slayer on June 26, 2009 at 11:23am: Try trading up for whatever he's got-- and using the drop it command. Talula likes to play the catch me if you can game, but if I offer her some string cheese to trade, she instantly drops whatever she has in her mouth.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matt & Hilliary on June 26, 2009 at 11:27am: Oh yeah, the second you bring food into the equation, Oppy immediately loses interest in whatever he had, but I really don't want to reinforce "steal something you shouldn't have = food". Sadly trading other toys doesn't work.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Geri & Sidney on June 26, 2009 at 11:29am: Sidney likes to steal underwear, even bras. He also takes socks, if just to flip them in the air playfully. And he loves to take paper and shred it.

It is really helpful to teach "leave it" , for when they are headed toward something with the intent to pick it up, and "drop it" for when they already have picked the object up.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Boo Buchheit on June 26, 2009 at 11:30am: This can get worse when they get a little taller. Leo can reach a dish towel off the counter now.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matt & Hilliary on June 26, 2009 at 11:31am: Yeah, it's pretty amazing how they can stretch to get things. Who needs long legs, they have long bodies!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Valerie and Simon on June 26, 2009 at 11:36am: OMG, I was just coming here to post this! My Simon is almost 13 weeks now, and just this past week he's become a little thief! His favorite are my socks and my wristbands (I just had wrist surgery 7 weeks ago and wear wrist bands when I'm doing alot with my hands for extra protection). I can't leave a laundry basket around -- he goes searching in them for socks!!!

He likes slippers too, and my flip flops. And he thinks it's a GAME. He runs around the house with them, just egging me on to chase him! We've been working on 'leave it' or 'drop it' and he's doing pretty good with those OUTSIDE, but in the house? With my STUFF? Not a chance!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Manda and Frank on June 26, 2009 at 11:41am: he is still only 7months old, to him its all play. chloe did that as a puppy, her favorite things to steal were underwear and socks. there was no catching her as a puppy. it took until she was about year and a half to fully break her of stealing things like that. but even now at 3 years old if shes gets a little to spunky she will grab a sock if she can reach it and fling it around, but she at least doesnt eat them anymore. best thing you can really do is put stuff out of his reach and work on some training and make sure he has plenty of stuff to keep his attention.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matt & Hilliary on June 26, 2009 at 11:43am: He steals socks too, but he'll just chew on those and we don't mind as much. He managed to grab my iPod off my desk last weekend. Luckily it has a pretty good case on it otherwise it would have been all gnawed up. Guess we just have to start keeping things out of reach.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ann on June 26, 2009 at 2:15pm: gosh Gizmo goes for the expensive stuff, like my LV wallet, or my PS3 controller. Thank goodness it stopped! Teaching "Leave It" is also very helpful.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Beth on June 26, 2009 at 3:14pm: Have you taught him the "leave it" command? That can be helpful. At 7 months, he still should not be left loose when no one is there to watch him. If he's stealing stuff in front of you, "leave it" would be helpful.

When Jack was small, every time he would voluntarily give something up when he responded to "leave it", he would get a trade-up of something tasty to eat. If he left an object, he got a treat. And if he responded to "leave it" if he had managed to grab food that he shouldn't, he got a really really good treat, like a piece of cheese. Remember, the correction (in this case, the squirt gun) is only half the equation, and not even the more powerful half. The motivation is "If I give up this fun thing, I'll get something even better." And for Jack, leave it means "Ignore it", "Drop it", "Don't look at it" all rolled into one. We don't have separate commands for each.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matt & Hilliary on June 26, 2009 at 3:23pm: The only time I leave him alone right now is when I'm in the shower. Most of the time he would just be laying right next to the door when I came out or around the corner chewing on his bone, but recently he's been a little adventurous while I'm in there. I understand that you want to reward them for dropping something or leaving something alone, but like I said in a previous post, I'm worried that he'll associate stealing things or pretending to steal something to getting a treat.; ▶ Reply to This