My kleptomaniac Golden

[caybabe]

Good morning:

I am a new member to the forum and would like to know if anyone knows how to cure my 9-month old golden of stealing everything she can get a hold of.

I know some of this is attention-getting, possibly pent-up-energy. We have to close all bedroom and bathroom doors. She even steals the wood for the fireplace. Yikes!

[Todd]

HI there and thank you for your question.

Your right with your thoughts on why this happens. I think it is mostly an issue about attention seeking.

There are two ways of dealing with this sort of problem.
Firstly you can ignore the behaviour. By not giving him attention he will quickly learn that doing it won't work. NO attention means no eye contact, no talking to him and in no way giving him any positive reinforcement.

The only problem with this way of doing things is that eventually something will get chewed that you didn't want to get chewed.

The other method is to reprimand your her whenever she takes something. Use a loud GRRRR or AHHHHH to tell her off. You can try throwing a blanket on her or giving her a quick squirt with a water pistol. This method of reprimanding lets her know what is good behaviour and what isn't.

You can also put a bad tasting substance on whatever she picks up. Substances like sour apple, tabasco or cayenne pepper are a great way to turn animals way off from chewing and carrying things.

When you catch her carrying something it is a good idea to reinforce her onto a chew toy to teach her what is good to chew and what isn't.
Praise her when she chews her toys and when you catch her chewing or carrying something she shouldn't tell her off and ignore her till she stops and then give her her chew toy.

Good luck and i hope this helped.

Kind Regards
Todd Field