Help with the stop of taking undies!"

[Siobhan Berry]

Hi all

Anybody got any ideas for stopping my darling Bella running off with underclothes?  she seems to have a fetish with bras and underwear - has eaten through several of my daughters panties.... she sneaks them out of the washing machine or drier and takes off into the garden where I chase her trying to get the said undergarments back... to no avail until they are rubbish! she just keeps running away as I run after her screaming NO!  Any ideas? Its an expensive business trying to replace a 22 year old's underwear!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

I totally agree with you Karen and just stated it before I read your reply.  That is how we raised our kids and they turned out to be great adults and parents!!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh, and chasing a dog is going to encourage them to run from you.

[Heather & Brinkley]

Brinkley is three and has been through multiple training sessions and he still does ths. He never rips or eats the clothes but he steals clothes. I notice he does this when he wants my attention. When he has had plenty of exercise he doesn't do it, so make sure your pup is tired! I understand when you say she forgets everything, because Brinkley is well trained but when he steals clothes he totally ignores me. We are still working on this and trying positive reinforcement when he leaves socks when told. Good luck!!

[Siobhan Berry]

Thanks heather!  Bella has regular and tiring walks and she doesn't eat the clothes either - just seems to like chewing them for some reason!! The last episode was yesterday after being out walking the country lanes for an hour!  I'll have to keep trying with the positive reinforcement.  Again, thanks a mill

[Moe]

We had a similar thing with sock and shoe insoles. At the time she was also biting the leash - I watched a youtube video about systematically desensitizing a puppy from biting the leash. I wish I could find it again. They need to know leave it to some extent. I used the method to get her off the shoes and socks. Basically you put a sock next to her and say leave it. If she leaves it you treat. Then move the sock or shoelace (bra in your case), when she looks at you or leaves the item you click and treat. Move on to making the item move like a snake, drop it off the table, put it on the dog etc. Keep clicking and treating for leaving it. She has almost completely quit her sock obsession. Every few months she might need a reteach. 

I think you need to practice it for a few minutes every day so she doesn't do it in the first place. It is harder for her to come or drop it when she is excited by the theft itself. If you make it mundane she'll probably stop.

[Debra & Bailey]

HI,

Bailey would do the same with socks and nylons and even swallow them whole! I found a product called Pet Corrector www.companyofanimals.co.uk This product is amazing! It is a tin of compressed air and you just give a short burst and the noise scares them and they don't touch the item again. Catch Bella in the act, give her the release or leave it command, give a short burst of Pet Corrector and when she drops the item, immediately praise her like crazy! Good release! Good Bella!

I hope this helps. I know how frustrating it is when they are destroying stuff and running away thinking it's the greatest game ever! It works for excess barking, jumping up, escaping out doors and it doesn't hurt them they just don't like the sound. Very quickly you will only have to pick up the tin and they stop the behavior immediately! It's awesome!

Best of Luck,

Debra

[Moe]

I did this for counter surfing with a can with 5 pennies in it. It does work well.

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

My Bexter still tries to run away with socks (he is one year old now).  He will drop them when he knows he is "busted."  Your dog is better than mine though because mine WILL actually try to eat them.  I have two young boys (11 and 7) and they sometimes will leave their closet door open & their room doors, so Bexter can come right on in their room & into the closet & get socks out of their laundry baskets.  Very annoying!  We have gotten WAY better about this, but still it happens occasionally.  No one - especially kids - is going to be perfect all the time, but you can cut the incidents way down with a little extra care.  I'm sorry I don't know how to "cure" Bella of this - if I knew the answer, I'd be doing it myself!  Good luck!

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

On the lighter side..... Tigger at over four still steals my underwear or my husbands socks.  Although Tigger is now pretty good about returning them to me, he can't seem to resist the smell.  My husband and I have many pair with small Tigger teeth holes that we still wear, because even though he does return them often his teeth have already punctured a small hole or several.

He is just so darn cute about it, that I cannot get really worked up over it.  After all it was my DH or I who put them where he could get them.  If they were in the laundry hamper or drawer there would never be a problem.LOL

 

[Diana Erhart]

Charlie loved (loves) to steal underwear, socks and especially bras.  I took one of each of these items that he destroyed and used it as a decoy.  As long as you don't think Bella will ingest them or if you are watching her this may work.  I would hang the destroyed bra over the edge of the hamper and place the underwear and socks someplace that Charlie could get them in my room.  Usually when he would "steal" one of them he would just take it to his bed and roll around and play with it.  When I had no reaction to his theft he would play for awhile then just leave it.  I would then go pick it up and put it back where it was before.  Charlie is 6 now and I still have the decoy bra hanging over my hamper.  That is his favorite and he still will grab it once in awhile.  I can leave most things out now and he doesn't bother them but every once in awhile he will take a "real" bra and just put it someplace else in the room so I know that he took it but he doesn't destroy them anymore.  I believe he now just does it to be silly and amuse me.

[Christine & Shelby]

I had this problem with Shelby... The stealing fortunately for me - not the destruction. I had to relocate all my laundry baskets to inside the closet and keep the door closed. Leave it command became helpful as she became older, but I used a treat to get her to come to me and then made her do a series of commands so she didn't associate the treat with stealing the clothes. This is still a problem, but since she doesn't destroy the item... It's not as concerning to me. She also loves to steal shoes and slippers....

[Siobhan Berry]

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful support!! I didnt realise there were so many doodles out there doing this!  Will definately work on the leave command and take on board all your positive advice!! Again, many thanks to all