Training technique needed to stop from stealing

[Donna Bay & Buzz]

I realize i asked this in comment section rather than in discussion. So here i go again. I am terrified of my 18 month old GD ingesting an article of clothing. She is constantly stealing socks, undies, etc from mostly my daughters room. We try everything to keep her out but even if i drop something doing laundry, in 1 second shes got it. I realize it is a common trait in a lot of these dogs but how can i reprogram her to stop this behavior. Thank you.

[sandy b]

Max who is now 5 yrs old has always "stolen" items. If it's something we don't want him to have we have taught him to fetch and he brings it to us. Of course he always gets a treat!
I might add he has never eaten any clothing!

[Lynda Kamrath]

My vet told me of all the things she has removed surgically from dogs and it really encouraged me to keep things picked up.  My dogs know the off, and leave it commands, but chose when they want to follow the commands.  It seems I am saying "leave it" all the time on our walks, but we have decided to walk them with leashes and muzzles because they eat poop on the trail (among other things).  Just had Groucho Too at the vet last week because he ate some fresh cow poop and had an upset stomach and was not eating.  Training your dog to follow commands is a very good idea.  I wish my dogs were better at that.

[Julie and Max]

I find with treat training you have to outsmart your dog. Start out with a treat every time, then every second time, every fifth time, so they never know when they're going to get a treat but they know that if they do what you want, the potential to get a treat is there. Also if they do something really extra special for you they get an extra special treat. Use different value rewards, sometimes I use kibble, sometimes all natural dog treats, and sometimes small pieces of chicken. I also sometimes use a game of tog or catch as the reward for the training that we're doing. Also never ever give a treat for a behavior you did not ask for, as that is the dog telling you what to do and you don't want that. Like Max will try and sit pretty or shake your paw if he wants something, but unless I've asked him to do it, he won't get a treat. I've tried the leash corrections, but honestly my dog does better with the positive reward based training and he picks things up much faster that way.