got a new 5 month old, some sort of shepherd mix. He likes to collect my
kids stuffed animals and other objects. I give him a sharp no or hey, with a
drop it and he does. Do I give him a good boy for dropping it or does that
teach him if he grabs a toy and drops it for me he's good? maybe I need to
catch him more often getting the toy and giving him a no, or combined no and
leave it?

petebert wrote:

got a new 5 month old, some sort of shepherd mix. He likes to collect my
kids stuffed animals and other objects. I give him a sharp no or hey, with a
drop it and he does. Do I give him a good boy for dropping it or does that
teach him if he grabs a toy and drops it for me he's good? maybe I need to
catch him more often getting the toy and giving him a no, or combined no and
leave it?

There are a variety of things you can do. I think it could happen
that if you reward your dog for dropping the toys after he has
collected them, that he might learn to use that as an attention-getting
behavior.

Interrupting him and giving him something else to do - as he is
about to get a toy is one option. It will require a lot of vigilance
on your part, because it is unlikely to be successful unless you always
stop him in time.

Another idea is to channel his inclinations to pick stuff up into some
other behavior, like retrieving. You could work on encouraging him
to retrieve a toy or toys of his own, and reward in any way you like
(just making a fuss over him is probably good) when he does it.
He should catch on to the contrast--no reward for retrieving the
children's toys.

Yet another, simple option is to deny him access to the children's
toys. Keep their bedroom doors closed and all toys picked up in
parts of the house he has access to. It would help with re-channeling
the activity to keep the kids' toys picked up, as well.

If you are at all interested in training as an activity or hobby, this
sounds like a dog that would appreciate the challenge, stimulation,
and attention involved. You can start with a local obedience class
and/or try teaching him various tricks.

Good luck and have fun.

Amy Dahl

petebert wrote:

got a new 5 month old, some sort of shepherd mix. He likes to collect my
kids stuffed animals and other objects. I give him a sharp no or hey, with a
drop it and he does. Do I give him a good boy for dropping it or does that
teach him if he grabs a toy and drops it for me he's good? maybe I need to
catch him more often getting the toy and giving him a no, or combined no and
leave it?

Keep in mind, too, that for many dogs, even well trained adults, soft
toys can be simply irresistible.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Musi....ap/index.html

The plush toys my dogs win at flyball tournaments have a life span
measured in minutes after we get home. They seem to take a great deal
of pleasure in opening them up and pulling the stuffing out. Then they
play tug-of-war with the pathetic, deflated "skins". Since it's
strictly a post tournament ritual I just keep an eye on them to make
sure nobody's actually eating anything then collect up the fiberfill
when they're done.

The kids learned pretty quickly that stuffed animals left laying around
the house were fair game. They keep the plush toys in their rooms now
and the dogs are not allowed. We equipped their doors with self closing
hinges... Let go of the handle and the door will swing shut on its own.
That solved the problem of the kids (or me) leaving their doors open
while going back and forth with laundry or whatever, leaving their
stuffed critters vulnerable to opportunistic marauding canines.

Kathleen

On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 14:14:04 GMT, "petebert"
wrote:

got a new 5 month old, some sort of shepherd mix. He likes to collect my
kids stuffed animals and other objects. I give him a sharp no or hey, with a
drop it and he does. Do I give him a good boy for dropping it or does that
teach him if he grabs a toy and drops it for me he's good? maybe I need to
catch him more often getting the toy and giving him a no, or combined no and
leave it?

I always praise my dogs when they drop it. I tell them "good drop
it!" Sometimes, I will give them something else in trade. Don't you
like to be appreciated when you do what someone asks even if you would
prefer not to?

It would be better to teach him a leave it and make the toys off
limits, though. Give him his own toys that are distinctive enough
that it is easy to tell what are allowed items and what are not. Let
him collect his stuff since he likes to collect but you don't want him
doing it with your kids' stuff. I used to soak my dogs' allowed chew
items in bouillon, for example, so they had a distinctive smell and
were more attractive than other things around. I never gave them
stuffed animals, though, because my kids also had stuffed animals that
they didn't want the dogs to chew up. Now that my kids are older and
the only stuffed animals they have are cherished oldies up on display
shelves, I let the dogs have woobies. But I didn't when the kids had
their own stuffed toys lying around the house and would be very upset
if something happened to them.

--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay