Uncontrollable stealing beagle!

[sophieg77]

Hi,

my parents have a 6 year old beagle, they took him in last year after his previous owner was no longer able to give him the time and attention he needed due to a job change (it was an extremely emotional goodbye for the owner, heart breaking). He has always been a typical beagle (of course) being a cheeky chappy, but recently his stealing has been becoming worse and worse, and he refuses to let anything go.this is not their first beagle, they had another from around 10 months old until he passed last year at nearly 11 years old, so we know all too well how naughty they can be! but harvey (beagle) is something else! he is so quick that the majority of the time you dont know he has taken something until you turn back to pick it up and its not there, or he comes walking in with a multicoloured face and paws licking his lips! He steals things off the worktops, off of tables, anything hanging down, and he is now stealing baubles off of the christmas tree. 2 of which he stole and ate today as we were unable to get them off of him. they had him last christmas and he didnt do any of this, presents were safe under the tree (the non edible ones of course) but this year mum is unable to put any under there and has had to move decorations further up the tree and take some off completely! he even ran off with her wreath this morning. if you approach him when he has stolen something he becomes aggressive (obviously) and we know not to physically take anything off of him. sometimes he will drop the item if you offer a biscuit or something else instead. but this is becoming less and less often and we are worried that he is going to take something dangerous without us realising and we wont be able to get it off of him. can anyone suggest anything? he is so good with so many things, his previous owner trained him really well after his owner before him didnt really train him at all, and he never ever takes food off of your person, he wont eat from his dinner bowl until he is told to, he wont even try and take food from their other dog's (jack russell) plate and she is a little older and doesnt always eat her breakfast when he does so he usually sits and watches her eat it, no whines or anything. you can prepare his entire dinner in the kitchen with him sat on the floor watching you and he wont once try to jump up or steal anything. but the second he has finished eating he will steal everything and anything he can. tonight was a cheese wrapper i placed on the worktop and he instantly snatched and ran off with. and then the lid to the butter fell on the floor and he made off with that also. when he comes home from a walk he is also extra stealy and you can see him LOOKING for something he can take. anything from a tea-towel to a bauble to a sock hanging on the radiator. we've tried ignoring him if its something that isnt harmful or important, and he used to give up and come looking for us after he realised we didnt come running, but he doesnt do this anymore. he is very food motivated. he learns tricks very easily (he can sit, roll, stay, weave etc) but the stealing has become too much now. does anybody have any advice on how we can lessen or at the very least take back what he has stolen? any other beagle owners out there that have had this issue? our previous beagle used to steal everything aswell but he would almost always drop it when told to, or he would hide under a table until you gave up and then hed leave it there. but harvey will EAT everything that he steals, no matter what it is, and he will eat it whole. im visiting over christmas so was going to have a go at teaching him a better 'leave' command and improve on his 'drop it', but im not sure this is going to be enough. my younger sister has just moved out so im not sure if perhaps the change up at home, with it just being my parents here now, has upset him a little as he is fairly sensitive and i think he may have a little bit of anxiety. he played up massively when i house sat for them a couple of months ago whilst they were on holiday, he stole everything and relieved himself in the house every night but wouldnt ask to go out, so i do wonder if his stealing has become worse partly due to the changes happening. so again, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance


Sophie

[Shalista]

Def not an expert on this. my dog is very selective on things he steals (mostly socks and pieces of paper) and hes pretty good about trading, but hopefully i can help till an expert gets here.

How much exercise does he get? both mental and physical? Is it possible that he's just bored and a good chase around the house seems fun?

When was he last checked out by the vet? eating nonfood items is a bit odd. (those ornaments couldn't have been easy to pass, poor pup )

While obviously a good "leave it" and "drop it" will be invaluable you could also try upping the value of the trade items your offering. if he has a tea towel and won't give it up for a dry biscuit try offering cheese or a bit of hotdog.

[sophieg77]

hi thanks for replying!

yeah harvey used to be good at trading too but nothing seems to be good enough to trade anymore! wouldnt even go for some ham tonight!

my mum walks him for at least an hour every day, and my parents have an acre garden that he practically lives in so he is almost constantly physeically active. despite the jack russell being a bit older she still gives him a good chase around and play fight a couple of times a day also! i did wonder myself if he was a bit bored mentally, because my parents do less of the tricks training with him as my younger sister was all over that with him, but now that shes moved out i wonder if perhaps hes acting out?

im not sure exactly when he was last checked over as i dont live with parents, but i dont think it was too long ago as my parents are always hot on that side of things, after a lifetime of owning all sorts of animals they always try to keep things checked! yeah the thing is that he has a very sensitive stomach, a lot of dog food doesnt agree with him (mostly the wet stuff) so how he manages to cope after a lot of the things he eats i have no idea! i dont think he will be feeling too good tomorrow...hes fine for now, sleeping innocently!

yeah thanks im hoping the commands will help at least a little, and he does know the leave it already, he obeys it every day with his meals. it seems like he acts out more as soon as he comes back from his walk and when he has finished his dinner. my mum works from home and she says that when she tries to play with him or take him into the garden with her during the day he wont, he just wants to sleep. but as soon as walking time happens thats when it all kicks off. i came home last night so today his routine has been disrupted as ive been here all day so hes been a bit all over the place. so i think i understand why hes doing it, just hoping theres ways to help control him a little more! especially seeing as he wasnt always this bad. its at the point now that if he is not in the same room as you, you have to go and find him immediately because he is most likely stealing something. but tonight my dad and i watched him steal another ornament off the tree (this one he did drop). we calmly said 'no harvey, come on harvey come here, come on' trying to entice him over to us on the sofas, but he completely ignored us so i stood up to get into his eyeline instead and get down to his level as if i wanted to play with him and he still ignored me and snatched the ornament, so i said 'would you like a biscuit?' and he looked at me and followed me out, leaving the ornament behind. but the other 2 times today he wouldnt do that. he just snatched it and ran and then growled and ate it. so its all a bit up and down with his listening skills...

[Ari_RR]

My 2 cents - nothing worthy of stealing on countertops, a barrier around the XMas tree, food in the refrigerator, socks and such things in the drawers.

[Nettle]

My 2 cents - nothing worthy of stealing on countertops, a barrier around the XMas tree, food in the refrigerator, socks and such things in the drawers.

Yes - top advice. It's stealing to you but it's fun to him and gets him lots of attention. And always have him in the same room as you, just the way you would with a small child.

He's a scent hound, so make sure he gets lots of scent work to do round the garden, make him scent puzzle toys (check out our Exercise the Mind thread) and lots of scenting time on walks.

[Erica]

And do make sure he has plenty of dog toys to play with! And that people play with him with those toys, if he likes that. A dog with no toys will make toys

[emmabeth]

I would think he is bored - physical exercise is just one element of what they need and a scent hound needs to use his nose and his brain - running about in the garden with another dog and going for a walk is not cutting it.

THEN add in that he has been rewarded for the behaviour by being chased, given attention etc etc - even if it wasnt always 'good' attention..

Then add in that he's gone through a big change and is a sensitive anxious type, AND that change has meant a reduction in the amount of mental activity he has to do..

And yes, hey presto he entertains himself by stealing whatever he can get his chops round.

You absolutely have to prevent the stealing and ignore any that occurs - yes its dangerous that he eats things, but it is only made MORE dangerous if you chase and confront him as he will just swallow stuff whole rather than chewing it and potentially bite someone, so everyone MUST resist the urge to say anything or give him ANY attention when he does it.

Scatter feeding in the garden and using a snuffle mat, and feeding from Kong type food dispensing toys would be a good start and very little effort for quite a lot of mental activity - so get him started on that whilst you are visiting.

Adding in teaching new behaviours and tricks would be the icing on the cake so if you can get started on some useful stuff and then impress upon your parents HOW important it is to keep it up, that would really help.