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Stealing


Chula

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Chula's latest act of teenage defiance is stealing things she knows she isn't supposed to have. She will grab shoes or towels or other items and bring them into whatever room we are in. She is trying to incite chase. I am not chasing her because I don't want to encourage the behavior, and she will always trade for a treat. My concern is she is now stealing things in attemp to get a treat. She knows leave it, she just ignores it in this particular game unless I'm holding a treat. Any thoughts on how to remedy?

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I wish I did!  I have the same issue with Nikko.  When he wants to play and we ignore him, he will go grab my shoes and run in the living room with them. Sometimes he will get the dishrag from the counter, or the towel I have next to their water bowl and run around with it in his mouth. 

 

All I have been doing is telling him NO and leave it and take the item back.  But it doesn't do any good, because most of the time he will just go get it again.  He's a brat

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If I tell her no or leave it and try to take the item back she will run. Unfortunately because of the layout of the house it's hard to corner her so it ends up with us running in circles. She isn't chewing the item, she picks it up and sets it in front of her and stares at me. Ignoring works sometimes and she gets bored, but sometimes I actually need my shoe before the boredom sets in!

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Usually "leave it" works for getting her to let go of something and back away, so I haven't tried a separate "drop it" command - but might be time to try that. Given her propensity for eating things she isn't supposed to, she hears so much "leave it" that maybe she's starting to drown it out. She absolutely KNOWS she isn't supposed to have these things which is why she chooses them. She's not bringing her toys into the room and sitting there staring at me, she's grabbing the items I have taken from her in the past. I guess it's fun for her, but it's annoying for me! At least she isn't damaging the items, just pushing my buttons :)

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I use 'leave it' when my girls begin to show interest in something they shouldn'.

'Drop it' is used after its in the mouth.

 

And they know the difference. Should they have something in their mouth and I utter the command 'drop it' and they don't, they know that I can, will (and HAVE) gone down their throats to get it back out. Even Petunia, who has only been with me since the end of April, understands that I mean what I say.

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