Ok, I'm at my wits end...my boy has been stealing EVERYTHING, including toilet paper. I have had to 'lab proof' my entire house and shut every door. He can't even play near my kids because he's constantly stealing their toys. He thinks it's a game and I'm pissed!
I'm so tired of this...I can't take much more...it just adds to the chaos. I'm so close to just getting an e-collar. I'm sure I screwed up somewhere in my training...but let's get pass that and help me come up with some solutions...PLEASE!!!

How old is he? What do you do when he steals something? Usually it's a phase they go through. I find is best to encourage the dog to bring you the stolen "loot" - reward the dog for it and give him his own toy back. The behavior will eventually taper off if you don't give him the satisfaction of chasing him down for stolen stuff.

And yes, sometimes you do have to just keep everything out of reach as much as posssible. Welcome to Lab ownership

He has too much freedom that is unsupervised. They are like children , they will do exactly what they are allowed to do ! USE A BABY GATE , confine him in the room where you ARE and can REWARD good behavior. Don't work the negative end of it. When you cannot supervise him, use his crate, and be creative with Kongs filled with goodies , untill you can spend more supervised time with him. The behaviors he is getting away with right now , are being set in his mind. And most of all, get him some additional excercise , throw some tennis balls to burn off the energy !

He's 18 mos.
I sometimes chase him down, depending on how expensive or irreplaceable the item is that he has ;). I bought an air canister (which seemed to work the best, I just have to get a replacement cartridge). I have stopped giving him treats in exchange for the item because I felt it made him do it more...
He's the sweetest dog in the world but this makes me crazy...and my kids too

Leave him in a crate some when you can not watch him. HE IS STILL A PUPPY. Does he have plenty of his own toys, Nylabones, stuff toys ? They are just like kids, need to be entertain in the growing stages. And like kids will push you.

Please advise regarding "air canister" ? Is this something you use to deter him? Where do you purchase those???

I totally agree with crating when you can't supervise, etc... BUT, you need to make coming to you with the stolen item fun. Yes, he might do it more, but frankly, you've left something out for him to take so don't blame him. Wouldn't you rather him come to you with something rather than having him hide in the corner and chew it up?

Does he know what the word NO! really means? Also the statement LEAVE IT!

Our 2 girls who are half sisters, ages 22 months and 14 months still grab treasures in our house. When they do this, I don't get up and chase them but say "Come Here" in a somewhat happy voice and they almost always bring whatever it is they have in their mouth right to me. I praise them . Maybe that is backwards and I should be scolding them but that doesn't make sense to me since they more than willingly bring it back to me.

Our 14 month old has had a penchant for stealing and chewing up our remote controls and our running shoes and floppys. If I catch her in the act, I will scold her and replace it with a bone. Mostly I blame ourselves for forgetting to leave our bedroom doors closed or leaving our shoes and remote controls sitting on the coffee table.

Whenever I sell a puppy to a home where there are school age kids, I remind the kids to keep their school work up high and or in their bedroom and always keep their bedroom door shut, explaining that their new puppy will delight in stealing their prized Science project or their math assignement they spent 2 hours working on.

I remember our own 2 daughters growing up and working so hard on their school work projects. Their teachers would always get a chuckle out of their papers turned in with puppy chew marks or dog slobber stains all over it. Sometimes those "Signiture Doggy Marks" would bring their grade down on that particular paper but I always told me girls to keep anything they value up out of harms way from our dogs.

Be patient though, your boy will grow out of it before his 10 yr Birthday

Try igoring it. By getting upset over it, and you clearly are, you are encouraging him.
Try calmly redirecting him with appropriate toys.
If you make a big, he has got what he wants, and thats your attention

You take pictures and create a website for the little klepto.

Mine is 8 years old and hasn't changed.

Glad to hear you have a typical Labrador.

Quite honestly, chasing him down to get the item makes the game more fun for him. That is how dogs play in a pack, they take something and they try to get the others to chase them. Congratulations, you have made it to being a member of his pack in his doggy mind.

You are going to have to break this apart to retrain him. First you need him to come when he is called, and yes, he is rewarded for it. Would you come to someone screaming and yelling at you? Probably not. Teaching a dog to come reliably and with distractions (such as a toy in the mouth) will take several weeks at a minimum.

Once you have taught him to come to you reliably, then you can try having him come to you when he steals something. I do a trade game. I tell them "no, they can't have that", however, they can have their own toy.

Until you can effectively do this and be sure you will have 100 percent success, keep him in a crate when you can't supervise him.

Laura...LOVE your "klepto site"...what a GREAT way to channel frustration!! I often have to turn my face and laugh when my guys pull these stunts! (When my humor is still in play and the anger has yet to kick in...on a good day I try to keep it firm but light).

Yup yup yup...tons of fun to have mom chase you around the house!!
I have just ALMOST gotten a pup broken of the habit.
On top of it, she is not a labby but a willful bully dog that we rescued.
Not let me clarify, she will still steal anything she can get away with stealing, however, I just talk to her sweetly and ask her to be a good puppy and come to me and she does instead of running, and let me tell you, if you think your labby pups are bad, try catching a short squat little bully dog that seems to be able to move at lightning speed.
I just keep my treats in easy reach when she is out an about and watch her like a hawk.
I once read a training book that half of it is making your dog believe you can read their mind, and that as soon as they have THOUGHT about doing something they are not supposed to do you know it already.

I let my pups wander around while staying back and watching them and as soon as they move to snag something give a loud NO. Most times, before they even go to grab something they look at me in this guilty way...
I then remind them to be good pups...If they then get it anyhow, I use a treat to have them come and drop it. I tried to just crate them whenever they did this but it just made them run more so the treat thing has worked well as well as a replacement toy of their own. My pups have no free time in the house unless I am able to see their every move.

Good luck it will get better!
Annie

I had a dog that would steal and it's a difficult behavior to fix. This dog is misbehaving because he needs more attention than he is getting and the attention that he gets from stealing is his reward. At 18 months he solidly has learned this behavior and he must now learn that "no" or "leave it" has some consequences.

Take an aluminum pop (or beer) can and remove the little opener on the top. Make sure the can is dry inside and place 21 pennies within it. Cover the hole in the can with some duct tape. When you catch him in the act give him your command "no" or "leave it". If he persists, repeat the command and give the can a brief shake. Sometimes this is all that is needed but if he still persists, and he probably will the first time you are trying this, then toss the can at his feet or rear. This may seem silly but it will work if done properly. If the can with pennies should hit him (don't aim for his head) he won't be physically hurt. This will give you control from across the room and he won't know if or when you may have a can nearby. If he takes something that he's been warned about before, you can skip the command and just shake or toss the can. Be warned you can over do this training technique. He will QUICKLY become sensitive to the sound of the pennies in the can and don't unnecessarily shake the can or let children use or play with it.

"The can" may work so well that you can actually place it in a doorway and the dog will not enter that room in fear of touching "the can". Keeping them out of a room or off of a sofa by just placing the can there will only work once they understand what "the can" is. Don't let you dog get a hold of the can the first few times you toss it, after that he won't want to be near it. You could keep one in each room if need be. Keep the can quiet when not in use.

Give your dog more attention throughout the day and have your kids wear him out once in a while.

I think puppies should never be allowed free access to a house all at once. In the future use a baby gate as someone else has suggested and only let him "learn" one room at a time.

Post back if you have sucess with this or any questions. GOOD LUCK.

He is a LABRADOR! It kills me to see people correcting a dog that is gifted with natural ability. In my classes I tell people to play the trade game. Buy several fancy squeaky toys and don't let him have them all of the time just play with a for a few minutes a day. Then hide them away. When he takes something that doesn't belong to him, calmly get a squeaky toy and act like it's George Clooney covered in chocolate. Baby talk to it and squeak it seductively. Make a scene about it. When he comes to see what you have - offer it as a trade. Even start to use the word "trade" as a command if you must. When he drops the forbidden object shove the toy in his mouth and PRAISE him! "Good Drop/give etc!" "Good Trade/Take etc.!" Or offer a treat for him to drop the item, but warning Labs are little piggies and he may think he turned on the "treat machine" and will look for stuff to pick up. He is already doing it to you now for attention.

You can purchase them from Radio Shack...Just make sure it's only air...no chemicals.

Ok, when my kids are playing, am I supposed to expect them to keep all of their toys out of his reach???
That's a little far fetched...

Thanks for the replies, guys...
I will get to work!

Original poster wrote: "Ok, when my kids are playing, am I supposed to expect them to keep all of their toys out of his reach???
That's a little far fetched..."

Umm, yes, that's how it works with pets if they aren't trained to behave. I have kids and have always had multiple dogs with them. Kids play in their room, dog isn't allowed in if it's not reliable. Kids clean up their toys prior to allowing dog back in there. Works well for me.

This dog is just being a LABRADOR - they are mouthy and always want to retrieve/carry things, hence the RETRIEVER part of their name. You simply need to redirect his retrieving instinct.

Boy oh boy! I have one and a few things worked really well with him. More excercise! More play outside with me and/or with his canine friends. And more retrieving! That said...yes - more supervision when inside the house. He delighted in trying to get my attention and get me to indulge in his "chase me" game. You could see him smiling with wicked glee as he had the kitchen towel (or whatever) in his mouth sneaking up on me and peering around the couch. I used the "shake can" method. Tin can filled with a couple of rocks attached by a string to whatever was his object of choice. As he tried to steal it - it would crash and make a hellacious noise and that was the end of his guilty pleasure. I would also sneakily throw a can at him whenever he "thought" about stealing something that wasn't his. END of story. But seriously - the real cure for him was constructive training and more exercise - lots more constructive exercise.
Hope that helps.
A

Oops! I also make him give me the object. This is not a hardship since he is trained to give. This upsets his "chase me" game and I substitute a toy of his. Then I ignore him. Although I HAVE given him attention for his behavior which is not exactly what I prefer...it is preferable to letting him trot around with whatever he has in his mouth. Then I let him out ASAP and do something more constructive with him - even if it is obedience which he loves - without letting his Bad behavior being the cue...so it might take a few minutes before I do so. I hope this makes sense. My dad always said...if the dog wants something FROM you - they have to do something FOR you first. My theory is that dogs need jobs - even if it is something very simple. It keeps their brains occupied and them out of trouble.
A

Redirecting works well on a very young puppy but at 18 months this stealing behavior is well ingrained. For a dog it takes 17x's longer to un-learn a behavior then to learn it. I wouldn't call a dog who steals items "gifted with natural ability", I would say it's more like spoiled, obnoxious, destructive and resulted from improper training, not enough play and exercise from the get go. My labs happily "get it" and place things in my hand when I ask for them. As someone else has said, the key is to make the dog "believe that you can read his mind" and timing is everything. You have to catch him in the act. If you discover him already sitting down and chewing his loot, it's to late and you have no choice but to teach him to surrender it to you.

It sounds like maybe you shouldn't have gotten a Lab if you aren't willing to make the committment to training one properly.
It's a dog for goodness sake.
Did your kids come already trained???????

There you go AGAIN "Lab Lover"....stop being so damned hateful...geez...I think you have some pent up frustrations going on.

Hey "be nice" MYOB.....

My little boy has things like megablocks and legos and all kinds of potentially deadly to dogs toys.
I do not expect the dogs to avoid these things as they are WAYYYY to aluring for them to ignore. I DO expect my little boy to clean them up when he is done and I make sure of it. We have a rule around here...leave on the floor..lose it! If the dogs don't get it I WILL:)

While it would be great to have super dogs who ignored all these things and just nicely laid around and did as they were "told" this is not at all practical:)
I truly believe in the principle of NOT setting your dogs up for failure. It is up to us to keep as much temptation as possible away from them, and to not blame them because we failed to doggy proof things, or to teach our children how dangerous their toys can be.
JMO!
Annie

You could be taking a page or ripping a page, as the case may be, out of my relationship with my first lab, now 6 year old Rhys.

This dog frustrates me, infuriates me, and gives me more anxiety then sometimes I think he is worth.

He steals off the counters, if someone brings food in the house, its fair game, he rips my other dogs toys and has gotten into more garbages then I care to list. We now keep our garbage can on top of the fridge. Thats right.

I have tried everything. Shake cans, long tethers, e-collars, he is obedience trained to open, we've had a professional trainer in, we've talked about giving him away etc. Its all very heartbreaking because I love him so much.

This is not a lack of training, or anything you did wrong. Rhys is not my first dog, and is not my last. I have puppies younger then him, that when he is doing something hideous their ears droop and they get the 'It wasn't me' look.

I think what we, and Laura have are bad seeds. There is something in them that doesn't see passed what they are doing to the consequence. In kids, they diagnose it as ADHD, in dogs, it's bad parenting? I know that there has to be a genetic component here.

Rhys is strongly field lines. Very high energy exuberant and head strong and does not give up on anything. Which are all wonderful qualities when he is working, but makes it unbearable to live with.

"It sounds like maybe you shouldn't have gotten a Lab if you aren't willing to make the committment to training one properly.
It's a dog for goodness sake.
Did your kids come already trained??????? "

I think that this is awful. You probably live with all of your dogs in a kennel situation, and that is why you don't know what it is like to have a dog that is so frustrating that sometimes you look at them and cry.

No one expects a dog to come trained, but it would be nice if they would learn and retain the rules of the house.

Rhys is a fantastic dog in all other ways, he is the most gentle dog with other dogs and puppies, so tolerant, and a very loving dog when he wants to be. But he is an opportunist and far too smart for his own good, and no amount of training is going to fix that.

My Bridget, as well. All she's learned is not to do it when we're in the same room. She was my first dog, though, so training probably plays a lot into it.
She'll be 14 in October, and she stole an entire jar of peanut butter (and ate half of it) just last week while I was at work.