things my 7-month-old puppy has dragged outside to chew up today

[huguenot]

@lelier ahahahhaaha i like that mental image, the ball + bras

 

[deborahl5255]

@huguenot My dog likes to steal one specific shoe and occasionally a towel to take outside and play with. He doesn't steal any other shoes to bring outside, just the one shoe. When I get a pair to replace that one I might let him have the shoe.

 

[huguenot]

@deborahl5255 dogs are so weird. my other pupper likes to just move my shoes around and sleep on them. i can live with that. all the shoes are now in a closet.

 

[getyourhopesup]

@huguenot Underwear. All the underwear.

 

[shafiqul]

@huguenot I’m dealing with a puppy now. I love dogs but have decided I don’t like puppies. Such a pain in the ass.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@shafiqul Puppy phase is nice in hindsight. There are some truly heartwarming days along the way. It's miserable in the moment though.

 

[speed112]

@huguenot Every day for the last week and a half our puppy has waited til my husband has gone to work and tried to steal either the pillow off his side of the bed or the blanket I'm currently sleeping other. And when I catch her she throws her entire body down and sighs. Like I'm the absolute worst.

 

[huguenot]

@speed112 mine barks at me like, "hey, i was destroying that!"

 

[ptliamhis]

@huguenot Ours tried to bring a banana leaf inside and was hitting it against the door to let me know that he wanted it, lol.

 

[bekuta]

@huguenot We call our puppy The Criminal because when he’s hyper he constantly steals things and runs away with them. The funniest so far:

Once he stole my mom’s shoe literally off her foot while she was standing with her foot raised.

He’s a magician who can create socks out of thin air. I’m constantly offering him pepperoni to give back stolen socks.

He stole a plastic 5 gallon bucket once and ran around the yard with it.

He stole my mom’s cell phone.

Every time we dry him off after playing with water he tries to steal the towel.

Once my mom was trying to build a fence and she had a dangling piece of twine with a short piece of wooden post on the end as a weight. He grabbed the piece of wood and pulled until it broke off the twine, then ran off with it.

 

[huguenot]

@bekuta oh i live in dread of the stolen cell phone

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@huguenot no polite way to ask this... why can your puppy even access a christmas ornament in July?

 

[huguenot]

@imagebeastmarkbeast i collected them for some years, had them arrayed across the top of my dresser. she nearly got NCC-1701-E and all her miniature crew.

 

[thewingsoftruth]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Because Christmas in July!

 

[galapas]

@huguenot My full time job is monitoring my puppy, so she doesn't wreck my stuff or eat my cats.

 

[legend28]

@huguenot Crate. Your. Dog. Stop letting him do whatever he wants. If you can't be actively supervising, put him in a crate.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@legend28 Seriously! I can't believe these responses in a dog training subreddit!

Your dog should not have access to anything you don't want it to chew on, especially at this age. Either put them in a crate or a dedicated play area at all times.

 

[theophan]

@huguenot My puppy does this too. I call it puppy feng shui, "No no no, bathmat in that bathroom? that has been so done. Bathmat in the hallway! Now we are interior decorating! Underwear in the living room, check. Socks everywhere! check. See the new peace and balance your life has?"

 

[slartibartfast]

@huguenot Haha sounds like my little 1 Yr old frenchie except replace pillow, shirt and Criag Childs paperback with sock and they sound identical (don't worry about the book though, actually she did you a favour there).

If you just have a single furbaby, maybe just a simple chew toy might prevent her from this? And every time she drags something out, replace it with a bone AND a treat.
Made me chuckle on my way to work though!

 

[paulx2016]

@huguenot Be aware that anything that has your scent or human scent on it is of high value to the pup.

So, to assist with your sanity and to help the dog get over this phase - remove any items that have your scent on them or contain the area the dog has free unsupervised access.

The more the dog does this behaviour, the more it becomes embedded in the dog that this behaviour is okay and the more likely it will continue to happen into adulthood. It is not cute for an adult dog to be dragging stuff out to the backyard and it's not easy on the pocket when the pup starts to graduate to things that are on tables such as phones, remotes and precious, not easy to replace items.

Give the dog chewy stuffed toys that you play with the dog with, Kongs stuffed with good recipes (do the research - there are plenty) and freeze them so it has an alternative to your house-hold items. But, until it gets through this phase, remove the items or contain the dog.