Un-do the damage!

[ACooper]

Here is the problem.

Kevin took one of his old flannel shirts that he was going to throw out, he tied some knots in it and gave it to Orson to play with.

I said NO to this because I didn't want it to turn into an issue.

Well Kevin didn't listen to me and let Orson have it at every opportunity ANYWAY. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

NOW Orson has taken to stealing clothes left on the floor to play with.........the kids clothes, under wear, towels, it doesn't matter.

HOW can I UN DO what has been done and let him know that it is NOT ok for him to play with CLOTHES!!

HELP!!

[Baxter'smybaby]

Sounds like it's training time!! I would really work the "leave it " command---bring out your laundry, do training sessions so he gets the message he NEVER gets the laundry!! Give him his toys instead, and if he tries for the clothing --the "eh eh eh, leave it" thing happens! I would train it in different rooms too--since he may be inclinded to search for it!! Kevin should train with him too since Kevin is the one who gave Orson "permission" to begin with!! Good luck!

[houndlove]

Whenever something happens where one of the dogs learns about a new and very bad self-reinforcing thing, my first line of defense is usually making it impossible to repeat the behavior for a short time (a couple of weeks). If it's a new thing they've just done a few times, they haven't had that much time to rehearse it, and I think often just removing the temptation and the possibility makes them "forget" it ever happened in the first place.

So in this case, I'd spend a couple weeks just making sure there is no clothing or towels within reach at any time. Just don't let it happen. If after a couple weeks and you, say, leave a tea towel out and he immediately goes for it, you'll probably have to get a training solution. But he may just forget how fun it was if he's not allowed to play the game for a little while.

[Dekka]

Good advice, and if he does get something he shouldn't..trade him for something he can have, and play with him to reinforce THIS is a toy.

[lizzybeth727]

Whenever something happens where one of the dogs learns about a new and very bad self-reinforcing thing, my first line of defense is usually making it impossible to repeat the behavior for a short time (a couple of weeks). If it's a new thing they've just done a few times, they haven't had that much time to rehearse it, and I think often just removing the temptation and the possibility makes them "forget" it ever happened in the first place.
Absolutely, great explanation. I just want to stress that playing with clothes is self-reinforcing - your dog likes to do it just because it's fun, he doesn't need encouragement to continue playing with clothes. Like why we watch tv - it doesn't get us anything, but it's fun. So yeah, be sure to pick up all the clothes/towels, and be very dilligent about keeping them put away. Be sure to keep them out of reach of your dog, too. When you've gone about 3 or 4 weeks where your dog hasn't played with any laundry, then you can test and see if he's forgotten.

[ACooper]

Good advice guys! I will give some of it a try. A friend also mentioned setting him up by putting some bitter apple spray on something intentionally left out for him to "steal" so it tastes BAD and perhaps that will sway him!

I am going to 1.) wring Kevin's neck and 2.) start in with the training!

Gah! He NEVER EVER had this problem before, he just started it in the last week to 10 days! I DO blame this all on Kevin! LOL

[darkchild16]

I say.
Smack the nerd and say bad nerd.
then make him retrain orson :D

[ACooper]

I say.
Smack the nerd and say bad nerd.
then make him retrain orson :D

Well Breeze, the word REtrain would imply that Kevin trained in the first place, which he most certainly DID NOT!

Any training done here is done by ME :lol-sign:

But yes, a smack in the head if he decides to give Orson ANY more toys off limits will be in order :D

[bubbatd]

I've always said " Mine " and traded to " ( dog's name ) ""

[darkchild16]

Well Breeze, the word REtrain would imply that Kevin trained in the first place, which he most certainly DID NOT!

Any training done here is done by ME :lol-sign:

But yes, a smack in the head if he decides to give Orson ANY more toys off limits will be in order :D

true but you could always make Kevin do this training. I made Josh retrain Walker to not beg when he decidedc to feed him steak from the table.