Chewing shoes and socks...

Ongoing problem here. She steals shoes, socks and sometimes laundry. She just tonight grabbed something she should not have, my DH's new hat. I have tried everything I know to do, and nothing is working... any and all suggestions are welcomed. She knows the leave it command, but for some reason it is not working here.
Thank you,
MBG

I'd start managing it, by putting those things away.. When Cider was a puppy my laundry basket had to be in a closet, and the shoes too.
Slowly under supervision we'd leave one pair of shows out, and she could sniff them but if she went to pick them up, we'd tell her leave it and redirect her focus. Took time though. Easiest thing to start is to put temptations away.

This is going to sound snarky and I'm sorry, but how about just keeping the stuff picked up out of her reach? Get a hamper that closes, leave the shoes in the closet with the door shut and don't leave hats where she can get to them.

Is she getting enough physical/mental stimulation with her own toys? It sounds like she's working for attention ploys.

Because sometimes that's impossible when you have (young) children and spouses who leave doors open and things strewn about..

not impossible, just more difficult. It really is the best way. Puppies put everything in their mouths and play with it. Eventually they start to grow out of it, but at first good luck keeping any sock, shoe, towel, etc out of their mouths. They more opportunity they have to play with it when they're younger, the longer the "stage" of getting socks and laundry and shoes is going to last. Any puppies i've had, if they weren't playing they were sleeping. They always want to play. So any time they were awake anything I didn't want them to have had to be put out of reach. It's kind of just the way it is.

How old is your pup? A lot of times, this is a stage they go through. My dog Zeus was absolutely horrible until he was about 15 months old, and now he has no problems.

Just keep taking away the forbidden items and give her a toy instead. She'll get the idea. Just be patient.

You should read the book, Marley andme by John Grogan. It is about a dog similar to that, and puts things in perspective. very good book.

Sadie ate shoes and clothing to until she was close to 2 .then it all stopped. The "training" went in one ear and out the other before that.

First off, I want to thank each and everyone who has responded so far!!

I can be a bit snarky myself, so no offense taken!!

Summer turned a year old on April 10th, so she is still a bit of a pup.
We try our best to keep things away from her, but as said here, that is not always possible.

I have a husband and a 13 year old boy, sometimes I do not know which is which

But for the most part we do try to keep things out of her reach. My hubby sat the hat down for about a minute while he was doing something. And off she went!
She is a player, and gets tons of attention, and I walk her about 4 miles a day, and am with her all day, so it is not out of boredom that she exhibits this behavior. She seeks things out, and sneaks them. She will open a closet, she will get the clothes off of the floor when I am doing laundry, she will jump up and take towels off of the rack. She then runs with whatever it is, and expects a chase, which I do not give in to.

At first we thought it was the smell that attracted her, but this hat had no smell, as it was new and never worn.
I just do not get it.
MBG

If your dog is 1 it is prob. almost over. it seems to be that dog behavior changes drastically after about 1 1/2 to 2 . Hang in there. Sadie no longer steals our laundry and takes it outside in the back yard. She was quite literally the dog from hell when we got her at 9 mo. old.

Agreed.. that IS the best way.

I am practically OCD about keeping things organized and neat.. however, with 2 kids and hubby, it's a CONSTANT battle to keep things off of the floors and doors closed.

So if i just hide the stuff she steals, she will be just fine with no training when we leave the stuff out when she is older? It seems too easy.

Nope.

Chewing is a self-rewarding behavior. If she has the opportunity to chew on a shoe, it's FUN. She's being rewarded for that by having fun chewing.

If you keep most of the chewable things out of reach, and place on pair of shoes on the ground while you're supervising, and she approaches it, and you redirect her attention and reward her by playing with HER chew toy or whatever, it teaches her chewing on things other than shoes is fun, and attempting to chew on shoes is just going to result in a correction/redirection. Pick those shoes up when you can't watch her, and her only option is to chew on her toys. Which is fun/rewarding.

Once she's 2 or a little older, she should be past the teeth/pushing boundaries/able to control herself better where you can leave some things out and she'll chose to chew on her own toys instead, because she's been taught that that's more fun.

However, by leaving tons of things available for her to chew on and play with, it's just a vicious cycle of her being rewarded for bad behavior.

What does she do with the object if you don't chase her? Does she rip it up or damage it in any other way? If she just runs with it and eventually gets bored with it, then I'd just completely ignore the behavior altogether. Then when she picks up a toy instead of one of your items, you can chase her and make a big [rewarding!] deal out of her grabbing one of HER toys! That way she'll learn that taking her stuff is really reinforcing, but taking other stuff isn't fun at all.

If she chews it and tears it up, then that's self reinforcing, and this method probably won't work.