Routine

[Poch]

Can we be to soft with a collie I feel my 5 year old is running rings round me at times He is for ever stealing and picking up things which he shouldn’t have The box of tissues, an envelope, a glove or hat anything which might have been left out, I think I may have made it worse by inadvertently rewarding him by taking the object off him and giving a small treat Now he seems to think that he can pick anything up bring it to me and I will treat him. I do say no in a firm voice but should I be doing something else 

 

[diane allen]

First, "no" has no meaning to dogs. They don't know how to "not" do anything.  They only know how to "do."

You may have inadvertently rewarded what you don't want.  They train us well!  So, now you need to reward what you DO want.  It might be "down," or "go to bed," or whatever your dog knows (or you can teach now!).  Another option would be to train him to find something specific - a toy ("go find zebra" etc.), or even a treat.  Start easy - put him in a separate space/room; put a treat in an easily accessible place (middle of the floor); cue with "find treat" (or whatever you want to say).  Make it harder and harder as he figures it out.  If he brings something else, I would probably say "Oops!" in a happy voice, and try again.  

Sounds like you have a smart one!  You just need to be smarter!  Good luck.

diane

[D'Elle]

Yep.....you have trained this dog to "steal" things in order to give them up and then get a treat. Fortunately, you can retrain this. The above advice is good. I would add that it will help if you put everything you do not want him to pick up out of his reach and only leave down his own toys. 

But don't feel bad about being "too soft" with your dog. 'Tis better to be too soft with most dogs, especially border collies who are so sensitive, than to be too hard. It's good that you have not been punishing him. 

[Nuance]

Poch,

 From experience, you can be to soft. 

If you go with Drop it, Leave it (no treats). That's enough to learn the dog.

 My dogs don't bring me things unless they want something, like to play fight or go outside, they want attention.  Try and figure out what your dog is trying to tell you it wants. 

 

[D'Elle]

On 12/22/2023 at 5:44 PM, Nuance said:

Poch,

 From experience, you can be to soft. 

If you go with Drop it, Leave it (no treats). That's enough to learn the dog.

 My dogs don't bring me things unless they want something, like to play fight or go outside, they want attention.  Try and figure out what your dog is trying to tell you it wants. 

 

This is not about being "too soft". 

Telling someone to "go with drop it or leave it" doesn't tell them what to do with the current situation, because those are things that need to be trained.

Just saying that to the dog is not enough to "learn the dog" (I assume you mean teach the dog?)

But that's OK,  since this thread is a few weeks old the OP already got good advice on what to do and is probably doing well with their dog now.