Retriever Rescue

I am getting worried now. You have all read about Molly's antics with food thievery - and most of you have thieves and vagabonds of your own. But it's gone too far now. The little tinker has made herself sick with a whole toblerone, a bagel and half a loaf of bread.

Did I inadvertently leave them on the floor or the coffee table? NOPE.

Did I leave them near the edge of the kitchen surface? NOPE.

To get the bread and the bagel she had to get right to the back of the kitchen surface and navigate her way round the toaster and a selection of plastic squash bottles. The edible items are always kept BEHIND the other stuff because Molly is such a horror for thievery. She pushed all the bottles aside and got her bagel and bread delicately through the gaps.

If you think that's clever, wait till you hear what she had to do for the toblerone. It was in its box and foil ........ under a pile of socks and assorted birthday presents ...... in a gift bag ........ in a wardrobe ....... in my bedroom.

The bedroom door was pulled to - so she has mastered the door handle.

The wardrobe has 3 doors - two of which were closed and one was very slightly ajar (about 1/8th of an inch) because my blouse was hanging on it ready to wear.

The gift bag was at the opposite end of the wardrobe from the open door end, it stands up on its own because it is so thick and is about 2 feet high all round. AND it had ALL of my birthday presents in it - sweets, socks, perfume, assorted undies and a couple of books. The toblerone was near the bottom but the other items had been carefully pushed a side or removed from the bag and dropped on the floor.

Please tell me I'm not carelessly leaving contraband lying bout the house. Who would have thought she'd go to so much effort to get a loaf of dry bread. How was I supposed to stop her rooting out a hidden toblerone? I was even expecting sparkly poops because I'm almost certain I didn't pick up the remnants of enough foil wrapping from the toblerone.

The vet's no good either. He is competent to check her belly and give her what amounts to Rennie but he has no clue how to prevent a recurrence.

Can anyone help me out at all? Molly's ingenuity and greed know no bounds and I'm worried she's going to seriously hurt herself soon. Is there ANYTHING I can do to stop her being a garbage disposal dog?

She's having dry food twice a day and 6 dog biscuits for training. She often gets bits and pieces like the fatty bit of the ham or a couple of spare mussels or the cartiledge from the middle of the skate. I put the scraps (when there are some - which is probably about 3 or 4 times a week) in the bottom of her bowl under the dry food at meal times for interest.

She always has a huge bowl of water, which is refreshed twice a day and she drinks about normally I think.

Her poops are remarkably uninteresting. Usually the same colour, no worms, good consistency (except after toblerones).

I'm at a loss. She's happy as anything, she loves our friends who scratch her and accompany her to the beach, she has her doggie friends at the park, she gets rawhide bones when Alfie comes to visit and if we have to leave her alone (maybe once or twice a week for an hour or two at the most) she gets a kong full of foul smelling liver or peanut butter kong spray to keep her busy.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi Molly's Maid,
She has really excelled herself this time, hasn't she?
Just a couple of things........was she alone in the house when all this happened?......and if so, for how long? Goldens are very much people dogs and they crave company and if left too long they become bored.....their best mate has gone out and forgotten to take them too!!

When you are out, does she have the run of the house? Maybe certain rooms could be... out of bounds....they are in our house. Ella has stolen once, and that was because her routine was changed. When we have to go out without her, she has access to the kitchen and the hallway, and that's all.
We remove all temptation if we can. When we return, she is always rewarded for being a "good girl". She doesn't get tit-bits very often either.

Now, you could be thinking, poor Ella, but she loves the "routine" and she is a very happy Golden.

Having said all that, I think that their previous history has a lot to do with their behaviour. Molly may have had to fight for food and attention, which could very well explain this behaviour. Perhaps some re-training with dog trainer.

Let us know how thing go.

Wow That is amazing. They are so clever when they want to be.

However I do feel that some Goldens are born thieves and carry on regardless. Or they are so inquisitive and have lucky finds sometime.

My Tessa has only just grown out of stealing and she is nearly 15 so I can not give you much hope. Tessa is the one who very gently moved the lid off the 5lbs of Quality street and ate the lot with the lid only half off.

Not much help am I ????

Hi there!
I am inclined to agree with Ella's Mum, that much of the problem can relate to the dog's past. We had Meg from a puppy, and no matter how we tried, we could not get her to understand that things in cupboards, on worktops etc., were not for dogs!
In fact we had a gentleman visiting on financial business, on one occasion, and she went in my wardrobe and brought out a load of my nicks and bras and joyfully presented them to him. He was a little surprised to say the least!! Talk about open invitation!!
Sam, on the other hand, who is a rescue dog, is exactly the opposite. He had been very well trained when we got him - all the usual, sit, down, stay, AND do not touch. We can put food on the floor or on a low coffee table, and say Do Not Touch, and we can leave the room, and it is still there when we come back. We have left stuff on the coffee table all night after a party, and it was still there next morning. Mind you, he was afraid to go his bowl to eat when we got him, and I used to have to get down and persude him to eat. He got over all that long ago, but still he never steals. We have always thought, from the way he was afraid of men, and still views them with suspicion if he does not know them, that he was very very strictly trained, perhaps with an element of unkindness. We are so lucky though that we can leave things around.
We do, however, always close bedroom doors when we go out (if we didn't, who knows, we might find him doing a transvestite turn when we came back!!)
I think prevention is better than cure, but again, there is a limit to that.
Best of luck - after Meg, I have every sympathy.
Best wishes - Joyce (Samsmum)

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Was she alone? Well....Yes and no.

She pinched the bread and bagel while I was in the shower getting ready to go out. Then I went out and closed the bedroom doors - both bedrooms are out of bounds and so is the bathroom (due to her preference for water from the toilet bowl over fresh water in a dog bowl). I was gone for 2 hours and 20 minutes. I left her a full kong, a ball with holes in that they can wheedle little bits of biscuity things out of, and a fresh squeaky toy, which is the love of her life. In that time she opened the bedroom door for the first time ever (catburglars eat your hearts out) and feasted on the toblerone leaving only the box and a few remnants of the silver paper.

Shiny doggy poops are now a reality in Scarborough - well one is anyway.

I still can't believe she managed to do it. She is usually really good about not coming into my bedroom. I've taught her not to go in there even if the door is open. If I'm getting dressed in there she will flop herself down outside the door and wait for me. The furthest she has ever come in is to stick her head round the door to make sure I'm still there. (worse than a husband telling his wife she's taking too long to get ready!)

Time to invest in slide bolts I suppose.

And a re-naming ceremony. Molly may in future be known as Ronnie Biggs ..... a very FAT version of Ronnie Biggs at that! How many calories are there in that little feast of hers?

I have to say that even in light of all the concern for her health and mild frustration at having my toblerone pinched I am secretly quite impressed at her ingenuity. I'm fighting the urge to say, "That's my girl"!

What a little tinker Thought Cobi was the biggest 'thievey treevie' she doesn't come even close to Molly

But you can't help but love them

She is certainly a clever girl, I too have two theives if I let them, but the "leave it" in a firm fishwife voice usually stops them but Paddy has now become a "silent theif" my back can be turned for a fraction of a second and whoosh its gone.... he again ate my lovely salmon sandwich yesterday, and to day was eyeing up my cheese one,and I too am having problems trying to keep the weight off him....but you are not alone we are all members of a very distinguished club...