# Taking Everything



## nyrangers10 (Jul 5, 2017)

Ok so I'm not sure this is a "problem" necessarily, but I'm just wondering what the best option is in training our pup to not put everything in her mouth. Let me explain. Alvie is a wonderful 7 month old girl who is great at potty training, crating, night time, etc. But she has one big frustrating thing that she does.

1. On walks/outside she constanhtly grabs sticks, grass, clumps of dirt, pine cones, wood chips, leaves. She then will either eat or chew it till it breaks apart to sizes that she can swallow. I'm constantly stopping our walks to pull stuff out of her mouth. She still gets stuff even though I'm pretty vigilant in pulling her away from things on the ground.

2. Inside our house we try to keep everything out of reach. But if anything (and I mean anything) is within reach, she will grab it...especially if we aren't paying attention to her. Clothing, shoes, mail, greeting cards, paper...basically anything she can get she will grab and then run around the house with it. I know we shouldn't chase her, but sometimes the items she grabs we have to get back from her quickly so she doesn't ruin it or cause harm to herself by ingesting it. It obviously becomes a game to her because she drops it as soon as we catch her.

Basically I know she does this for attention, and frankly she gets it from us. Is there anything we can do to break this behavior? Will it eventually end on its own? We have tried a spray bottle to stop her from counter surfing with medium success. She still jumps on the counters but gets off much quicker when we say "Alvie off". 

I just don't know how to break the habit of eating everything in sight and making a game out of it. Is it a problem of not enough exercise?

Any advice or training tips are appreciated!

Thanks everyone!


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

My Recollection of Puppy hood makes this seem normal, but at 7months... the Leave it command is a necessity!! Besides the number one command... Come! Leave it! is the second most important commandment! It can save your pup's life.
I don't know how, or what method you are using to train your pup, but if you are treating... get serious with making your pup LEAVE the treat, and go from there.

I will advise you to teach your dog Appropriate items to keep in its mouth, because this breed will do that for their entire life. Holding a toy or ball, is better than going for a hand. 
My dog Zeke... now 3yrs... ALWAYS grabs a toy when greeting people, or gets excited, or knows we are going for a walk. I must clean the toys out of the car constantly, because he will carry one to the car everyday we leave to head for our canyon, or park... 
Max on the other hand... My friends dog to whom I am his second mom, has not been taught well. He will steal tissue, napkins, paper towels... he doesn't respect the command " Leave it" but he knows when I use it ... He better give me what he stole. That includes, my shoe... couch pillow, a shirt he can grab... my dress, or skirt... what ever he can get his mouth on... but he is better when I have him more than one day... it is like he remembers... oh yes... she makes me mind!
These dogs are very smart, it is up to you to be consistent with what you want from them because they can figure it out... and they WANT to please you! Be sure you are using POSITIVE training and praise when you get the results you want. They like it! Never Never Never punish ... YOU will live to regret it!


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

In addition to the"Leave it!" command, it's important for them to have lots of "approved" toys available to them, the law of averages suggests that the more of their stuff they can go for the less likely they are to go for yours. And when they do, it's an opportunity to praise...and vice versa when they go for your stuff..but make sure you offer an approved toy as a trade. Put the spray bottle away...these are Vizslas and they don't respond to insults like that. You need to appeal to both their high need to please (don't underestimate the power of a frown and ignoring them) as well as their intellect, they will figure out what your expectations are if you're clear...which they get from praise for doing right, not just your displeasure when they done wrong.

No, he will not outgrow this, if anything, it will become worse and it will be harder to undo. Make sure he understands and knows the acceptable substitute.


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## Starrpath (Nov 7, 2017)

I think this is a common thing with the Vizsla and can be frustrating. What I do is teach into the problem instead of trying to teach out of the problem. What that means is that I take the natural inclination of the dog and mold it into acceptable behavior. The Vizsla is a pointing dog who is also a retriever. Over the centuries they have been culled and praised for their hunting, pointing, retrieving abilities, therefore working into/with what has been bred into them is going to get better results.
1) Yes, teach the Come command. I like teaching whistle recall because if the dog is ever out of hearing range of my voice, they can still respond to the whistle. But you can start with just the Come command. At 7 months she will catch on very fast. If you haven't trained her to sit, one of you should hold her several feet away from the other. The one not holding should have a treat. Let Alvie know you have a treat, she will be excited but restrained. Tell her "Whoa" and hold out your hand in the stop sign way. Calmly, but somewhat loudly, say Come! and have her restrainer release her at the same moment. Hold the treat low, so she doesn't learn to jump up at you, and give it to her as she comes. Praise her and do it again. Do it about 5 times in a row several times a day/week. She will learn very soon to "Whoa" before the "Come" command and to come when called.
2) Bring a toy for her on walks, one she can carry with safety. When she wants to pick something else up, show it to her and lightly toss it to her, she will catch it and be very proud of herself as she parades it around to show everyone.
3) Never, ever, chase her when she has something of yours. Instead use the Come command as you stay in place. When she comes, praise her and be prepared with a treat. Hold your open hand out to her, tell her "give" or "drop it" or "mine" or "hand", whatever command you like to use when asking her to give it to you. When she drops it, or you gently remove it from her mouth, give her the treat and praise her. Never tug it out of her mouth. You can keep a hold of it but don't tug it. If she resists at all show her the treat, you can even wave it under her nose. As soon as she opens her mouth, say your command again, take the object and give her the treat. It won't take long and she will know to bring you the item, on command, undamaged. When used with a tennis ball, that then gets tossed again, this becomes it's own reward. Essentially you will have trained your dog to retrieve to hand and that's pretty cool.


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## nyrangers10 (Jul 5, 2017)

Sorry it took so long to reply, but thanks so much!

I actually started saying "Leave" on walks and she normally does let it go. 

We don't really punish her when she takes things, but so far any sort of "come" or "leave" when she has it in her mouth is unsuccessful. If she is outside getting into sticks and leaves, she completely ignores me when I say come. 

I guess I will have to work on it more!

Thanks,


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Rule One in dog training is: Never give a command you cannot enforce. So, if she isn't reliable on recall, don't recall her as it only reinforces her sense of control and gives her the actual choice of disobeying. Work instead on reliability in general, be it recall or leave it. When you're sure she gets it, only then do you apply the command. Otherwise you create other bad behaviors in addition to the one you're trying to resolve.

Training is actually easier than most people think, once they understand how their dog's mind actually works: The first step is to consistently define the word and help the dog connect it to it's own behavior, and then reinforce it consistently. Most people just assume their dog knows what the various commands mean, and then become angry or disappointed or shocked with the dog when they don't show understanding of the actual concept or request. This isn't so much an issue of a poorly trained dog but rather a poorly trained owner.


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## cosmoKenney (Dec 8, 2017)

I agree with leave it. It's very easy to train a V to leave it. Amazing, really, how well they pick things up, and then remember it for the rest of their life. That being said, I'm a big believer in don't "sweat the small stuff". Don't make a big deal over the occasional stick on a walk, or cardboard around the house. Ignore it and shift their attention to something else. Like your socks. The idea here is to make sure that when you do give a command, they know you are serious. If you try to stop them every single time, they eventually tune you out. Save the leave it for when they try to eat the neighbor dog's poop. Or the cooked chicken bones they inevitably find discarded on the ground at the park. As far as I'm concerned some pine or paper or dirt is fine, but try to distract them with an easy going tone. Redwood, on the other hand, not so good -- too splintery. Other animals leavings, not so good. When you do command them and they listen, praise them like they won the Nobel prize.


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