Food stealing and toy apathy

[MaxBentley]

Hey all! I've been fostering a 6ish year old female border collie for about 6 weeks, and I'd like to adopt her.  Right now, she has a habit of jumping up onto the counters and swiping any food sitting there, even right after she has been fed. Both of these behaviors happen when I'm away at work, so I can't catch her in the act and reprimand her. I've been reading that the best way to keep a border collie from doing stuff like this is to keep her physically and mentally stimulated. For this, I take her out (walking, some running) twice a day for about 30 minutes each, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. She came to me somewhat weak and unfit, so I'm thinking that this should be enough exercise. The trouble is that she doesn't seem to be interested in the mental part of things. I've been trying to get her interested in rope toys, balls, chew toys, puzzles and kongs and she doesnt seem interested in them at all, even when food is involved. I suspect that she didn't have anything of the sort when she was growing up.

What are some things I can do to help solve the food swiping problem (apart from storing all the food away), and the lack of interest in toys?

 

Thanks!

-Max B

[GentleLake]

Welcome to the Boards, Max, and kudos to you for considering adopting this dog.

Solve the food stealing by either not leaving anything out that she can steal or by blocking her access to the kitchen so she doesn't have access. If she's motivated enough to jump over a gate and you don't have a door you can close then you may have to go with putting all food away.

You might be able to set her up so that when she checks out the counter she'll knock over some noisy empty cans stacked on the edge or on metal baking sheets jutting just over the edge that will crash down with a lot of noise. Still don't leave any food out or she may acclimate to the noise if she gets rewarded at the end of it.

Behaviors like this are rarely due simply to insufficient activity. The occur because they've worked in the past and are self rewarding, and she's learned that she'll be rewarded by doing it when you're not home because you're not there to interrupt her with consequences.

6 weeks in a new home is nothing. There's a trainer where I live who works with rescues a lot and he says the oft-quoted 2 week honeymoon period is woefully underestimated and that in reality it's more like 3 months. Depending on her past (if she had no access to toys or no one every played with her) it could take a long time before she develops any interest, if she does at all. When I adopted an approx. year and a half old stray it took months before I could get him interested in any toys and it was actually my other dog who first broke the ice with him in that regard. He was still offering new behaviors for a full year after I adopted him because it took him that long to be comfortable enough in his own mind I guess to try things out and develop a real personality of his own. I'd tried to interest him in balls to no avail and eventually pretty much gave up. 3 1/2 years later I brought home a new Egg Babies toy. If you're not familiar w/ them they have some small stuffed squeaky eggs that you can insert into a pouch in a larger toy for the dog to pull out and play with. He liked it and I'd sometimes toss the eggs in our interactive play. After a time with a lot of praise I was able to get him to retrieve them and eventually transfer the retrieve to tennis balls.

So be patient and don't loose hope. She may learn and develop more play behavior over time with your help. Don't forget to try other kinds of training -- simple obedience and/or tricks -- to engage her mentally. It may be slow going at first because as odd as it sounds structured learning doesn't always come naturally, especially when it isn't introduced young. There's a certain amount of learning associated with the process of learning, but once she starts it should trigger increased responsiveness as time goes on.

[urge to herd]

Thanks for taking her in, and considering keeping her. What G. Lake says about jumping up on to the counter because it paid off before is absolutely correct. I'd go further and say, 'Once is a habit for a border collie. ;) Anything that 'rewards' them in any way the first time they do it will become a favored act in their repertoire.

One of my previous dogs was quite the clown and very, very human oriented. He charmed everyone. If, when meeting a stranger, he did something goofy and the stranger laughed, or said, "Oh, how cute!" he'd do it again. Then start polishing it at home. Your girl has already taught herself a very rewarding 'trick' in finding food for herself when you're not around. 

As far as interesting her in toys, first, don't leave any toys laying around. Then, after a few days, pull one out and try playing with a toy yourself. Toss a ball in the air a few times, act like you're having a good time. Put it away. Repeat with different toys, and see if she shows any interest. IF and when she shows any interest, don't give it to her right away, keep playing, then put it away. Ratchet up her interest, then let her play tug or chase the ball or whathaveyou just for a couple minutes. Retrieve and hide the toy.

Ruth & Gibbs

 

[ShellyF]

Adopting is so rewarding

Our last dog was as good as gold but if we went out she would go round the house finding things to take to her bed. We could never leave food out or she would eat it but the things that ended up in her bed were hilarious!

it was hard to train her as she wouldn’t do it if we were there. So we lived with it and worked with it. 

When we first adopted her she didn’t want to play and followed us around like a miserable thing. Being calm and matter of fact was the key and eventually she realised we were all a calm and constant part of her life. We would play with dog toys with each other (in other words we humans played  on the floor with dog toys) and after a while she decided to join in. 

Patience and you’ll get there  

[D'Elle]

All the above advice is sound, and what I would have said. I will add only this: try a squeaky toy. I have seen that get the interest of a toyless dog when nothing else would. And make sure you look as if you are having a lot of fun with it.