Revised 9/13/24

By Anthony De Marinis, CDBC, ADT

That’s Mine! 

Ok so your puppy grabbed your sock and is running around the house with it. Or maybe your puppy is chewing on your shoe or the mail. What do you do?

Most people think that taking the item out of puppy’s possession and saying “no” teaches the puppy to stop. Well, this actually depends. Though this can work, there are many consequences that can be attached to this if the puppy doesn’t learn to stop taking your socks or whatever it is puppy is taking.

Why Do Puppies Chew On Or Take Items? 

There are many reasons puppies chew. It can be comforting during the teething stage. It can be an enjoyable activity to others. It can be a way for puppy to learn to get your attention or an outlet for boredom just to name a few.

Don’t Chase Your Puppy

Let’s start with chasing. The reason you shouldn’t chase your puppy around the house if she has your sock (or whatever item) is because you may accidentally be teaching your puppy chasing and running away from you is an enjoyable game. You may not realize that you could be rewarding your puppy as running away from you with a valued treasure could become enjoyable. Furthermore, you may be teaching your puppy the way to get your attention is for the puppy to grab an item, which will then cause you to react, thereby, the chase me game begins!

So if you chase your puppy, what ends up happening is at some point you will stop or corner your puppy and then remove the item. This will teach your puppy that the end of this chase game sucks because you took the item they had. This can teach a puppy a few things. First, it can teach them the game of you chasing them was fun. Next, the puppy can learn they need to avoid you more by running away quicker or hiding from you to keep possession of the said item they have taken. Some puppies will get wise to this and they will learn specific hiding spots like being under the bed or table just to name a few. The other issue that can occur from this is you could teach your puppy to be afraid of you if they find the chasing to become stressful or intimidating, especially if you get angry. This could teach a puppy to actually hide or avoid you when they have a stolen treasure. And in some cases, if chasing becomes stressful or the puppy starts learning you will be taking the item away, they may start learning to possess or resource guard the item. The more this occurs, the worse this behavior can become.

Don’t Steal Items From Your Puppy 

Similar to chasing a puppy, stealing or removing items from your puppy can have similar consequences. When puppy has an item and you remove it, you are teaching puppy that you will steal from them, even though the item puppy had was yours. Doing this can cause puppy to learn to hide from or avoid you. It can also teach puppy that when they have an item and they hear you coming or see you approaching them, they will run away with the item. Again, this could reward puppy with chasing or it could teach the puppy they may loose their item or something stressful or scary may occur. And lastly, this could teach your puppy to become possessive and resource guard the item once you approach or have cornered them only making problems worse.

So, What Should You Do?

1- Puppy Proof Your Home: First, before I go over how to address the issue of your puppy taking taking your socks, shoes and underwear (or whatever else puppy can get her mouth on), the FIRST step in setting up you and your puppy to be successful is to puppy proof your home! This means, put your stuff away or block off areas where puppy shouldn’t access to prevent issues from occurring. A friend of mine always says his house is never cleaner than when he gets a puppy because the less opportunity your puppy has to take or chew things around your home, the less likely she will do it and the easier it will be to teach her how to live peacefully in your home for life. To learn how to puppy proof your home, you can check out my blog on puppy proofing.

2- Trade The Items: When puppy has something of yours that you do not want her to destroy, trade it out with a couple treats or teach your puppy to drop the item. You can simply do this by walking towards your puppy and toss 3 to 5 small treats towards puppy. Let the treats land in front of her so she potentially gets excited and distracted. Once she is finished eating the treats, toss another 2 or so treats past her so that she has to go chase the treats. Now you have removed your puppy from the item they have stolen because they are running after the treats. At this point you can remove the item while puppy isn’t paying attention. You have now removed the conflict or the game that was occurring by chasing and or stealing. I prefer tossing treats towards the puppy rather than approaching the puppy and handing them food because this can become harder for the puppy to decide whether to take the food or keep the item they currently have.

3- Teaching Drop It: Teaching your puppy how to drop items when asked is another way to address this problem. There are a few approaches to teaching a puppy to “Drop” an item when asked. And in some cases you may need to teach this behavior away from the problem or issue you are having so that your puppy doesn’t associate the word “drop” with you stealing or chasing them. AND it is also VERY important to teach a puppy that more often then not, when you ask for puppy to “drop” that you will give them the item back by saying “take it” and then presenting them with the item. This is important so that puppy doesn’t learn “drop” means you are now removing the item as some puppies will learn to hold on to and or run away from you when asking them to “drop”. This is where using items you don’t care about and providing puppy with little structured training sessions to teach “drop” are very important. I am happy to teach you this in your training session the next time we see each other! Here is a simple How To Video on the Introduction to Teaching “Drop”.

Important Training Tips for Trading and Dropping Items: It is important to point out that teaching a puppy to trade and or drop items isn’t fool proof. They can come with their own baggage as well. For example, some puppies will learn to grab items so that they can get the treat reward for trading or dropping. This is why puppy proofing your home is very important, as to minimize and reduce chewing or taking items. But the reality is which is the lesser or two evils? Would you rather your puppy take an item and run off with it or even avoid you or would you rather your puppy take an item and expect treats for now? I personally would prefer my puppy to expect treats for now.

4- A Couple Extra Things To Consider: 

• Provide your puppy with structured chewing time. This is where puppy has access to chew on a special chew or bone item that you provide them at certain times of day. Providing puppy with structured chew time reduces the opportunity for them to chew on your stuff, thereby teaching puppy to chew on their own stuff.
• Boredom can be another reason a puppy chews or steals items. Providing puppy with mental and physical enrichment outlets are very important. This can be going for an exploration walk or hike, allowing puppy to play in a contained space to blow off steam, playing tug of war, having a puppy playdate, structured training time at home, in public or at a group class or taking puppy with you to run an errand.
• Providing structured nap time. Some puppies can become excessively mouthy and chew on or destroy things when they are becoming frustrated, cranky or tired. Placing puppy in their crate or play pen for a structured nap is very important, especially if your puppy cannot put themselves to sleep.
• DO NOT allow puppy to have the entire run of the house. If puppy is going to be free to roam, only allow puppy to be in the space you are in. Do not allow puppy to roam the house freely as you are teaching puppy they can start creating their own fun by explore and getting into things. Block off areas with baby gates, close doors to rooms and even have a drag line on your puppy (A drag line is simply clipping a leash to your puppy and allowing it to drag around so that you have six feet to stop or grab the puppy if needed. It is important to remember a puppy could get caught or stuck on something like a piece of furniture so make sure to be supervising puppy at all times so puppy doesn’t get stuck, hurt or choke.).
• If you cannot actively supervise your puppy, place her in her play pen or crate until she earns more freedom as she becomes more trustworthy as she matures. This will prevent your puppy from having to opportunity to chew on or take items.
• Hire a professional dog trainer to help you and your puppy succeed together!

What About When Puppy Picks Items Up Off the Street On A Walk?

I know some of you are probably wondering what to do when puppy picks up items off the street while out walking around the neighborhood. You have a couple options. If the item is NOT dangerous such as a piece of paper, a twig or leaf, just leave it alone. Allow your puppy to explore and pick things up as long as the item is not dangerous and the puppy isn’t trying to ingest the item. When my dog Quest was a puppy, she would occasionally find a face mask on the street or small twigs. She would toss these items in the air, play with them, hold them or chew on them a little bit. I never made a big deal of it. Most of the time I would pretend I didn’t see the item and would allow her to have the item while we continued our walk. Eventually she would loose interest in it, let go of it and move on with the walk.

If you start becoming an over baring, annoying helicopter mom you will teach your puppy to grab items and avoid you even though your puppy may be on a leash. You can also teach your puppy having items in their possession is conflicting and they may need to hold onto it, resource guard it or even ingest the item if they have nowhere to go with the item because they are on a leash. And in other cases you might teach your puppy picking something up becomes some fun attention-seeking game of some kind.

In situations where you feel you need to remove the item from your puppy, this is where trading with puppy can become helpful. I suggest bringing your treat pouch and treats that puppy loves on the walk with you.

What Happens If Puppy Has Something Dangerous? Or Something Valuable To Me?

If puppy has something dangerous or toxic that could cause harm to them, this is the ONLY time I will take the item or swab their mouth. The same goes for if puppy has an item of mine that is of significant value. Otherwise you will not see me grab or swab my puppies mouth. And if you find yourself in these situations regularly, even weekly, then you have some issues going on that need addressing. Contact a professional to help you immediately.

About Anthony De Marinis

Anthony De Marinis provides in-home dog training and behavior modification on Long Island, NY. He is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) as well as an Accredited Dog Trainer (ADT) from the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC). His dog training and behavior services include puppy training, obedience and manners training, teaching owners and dogs how to play in order to develop confidence and build a relationship. Anthony also works with dogs that display a number of behavior issues including leash reactivity, fear, anxiety and aggressive behavior. Working with dogs that are bred for sports and dogs that just have high energy is a special interest of his. Anthony also enjoys working with dedicated dog owners and dog hobbyists who enjoy spending time with their dog and are looking to provide their dog with more advanced training for fun and relationship building. Anthony loves learning with and training his two dogs, Journey and Quest, who are Australian Kelpies. He currently trains them in agility, nose work, sheep herding and mondio obedience.