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Posted by Alyssa on January 19, 2009, 5:20 pm, in reply to "food stealing"
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Well, two thoughts come to mind.
1) You have a 4 y/o RR. 
Many RRs are food thieves (I own one.) their whole lives. It really doesn't have a whole lot to do with training or respect, IME, despite what some trainers will say. They're just piglets with opportunistic minds. The instant reward of food is worth any punishment or delayed reward. We just practice prevention around here as best we can by keeping food out of reach -- even our guests keep watch (they're used to it by now!) or by crating her when we are too busy to monitor her sneakiness. That said, in her 3 years with us, Lilly has made off with everything from dill pickles to bread and we're *pretty* sure she was the one who ate a sizable chunk of cake over Christmas.
Our dogs also get samples of what we eat just about every day, so they've also learned that if they're patient and not too pushy, they'll get a taste. If they're rude or try to grab something they're not supposed to, it's crate time and no goodie. It helps that we have 3 RRs. If one gets "dog jail" and the other two get a snack, it doesn't take long for them to figure out why!
2) Dogs with hypothyroidism often have ravenous appetites.
Some will give you tips for throwing cans of pennies, making cayenne pepper sandwiches, or other tricks. Might work for some dogs; might not. Guess I just accept the thieving as part of who these dogs are and do my best to work around it.
-- Alyssa.
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