Excessive Pillow "Retrieving"

[Dogtag]

We are aware that 'retrieving' is expected from a Golden Retriever, but ours will retrieve pillows from all over the house and generally bring them to the common area. He'll shake it until its damaged or try to 'hump it' if its large enough.

My wife, who is home with him all day, is ready to put him on antidepressants, but I'm not so keen on that. He does get a fair amount of attention and exercise.

Does anyone have any great home remedies for this?

[Karen]

Do you tell hime "no!" when he does this? Have you thought of keeping pillows out of reach when not in use, so he has to retreive something else? Simply stuffing them in a closet and shutting the door would do the trick for bed pillows, at least. Does he have other toys that he could be diverted from the pillow with?

Oh, yes - how old is he? Has he been doing this long?

And most importantly, welcome to Pet Talk! There are lots of Golden Retreiver fans here, you'll be in good comapny!

[Dogtag]

We have tried 'no', quite sternly. He is 6 years old. He will listen if we catch him in the act.
We have hidden or put out of reach all stuffed animals, but would have bare couches if we hid all those pillows. We block him from those areas when we are not home, but he sneaks off and 'hits' them when we are busy doing other things (even if we just exercised him).

[Karen]

Oh, 6 years old isn't a puppy anymore, so that can't be his excuse! For the couch, I'd suggest a nice slip-cover (gold-colored to match his fur perhaps?). Have you tried the "spray with a water bottle when caught" or the "soda bottle with pennies in it that makes a bad noise when thumped" approaches when he is caught? The water bottle may not work, some retrievers view it as reward, not punishment ... There are sprays that theoretically make things "taste" bad, but I don't know if they're okay to use on absorbant stuff like pillows, or what they'd smell like to you ...

Any ideas, anyone else?

[lbaker]

I had an old black lab that had a "thing" for pillows so I tried to substitute great big knuckle bones. It worked sort of but then she tried to bury the bones under pillows, cushions..you name it. Dug up everything in the house to bury her spitty, slimey bones. Beware of substitutes, sometimes they are as bad as the original
laurie

[RachelJ]

You didn't say whether your guy had any toys of his own that he can legitimately play with. It sounds like he would enjoy a few stuffies (or unstuffies as they eventually can become).

Get him a big old basket full of them. He can spend his day going to get them and dragging them all over the house. Maybe you can even train him to put them back. Both of my dogs like to take the stuffies outside with them, but only Hannah will go to get them to bring them back in.

[ October 30, 2001: Message edited by: RachelJ ]

[Albea]

I know is very annoying for you, but I had to laugh when I read your posting. My first Golden, Natasha the Red Menace, used to have a thing for pillows also. Her trick was to exchange the ones from upstairs to the ones in the living room. She would run up and down the stairs exchanging pillows like an interior decorator.
She outgrew that as she got older. Since your Golden is 6 already, the only hope for getting him to understand that his behavior is not acceptable is training. Or, if you can live with bare couches for a while, perhaps he will forget about the pillows. Try to get him interested in some other kind of toys or chewees. Please, try, if you can, to avoid medication. We, as humans, are too used to solve all our problems by popping down pills. What our furry friends need is discipline
Good luck and let us know how he's doing. What is his name?
It might help if you try to find some answers from the American Dog Trainers Network at: http://www.canine.org/

[ October 30, 2001: Message edited by: Albea ]

[Dixieland Dancer]

Dogtag, Welcome to Pet Talk. It is a wonderful site and everybody has one thing in common, They Love their pets!

There are several possible explanations for this behavioral change. Typically this behavior occurs due to sexual hormone influences, dominance behavior, anxiety, and sometimes as a sort of obsessive/compulsive disorder.


You didn't mention if the Golden in question is fixed or not. Also how long has this behavior been present. Was there something that may of changed in the environment when this behavior originated. If the dog is 6 and this behavior is just starting and no environment variable can be identified, it may be medical.

One thing that gave me a red flag though was that you hid his stuffed toys! Please give them back to him immediately. Without them you can be causing him stress and anxiety! Especially in a Golden who usually bears gifts of toys when greeting their owners or guests!

There are some reports of hypothyroidism causing behavioral changes of this
nature and corticosteroids (such as prednisone) sometimes inducing
behavioral changes in dogs. Is the dog on any kind of medication at all? If so for what?

Have your vet check the dog for medical conditions. If the testosterone levels are normal, hypothyroidism is probably not present.

If no medical reason can be found then this would have to be treated as a
behavioral problem. It would be really helpful to have the advice of a
behaviorist in this case, because this can happen as a result of displaced aggression, dominance behavior, stress and probably other reasons. Sorting through these is easier with the help of an expert.

I hope that this helps some. If you can shed any other light on the subject it may help!

[ktreva52]

It sounds to me like someone has entirely too much time on his paws! You don't mention if you have done any obedience work with this dog (i.e., classes)? Does he have a crate? Perhaps a little time in the crate when he cannot be supervised more would help curb this problem. I would recommend your wife taking him to obedience class to establish herself as higher in the "pack" than he is. Does he do this more when you're not home, more when you're home, or does it seem to make any difference?

You could try bitter apple on the pillows, although I wouldn't put it on the bed pillows as you don't know if you'll have a problem with sleeping on the stuff. It is not supposed to stain or discolor, but try it on a hidden part first and see how it does. It is really quite nasty tasting and may help break this cycle.

You also don't mention how you and your wife respond when he does this. Do you yell and chase him (what fun -- a game)? Do you give him something in exchange for the pillows (I did a good thing, because I'm being rewarded)? Or do you just give him a "drop it" command and expect him to obey? Then, you could calmly put the pillows back where they belong and find him something better to do. Sometimes, strong negative responses become positive reinforcement, because they garner attention he is not ordinarily getting. Try not to make a big scene about it. Calmly take hold of his collar and the pillow and tell him to "give" or "drop it". When he complies, praise him profusely for being a really good boy. You might also work on teaching him "leave it", where, when he heads for a pillow place, he gets told to "leave it" and when he does, he gets praise rewards and loving. If he doesn't "leave it", he gets it taken away (calmly) and then is praised for giving it back. Take him with you when you return the pillow to place and give him a stern "leave it". Then, walk away and encourage him to come too. If he does, praise, praise, praise.

If the whole process becomes too much of a hassle, perhaps some "time out" in his crate will allow tempers to cool and let you get back into a more tranquil state of mind. I would close bedroom doors and keep an eye on the couch pillows all day. I know it's a chore, but the alternative is a naked couch and a very frustrated dog and wife. He needs some activity for the energy he has and obedience training will help. He may be six, but he sounds like the type that will be a puppy until arthritis slows him down and makes him mature.

The other possibility I see here is to perhaps work with him on his leash in the house. That way, your wife could keep him close at all times and have more control over what he is doing at any given moment. If he goes for pillows while on lead, she can give a quick correction to get his attention off the pillow and give him something else to do -- a bone, a nylabone, a tug toy, anything else.

I hope all this helps and hope, too, that you'll keep us posted on how he's doing. And welcome to the site.

[AdoreMyDogs]

I am sorry but I don't have any advice, everyone who has give advice has been great and I hope you find their advice helpful.

I just wanted to comment on Tucker Tucker, you are SOOOOO adorable! They don't come any cuter then you, little boy I absolutely love you, little Tucker

[Hbrika]

Our yellow girl Gully does the same thing.
She has a large tartan dog bed that she loves to shake about sometimes.

She is a good dog most of the time but she knows its 'her' bed and she loves to harass it.

I can get her to back down if I am stern but the one thing that is guaranteed to work is to drop her blue indian rubber ball beside her. She then gallops after it. Mind you we now have a large clumsy lab dog chasing a ball around the house but I can get her to bring it to me because she wants to play.

Oh a treat would work too but I dont want to give her a treat for shaking things.

Running outside will bring her her galloping along too and I will do that if I want to chase her around outside

[carrie]

Dixieland Dancer hit the nail on the head ( again!...becoming a bit of a habit....we are agreeing too much, but I kind of like it!!!)
This is soooooo a dominance behaviour.

Take every cushion your dog has access to away and shut the doors to the bedrooms. Leave one cushion that you are not too keen on, you know, the least favourite, on the sofa all the time.
Agree with all other people in the house that when this behaviour happens that you have one topic of conversation that you don't discuss at any other time. Try baseball, football, insurance....anything! If you have an argument to settle this is the ideal time to discuss it as it will make you laugh, however strongly you feel about it, because it is such a false conversation.
As soon as the dog appears with the cushion you sart to talk about your chosen topic. Only look at the people in the room and totally ignore the dog - don't look at or speak to the dog no matter what it does.
BEWARE! This will work but you have to be committed.....it may take two hours for the dog to understand that it's behaviour is getting it nowhere. Especially as the behaviour has been a sure fire way for the dog to centre attention on it for so long.
Be strong and do this for two weeks and your dog will not even remember that cushions mean recognition. I promise.
Prepare yourselves in advance, it is not as easy as it sounds. Even a quick look to see what the dog is doing gives the dog the recognition it is working for.
You have to keep this up every time, remembering that the behaviour is likely to get worse before it gets better.
The first time you are succesful in ignoring the behaviour will be the longest (remember don't look, don't speak to the dog) and the periods of attention seeking with this method will shorten dramatically after that.

You can acknowledge and praise the dog, even if you have been talking about insurance for three and half hours, only if the dog has been lying down and not chewing the cushion or holding it for ten mimutes.

It's tougher on you than it is on the dog and it works if you can manage the total ignore.

Oh yeah, if you are on your own in the house it gets harder to ignore....but if you want to stop the behaviour start making and drinking lots of tea, read a lot and wear earphones if you listen to music!

[jackiesdaisy1935]

Hi Dogtag, I don't have any advice, just wanted to say welcome, we have wonderful people on here that know so much about dogs, you can't go wrong listening to them.
Also I just wanted to say Tucker, I'm it love with you.
Jackie