My dog is driving me mad!!! I need some advice before I murder her!
She is 7 yrs old and was spayed last year and is a springer spaniel.  Up until the last few months, she was the ideal dog.  So obedient and not a bit of bother in the house or outside.  I couldn't like a dog more to live with in all honesty.
But lately, she's been stealing food, left right and centre! She steals my kids sandwiches right out their hands (unheard of) and she's been counter surfing and stealing food from the table too.  She was so well-trained that she would walk by a plate on the floor full of food and ignore till she was told she could!! Today, she has climbed onto the dining chairs and cleared the lunch while I had went to get the kids.  I'm so RAGING!! I had to put her outside,I am seriously so pee'd off.
I've recently done some 'leave' exercises with her again to brush up on that but this is not helping.  she NEVER touches anything while I am there so it's pretty hard to correct the behaviour?  This morning, I shouted at her and she knew what she had done(I was waving an empty plate! :O ) but I still don't know what to do? 
Can anyone give me a bit of advice?

Couple of things...
She is wormed recently (I did think this could be the issue)
She is raw fed and gets fed twice daily and has titbits inbetween too (crusts/biccys that sort of thing)
She is always on the least amount of food as she puts weight on easily but she is perfect weight at the min.
Her and my other spaniel are always competeing over food and snatching before the other can get there, etc.

Help please..... :(

Don't know if it will help but am sure victoria stilwell set up a cockerpoo who did this and corrected the unwanted behaviour.  She set food on the table, left the room and left doors open - basically setting the dog up to fail and then watched from the other room (perhaps you could do this from a window?). When he climbed on the chair and moved towards the plate she let off a short blast from an air horn but any sharp sound should work. It snapped the dog out of the behaviour and he left the food. She did this a couple of times everyday until the dog ignored any unsupervised food.

Hope that gives you some ideas?

Don't know if it will help but am sure victoria stilwell set up a cockerpoo who did this and corrected the unwanted behaviour. 

That was in her early days before she started positive training -she would not train like this these days.

When one of my older dogs started stealing food I had blood tests done.  There is always the chance that this is a health problem. 

Worth ruling out before you strangle her.

How long have you had the other spaniel?

It could be that competition for food has led her to snarf stuff 'before the other one gets it'?

Not sure how you' d stop her though.

We have a similar thing here.   Because of food competition,  we wouldn't trust the dogs with unsupervised food on the coffee table,  although kitchen worktops are fine.

Never had that before,  but then we never had more than one dog.

It could be because of the spay and hormones decreasing maybe?     We've recently speyed our 10 yo and are seeing a slight difference in her.    She now finishes her bowl of food first,  had always been a very slow eater all her life,  but not now! 

Hehehe, yes Jean, I think you are right!lol  I will try other avenues before strangling her!

she is 7 and our other spaniel is 4 and they have lived together since birth.  We also have a GSD with food issues the other way, she won't eat!!lol  She has only been like this for the last few months.  Only thing I can think was, we put her and the GSD in kennels about 6 weeks ago and they shared a kennel together.  It was clearly evident when we returned that the spaniel ate both food bowls at each sitting.  She was enormous and the GSD was skin and bone(she didn't have it to loose.).  she has been on a 'diet' since and is now back to her perfect weight.

I think you could be onto something with the food competition too.  They are always racing to beat each other to titbits, etc even though they both get the same. 

I've been doing some leave exercises with tasty food but they won't steal any food if I am there or they know I will know.  They are not daft.  I have also been getting more training at taking food slowly/nicely instead of this mad rush they have been doing.  I'm hoping this works :)

I found, with a rescue stray who stole food (including two chocolate orgies and a stomach pump-out :) ), that the only solution was to make sure that he never, ever, got the opportunity to steal. This totally stopped him and when, some years later, we had to live in our bedroom for a year or two and there was food everywhere neither he nor Tara ever stole anything :)

Cracar, I sympathies, it is a behaviour we can accept from a pup or adolescent but not a dog you've had for 7 years......... I am having the exact same problem but from one of my cats! :-D 13 years old, I've never had any food stealers here from dogs or cats, (apart from one of my mum's dogs) but over the last month this cat has started to do just as your dog is, his hunting ground has become my kitchen :-D......... driving me crazy too.

I have solved the problem by just shutting him out whilst I am making food and whilst we eat it, he is very well fed and dogs and cats always get left over meat and chicken, there has never been any reason to steal..... I will continue to just shut him out of the kitchen and dinning room at these times and take him off the counters whenever I see him there in-between.

Which is what I would do with your girl too, for now just solve the problem with a dog gate or shut door, you can begin 'puppy' training again, (ridiculous isn't it, ;-) when she's been good for 7 years, but I guess if medical reasons are not the cause, you'll have to re-programme her) it shouldn't take long,

You may never understand the cause, I sure don't know why my cat has started doing it?

You say she is on the least amount of food as she puts on weight easerly could she not just be feeling Hungry still? Since swapping mine to grain free she now needs feeding less to get what a dog of her size needs but she is still feeling hungry  So I'm going to start adding some veg to her food to help make her feel full up.

Yeah Jo, I do add veg to her meals already.  Mainly carrots and Potatoes but still.  I do get the impression that she is hungry still? But I have no idea how to up her food intake and keep her weight down?  She does seem more satisfied on dry food but again, her weight can be a problem on that too.  I will maybe add some dry to her dinner and see if that settles her too.
Thanks for all your advise :)

Carrington maybe you should get your cat tested for diabetes or over active thyroid. I had a cat with a massively increased appetite at aged 13 and she had both.

Treacle............ very good point......I will check into that.....you may well be right. ;-)

I agree with Treacle.  My 9 year old bitch who started stealing was genuinely starving.  She was eventually diagnosed with Cushings.  My 10 year old girl has been on phenobarb for years and naturally it affects weight.  Which means she is on a very, very small amount of food.  Consequently she is always famished bless her.

However, I am extra careful about not leaving temptation around.  Easy at home, but this year down at the caravan was another matter.  My fault entirely as I had not lifted a carrier bag out of the way when I went out to the shop.  I wasn't even gone that long, but the bag full of rubbish for the outside bin had been left in full view to the 3 dogs.  The floor was covered in shredded rubbish.  It's amazing how far it was spread about. 

I gasped "Who did this?"  They all said Not me.  Except the bitch on phenobarb was wearing the carrier bag around her neck!!  How do you not laugh?

I sympathize I have  a flat coat who is just the same. I bulk her food out with veg , not potatoes as I don't think they are good I use mixed frozen veg checking whinc veg it is .Mine are also raw fed .
Sorry I have no advice it also sounds very similar to me puts on weight very easily , grabs treats from the others and will get into the fridge unless she is actually in a different room. Takes food from your hand if you ant careful. I dont have children so  that's a bit easier
I too have felt like killing her when she is even prepared to grab a roast as I take it out the oven/
I have tried training but still get no where I do my best to prevent and often fail

Yeah, Furriefriends, this is exactly what happens in our house too.
Have put a couple of things in place to stop the rewarding.  Kids are no longer able to eat in the same room as her.  I don't feed her with anyone else now (so no competition) either.  I have started mixing biscuits into her dinner at nighttime too which seems to have her more satisfied.  We will see how she goes.  I don't think I will sort it completely and infact, after getting into the kitchen this morning after my son had made some buttery toast (and ate it) she bounced up and licked the counter!!lol And to make it worse, I have 2 pups back for 2 weeks so it's madness!!hehe 
*I say pups but they are 8yrs and 3 yrs!!lol  I look after them when the owner goes away as she hates kennelling.

Good strategies cracar. Yes it does sound like you have your hands full.