We have adopted a lurcher dog (supposedly 4-6 years but really only about 2 years old) as company for our 10year old mongrel bitch.  Whereas our bitch is beautifully behaved the lurcher will pinch anything! He steals from the breakfast bar, work surfaces, cooker and even the oven.  When cooked foods are cold they are put in the fridge but while they are cooling it's a nightmare.  I can't put things in the microwave to cool as that where I have to keep the fruit bowl!  Does anyone have any ideas before our mongrel decides she wants a bit of the action too!!!

It is very difficult to break the "Stealing" syndrome once it is established in any dogs habits.The only advice I can give as we have had 2 of them in the past is to put the dog outside of any food areas using gates or barriers etc.He can then observe but cannot touch.Initially he will whine and play up and try to climb onto the gates, but eventually, he may behave himself enough to be allowed back into the kitchen.For now, and to save you constantly putting things out of his reach (as this in itself can be extremely wearing) best to put him outside any "danger" zones!
Ours were eventually trained by the way,  one of them became completely trustworthy but the other dog,a Dalamation,could never be completely trusted.

Tried a stair gate-he just climbs over it!  In all other ways he's perfect, loving, house trained, sleeps well overnight (providing the furniture is covered with clothes airers or he'll sleep on the sofa rather than his bed).  It's just this one small problem.  I may try the "tying something to tin can trick" so when he pinches the bait it will frighten him.  Worth a try I suppose.  Thanks for your advice.

Ok, i know this one..

Lurchers do this, mine does and he is NO rescue dog!!! (ive owned him from 6 weeks old).. he just DOES, in fact he LIVES to steal things.

Notably, he is the only dog in my house NOT begging at dinner times, but lying quietly in his bed!

1/Stairgates..

You need to get TWO stairgates, the kind that DONT have a part that runs along the floor, and put them one above the other!

2/Food..

NEVER leave this lying around, anywhere. Ever.

This does mean suspending everything from the ceiling at a height of about 10ft, but so be it. Everything edible but not fridgeable is on top of the microwave (which is on top of the fridgefreezer) or in the microwave, or on top of my eye level grill (cooker).

Everything else is locked away in cupboards and very high shelves.

Dill still steals things, and he can eat an entire packet of butter with no ill effects (not even weight gain the little git).

Every master plan has its flaw, and whilst most things stay out of dill reach, i DO have to remove stuff from teh grill if i want toast, adn it cant go straight back up there cos its too hot!

Still, dills not perfect, he has a tell tale ear, like pinocchios nose, but his ear stands on top of his head when he has been naughty!

Em

Have you tried setting booby traps? I set the food well back on the work surface and setup pans etc so that the dog cannot get to the food without knocking the pans. For many dogs the noise as they go crashing to the floor is enough to put them off. If not at least you know what is happening :D Works fo my Labs, although being gundogs they are not put off by the noise. They have however worked out that I will be there like a shot, which gives them time to put a bit of distance between themselves and the food. Oh and put the 'who me mum' look on their faces :D :D

S'not worked with any of the lurchers i personally know .. least of all my own. Which is odd as he is a very noise phobic dog, and you would think it would REALLY put him off, it doesnt. He finds the reward of stealing something outweighs teh scary noise (i wonder if i could arrange for fireworks or thunderstorms to happen ever time he stole something ...)

Em

LOL I do know someone that went to the lenghts of setting up an electric fence on the kitchen work top to deter stealing - dont think I would go that far, but I understand how they could have been driven there :0 Im sure that with an infra red beam and a little technology thunder could be arranged. Although some dogs can tell the difference between a recording and the real thing!

i have two rescue greyhounds and they used to both steal food. i think it might be that in the kennels, they often had to defend their food otherwise it got eaten by the other dogs. we also had the same problem with our puppy weimaraner and our trainner said to get an empty 2litre drinks bottle and fill it with raw pasta. then when u see the dog go to steal something shake the bottle and the noise is meant to make them jump and soon they learn to stop jumping up. However, our pup soon worked this out and it wasnt long till the bottle got a good telling off and ended up in pieces of the floor! worth a try though!

From my experience the only way to stop a Lab stealing is to put a physical barrier - preferably human between the dog and the food. Also once the paws are on the top the only way to stop further 'action' is to physically 'haul' the dog off. :(   Still at least as they get old and creaky they have to wait for one of their partners in crime to help them out :)