Why is my springer taking everything including our stuff to her bed?

by Steph
(Stoke-On-Trent England)

we have just adopted a 5 year old female english springer spaniel as a rescue dog from our local dogs home. (we got her thurs eve) so far she is great she is very quiet and not destructive at all (will keep fingers crossed on both these things!) however she takes everything to her bed, she has even taken the house phone and shoes and underwear to her bed. is this normal? or is a dominance thing? she will let us take it back and if we notice and tell her to bring it she will bring it to us.
do you have any hints or tips on how to stop this as don't want to look in her bed for everything or encourage dominant beaviour.

in addition she will not go to the toilet in our garden. she gets taken out however she has been in my mums garden and my nans. i would love som help with these queires as they are puzziling me!! i want to do is the best for the dog and settle her into her new family without causing a future issue.

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Why is my springer taking everything including our stuff to her bed?

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Aug 19, 2010
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bedtime
by: June

Emma is 20 months old and sleeps with me. At straight up 9, she starts taking her toys to the bed. She puts them in a pile and goes to sleep. Sometimes if she can't find one, she comes to bed and barks for me to help her find it. Also, when I vacuum, she gets her toys on the couch and lays on top of them until I am finished. I have always assumed she was cleaning up before bed. I only wish my kids would have learned that :)

Aug 19, 2010
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Putting his toys to bed
by: Anonymous

My Henri, a cocker mix, would put his two favorite toys to bed every night about 9. He would put one on my Mom's pillow and one on my Dad's pillow. Sometimes he would draw the covers over them. Then he would come to bed with me in my room about an hour later, when I went to turn in. He lived to be 15 and did this always. Kind of the opposite of your dog.

Aug 19, 2010
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Hoarding "stuff"
by: Estie

We dogsit for Darcy alot - he's a springer/english cocker mix, and was turned over, along with 80 other springers, from a breeder who couldn't take care of them anymore. Anyway, Darcy stays with us when his owner goes out of town and he gets along well with our Sammy and Cassy. Darcy will pile toys, balls, chew hooves, any little goofy thing, - on the sofa, or anyplace where he sits. He doesn't growl or anything, - it's like he's trying to play and making a game out of "collecting." Actually, he didn't know how to play very well with other dogs, but he's coming out of that. I don't know if it has anything to do with dominance or not. He doesn't act very dominant - is always on his back wanting his tummy rubbed!

Bless you for taking in a rescue.

Aug 18, 2010
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Strange Behavior
by: Michele

I'm so glad you rescued a Springer! They are such great dogs!

Has she been spayed? Did you have her checked out by a vet? I'm asking because I had a similar situation with my collie mix breed several years ago. She would constantly take things to her crate (though not the phone!) She'd take anything soft; towels, underwear, stuffed animals. She'd let us remove these items without any trouble, but it was very puzzling. We took her to the vet even though she didn't seem sick. Turns out she had a false pregnancy and she was taking things that she must have thought were her babies.

As far as not using your yard, I think she probably needs time to adjust to her new home. Make a game out of potty time - be excited and have a treat with you. You might just try taking her out in your yard on her leash for a couple of days so she can't go any where else. Be sure to heap the praise on when she goes and give her a treat. After a couple of days she may figure it out. Dogs are a lot like kids....they respond well to positive reinforcement!

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