"How do I prevent my puppy from counter surfing?!"
As with all problems of this type, the easiest thing to do is to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place! It is always harder to correct a bad habit than it is to prevent it.
I have big dogs... big enough that they can see what's on the tables and counter tops without having to jump up. In fact, one of them is tall enough that if he chose to, he could reach things on top of the refrigerator! Putting things up high to keep them out of reach is not an option in my house. That's why I work hard to teach my dogs manners and prevent the bad behavior before it ever had a chance to start.
I am quite proud of two of my dogs in particular. Kodiak and Schaden were my only dogs at the time... I had made myself scrambled eggs for breakfast and had just walked into the living room when the phone rang. I put my plate on the little coffee table and ran to answer the phone, then forgot all about my breakfast and went to work. I got home from work that evening and my two dogs met me at the front door as usual, but they were excited and almost frantically running back and forth between the front door and the living room. I followed the boys into the living room and they immediately dropped into 'sits' right in front of the coffee table and stared at my plate of eggs. They had left the plate of food alone for the entire workday, so of course I gave the boys the eggs, and a whole lot of praise for being such spectacularly good boys. :-)
How did I accomplish this? Well, to be honest I couldn't believe it myself! <grin> Their behavior was over and above anything I would ask a dog to do. But the foundation of respect and obedience that I'd built with my boys followed through and they didn't touch the plate of food, even though it was under their noses all day long.
I am also able to leave meat out to defrost on the counter and even fresh baked cookies cooling on the table without any worry that any of my dogs would even consider touching them. In my home, counter surfing is one of the gravest offenses and is a behavior that none of my dogs would get away with.
My guys are not allowed to even reach their noses up towards the counter tops or the tabletops... Ever!!! I will give a verbal correction if any of my guys even walks to the counter and sniffs, whether or not there is anything up there that I think they might try to take. The counters and tables are off limits, period! That goes for the coffee table in the middle of the living room floor and the little end tables beside the sofa and my bedside tables as well. My dogs are allowed to sleep on the sofa (my house, my rules :-) and they are easily tall enough to see and smell everything on the tables. The thing that I do is to make believe there is an invisible border around the tables and do not let the dog cross it... ever.
That means that if the dog is walking between the sofa and the coffee table, he is not allowed to turn around if it means that his head will pass over the tabletop. He must respect the air space above the table and not pass through it. They'll even back out of the tight spot they get themselves into, rather than passing their heads over the table. No, this is not miracle training, just being VERY consistent. I don't beat my dogs up to achieve this type of obedience either. :-) If one of the boys forgets, all it takes is a quiet, "Eh, eh" on my part to get him to mind his manners.
The same goes with the kitchen counters. The dogs do not EVER reach their heads up towards the countertops, because they have been told not to do it every time that they showed even the slightest interest as a puppy. Heaven help them if they jumped up and put their feet on there! I'd grab their collar and yank them right off that counter quicker than they could blink and give them a verbal tongue lashing to make sure they realized how upset I was with that type of behavior.
Part of their early training involved NOT leaving anything on the counter to tempt them. The area was kept cleaned off, no dish towels, no dishes left in the sink, no food to catch their interest if I wasn't there to supervise them. Therefore they never got into the habit of waiting for a chance to make a dash to grab anything. Then I would set them up... place
something enticing on the table and I'd keep myself busy doing something across the room - but within grabbing distance - and wait for them to focus on the 'bait' and lift their head to take even a little sniff from a few feet away. I have a ZERO tolerance rule with this, and would verbally correct the dogs immediately, and be prepared to make a grab for their collar if they decided to push their luck... very few did. :-) The next step was to leave things on the counter and watch from another room, as soon as I saw a dog showing even the slightest interest, I would verbally correct him and since they never were successful in stealing anything, they very quickly gave up - guess they thought I could read their minds so it wasn't worth trying anything.
While I'm in the kitchen preparing dinner, the dogs are told to "go inside" which means that they are not to be under foot while I'm cooking. No begging. No sitting there to be tripped over. No hovering and waiting to snatch up any scraps that hit the floor. They can come into the kitchen for a drink from their water bowl, they can walk through the kitchen from the living room to the dining room, but are not allowed to linger and grub for food or to be under foot. I quietly, but firmly will tell them to "go inside" and I'm fully prepared to put down whatever I'm doing to take a dog by the collar and lead him right out of the room if he doesn't listen immediately. If he follows me back into the room, I'll do it over and over again, quietly and calmly, without losing my temper. My attitude is that I can keep this up as long as he can, so why get upset or frustrated. I haven't found a dog that I can't outlast. ;-)
My dogs are also not allowed to dart in when something drops on the floor. If any dog dared to grab for something that I dropped, I'd make sure that I reach right into his mouth and get it from him before he has a chance to swallow it, then I throw it in the garbage. They learn very quickly that if they are patient, I'm going to pick up that piece of meat and hand it to them but if they grab for it, I will get it back and throw it out.
I also expect my dogs to "go inside" while I'm preparing their meals. I can clang steel food bowls together, dump in scoops of kibble, chop up their meat and vegetables and the fur-kids will sit in the living room doorway without stepping forward into the kitchen. I put their bowls down in their assigned mats on the kitchen floor, then when I'm ready I tell them "Ok" and they will each go to their own bowl. No jumble of dogs, no confusion, no mess. Just good manners and happy dogs and people.
All it takes is setting the rules, teaching them to the dogs and being totally consistent in your enforcement of those rules.
- Debbie Knatz
Shepherd's Ridge
As with all problems of this type, the easiest thing to do is to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place! It is always harder to correct a bad habit than it is to prevent it.
I have big dogs... big enough that they can see what's on the tables and counter tops without having to jump up. In fact, one of them is tall enough that if he chose to, he could reach things on top of the refrigerator! Putting things up high to keep them out of reach is not an option in my house. That's why I work hard to teach my dogs manners and prevent the bad behavior before it ever had a chance to start.
I am quite proud of two of my dogs in particular. Kodiak and Schaden were my only dogs at the time... I had made myself scrambled eggs for breakfast and had just walked into the living room when the phone rang. I put my plate on the little coffee table and ran to answer the phone, then forgot all about my breakfast and went to work. I got home from work that evening and my two dogs met me at the front door as usual, but they were excited and almost frantically running back and forth between the front door and the living room. I followed the boys into the living room and they immediately dropped into 'sits' right in front of the coffee table and stared at my plate of eggs. They had left the plate of food alone for the entire workday, so of course I gave the boys the eggs, and a whole lot of praise for being such spectacularly good boys. :-)
How did I accomplish this? Well, to be honest I couldn't believe it myself! <grin> Their behavior was over and above anything I would ask a dog to do. But the foundation of respect and obedience that I'd built with my boys followed through and they didn't touch the plate of food, even though it was under their noses all day long.
I am also able to leave meat out to defrost on the counter and even fresh baked cookies cooling on the table without any worry that any of my dogs would even consider touching them. In my home, counter surfing is one of the gravest offenses and is a behavior that none of my dogs would get away with.
My guys are not allowed to even reach their noses up towards the counter tops or the tabletops... Ever!!! I will give a verbal correction if any of my guys even walks to the counter and sniffs, whether or not there is anything up there that I think they might try to take. The counters and tables are off limits, period! That goes for the coffee table in the middle of the living room floor and the little end tables beside the sofa and my bedside tables as well. My dogs are allowed to sleep on the sofa (my house, my rules :-) and they are easily tall enough to see and smell everything on the tables. The thing that I do is to make believe there is an invisible border around the tables and do not let the dog cross it... ever.
That means that if the dog is walking between the sofa and the coffee table, he is not allowed to turn around if it means that his head will pass over the tabletop. He must respect the air space above the table and not pass through it. They'll even back out of the tight spot they get themselves into, rather than passing their heads over the table. No, this is not miracle training, just being VERY consistent. I don't beat my dogs up to achieve this type of obedience either. :-) If one of the boys forgets, all it takes is a quiet, "Eh, eh" on my part to get him to mind his manners.
The same goes with the kitchen counters. The dogs do not EVER reach their heads up towards the countertops, because they have been told not to do it every time that they showed even the slightest interest as a puppy. Heaven help them if they jumped up and put their feet on there! I'd grab their collar and yank them right off that counter quicker than they could blink and give them a verbal tongue lashing to make sure they realized how upset I was with that type of behavior.
Part of their early training involved NOT leaving anything on the counter to tempt them. The area was kept cleaned off, no dish towels, no dishes left in the sink, no food to catch their interest if I wasn't there to supervise them. Therefore they never got into the habit of waiting for a chance to make a dash to grab anything. Then I would set them up... place
something enticing on the table and I'd keep myself busy doing something across the room - but within grabbing distance - and wait for them to focus on the 'bait' and lift their head to take even a little sniff from a few feet away. I have a ZERO tolerance rule with this, and would verbally correct the dogs immediately, and be prepared to make a grab for their collar if they decided to push their luck... very few did. :-) The next step was to leave things on the counter and watch from another room, as soon as I saw a dog showing even the slightest interest, I would verbally correct him and since they never were successful in stealing anything, they very quickly gave up - guess they thought I could read their minds so it wasn't worth trying anything.
While I'm in the kitchen preparing dinner, the dogs are told to "go inside" which means that they are not to be under foot while I'm cooking. No begging. No sitting there to be tripped over. No hovering and waiting to snatch up any scraps that hit the floor. They can come into the kitchen for a drink from their water bowl, they can walk through the kitchen from the living room to the dining room, but are not allowed to linger and grub for food or to be under foot. I quietly, but firmly will tell them to "go inside" and I'm fully prepared to put down whatever I'm doing to take a dog by the collar and lead him right out of the room if he doesn't listen immediately. If he follows me back into the room, I'll do it over and over again, quietly and calmly, without losing my temper. My attitude is that I can keep this up as long as he can, so why get upset or frustrated. I haven't found a dog that I can't outlast. ;-)
My dogs are also not allowed to dart in when something drops on the floor. If any dog dared to grab for something that I dropped, I'd make sure that I reach right into his mouth and get it from him before he has a chance to swallow it, then I throw it in the garbage. They learn very quickly that if they are patient, I'm going to pick up that piece of meat and hand it to them but if they grab for it, I will get it back and throw it out.
I also expect my dogs to "go inside" while I'm preparing their meals. I can clang steel food bowls together, dump in scoops of kibble, chop up their meat and vegetables and the fur-kids will sit in the living room doorway without stepping forward into the kitchen. I put their bowls down in their assigned mats on the kitchen floor, then when I'm ready I tell them "Ok" and they will each go to their own bowl. No jumble of dogs, no confusion, no mess. Just good manners and happy dogs and people.
All it takes is setting the rules, teaching them to the dogs and being totally consistent in your enforcement of those rules.
- Debbie Knatz
Shepherd's Ridge