How Do You Guys Stop Counter Surfing?

[Guest mpportraits]

My Phoebe girl is the worst counter surfer EVER! What do you guys do to stop this? Any ideas?? Thanks!

[CaliforniaGreys]

Ekko taught me never to leave anything on the counter. or any where else for that matter

[Guest Spencers_Greyt]

My solution has been to leave nothing edible on my counters or make sure it's pushed far back where they can't get to it.

[Guest mcsheltie]

I don't leave anything out on the counters. When I am working in the kitchen the dogs stay back away from me.

 

I have a line (imaginary) they must stay behind. Which is three feet around me. Each time they cross it I say back and walk into them and push them backwards. I do not use my hands. It is work the first few days, because every time they take a step across the "line" you have to move them back. But they are smart and it doesn't take that long.

 

I never walk away and leave stuff on the counters. Some people rig boobie traps. But I think it is easier (and more fair too) not to give them any temptation.

[Burpdog]

Nothing on the counters My friend calls it "shopping" Her dobe did it all the time.

[Guest AGirlNamedMe]

We've only had Bella for about 10 days, so I am not an expert - and this solution may prove to be only temporary. Now..with disclosures out of the way....

 

If Bella starts sniffing at the counter, we redirect her beautiful snout by either talking with her or making a small noise. If she gets her nose right up on the counter, a short but sharp sound will get her to stop.

 

The one time she put her paws up on the counter, I was so shocked, that I shouted, "HEY!" really loud in her direction. She's not done that again.

 

I would totally booby trap the place if she was doing it regularly or if we weren't catching her. Booby trapping doesn't seem very kind on the surface, but it's either one good reprimand or a constant stream of them. As for having nothing on my counters - I'm not a perfect person, I leave things out sometimes all of the time.

 

xo

[Guest TBSFlame]

We've only had Bella for about 10 days, so I am not an expert - and this solution may prove to be only temporary. Now..with disclosures out of the way....

 

If Bella starts sniffing at the counter, we redirect her beautiful snout by either talking with her or making a small noise. If she gets her nose right up on the counter, a short but sharp sound will get her to stop.

 

The one time she put her paws up on the counter, I was so shocked, that I shouted, "HEY!" really loud in her direction. She's not done that again.

 

I would totally booby trap the place if she was doing it regularly or if we weren't catching her. Booby trapping doesn't seem very kind on the surface, but it's either one good reprimand or a constant stream of them. As for having nothing on my counters - I'm not a perfect person, I leave things out sometimes all of the time.

 

xo

 

 

With some greys a "Hey" is enough but for others...... I squirted Flame once with the water gun and told him NO and that was enough for him but Riley, that is a different story. She and Star understand NO and as long as you are standing there they never try to get anything but turn your back and nothing is safe. Our solution is to keep a very clean counter. Nothing to get.

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

My dogs are never in the kitchen unless I am (our house is an odd set up, long and narrow, and the kitchen is in the middle and is gated on both ends- dogs and I live in the back half, DH and cats in the front half, and no animals really go in the kitchen except when I shut the cats away and the dogs are hanging with us both in the front rooms, or I am taking them out the front door. The supervision combined with not leaving anything risky on the counter tops means I've never had this issue.

 

They did occasionally counter surf in the game room and master bedroom, where I practically live with them... but I'm always in here so I just say, "no!" and they've stopped. I now even have dog treats they could reach that they ignore. But if I leave the house I crate all but Charlotte. She's angelic She just hangs loose in the big bedroom where the others are crated and never touches anything.

 

So... long story short, supervise!!!!

[winnie]

I guess we should consider ourselves lucky... three greys, messy counters and not one counter surfer.

[greysmom]

As someone said, with some greys a sharp "Hey!" or "No!" will stop them forever. However, not with any of mine! If I'm standing there and correct them they will stop, but if I'm not around to watch them, they'll get into things. Toni will actually get into things if you're watching her AND correcting at her!

 

Booby traps may seem cruel, but they work when you're not there. A line of coin cans (pop cans with a few pennies secured inside with tape) or a precarious stack of pots and pans will do the trick.

[iluvgreys]

Finnian has stepped up his counter surfing lately, since scoring some bread and a bag of bagels. So, we laid a trap for him. Put several empty soda cans and a couple with coins in them connected with strings on the back of the counter. Then made a small sandwich with peanut butter... laid the strings in the middle and set the sandwich at the edge of the counter. It took two days for him to snag the bait, but the sound was frightful and he's not surfed since. I have a sneaky suspicion that we'll need to do this again, maybe in a month or two.

[Guest mpportraits]

That is hysterical iluvgreys! I think Phoebe would pee if I did that Thanks for the help guys!

[Guest kydie]

You can't stop it if you can't catch it That's the trick

[TheFullHouse]

Ha! How do you stop them, I gave up! None of my hounds are really bad counter surfers WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ARROW! That dog can drive you to distraction. He's horrible, especially when it comes to bread. I realized exactly how bad it was one day when I turned around from the computer to find him tip toeing very quietly past me (like he thought he was invisible) with an entire loaf of bread hanging from his mouth. I just looked at him and said "Arrow" and he took off running, me chasing him around the house trying to get my loaf of bread back.

 

It was at this point I realized I was never going to make this dog understand that he can't take things out of the kitchen so I just put everything away. We also had to make sure to run the garbage disposal every day when cleaning the kitchen because if he could smell food in it he would stick his very long needle nose into the garbage disposal.

 

BTW, he's been with us 5 years and hasn't changed a bit.

[Guest shanesmom]

Elton loves to counter surf. Nothing on the counters here and nothing in the sink either. He has already taken a dirty dish and frying pan that I didn't wash right away out of the sink to clean it in his bed.

[buddibear]

I can't even leave a sponge in the sink. The grey is ok about not surfing,but the Standard Poodle eats the sponge right out of the sink. Wondered what the yellow stuff was in the poop bag!

[Trudy]

I try to not leave anything on the counter. That doesn't always work.

I try to remember to close the gate to the kitchen behind me. I don't always remember to do that, especially if I'm IN the house.

 

I was on the couch yesterday in the living room doing some research online. I hear crunching and look up to see Ryan is NOT in the living room. Jump up and he's standing under the dining table eating a dog bone.

The dog bones were in a box, with a closed top between the microwave and refrigerator.

He got to the box

He tipped the box over

He got a cookie out

All done silently.

The crunching gave him away

 

 

T is also a counter surfer. Ryan and T share their loot with each other and I'm sure they sometimes even help each other commit the food counter surfing crimes. T surfs non food items off the counter too

[Guest kydie]

When our grey first came, we were not used to the, "I found it I'm eating it", all of our are trained,

if something is not given to you, "it's not yours" So, DH eating the last of ice cream out of the container, sits the container down on the foot stool to answer the phone, in another room, only gone a few seconds, returns, container gone, calls to me "did you pick uo that ice cream container?" Now I'm 2 floors down, "WHAT?" 3 dogs are in the room with him, only the grey is not, He has gone down 1 floor and is in his bed happily licking the last of the ice cream from the now torn to pieces container, Now who do YOU think needs trained here?

[Guest Greyglo]

No counter surfers here, although the newest addition thinks garbage bags on their way outside are gifts from above.

 

Just wanted to say your portraits are gorgeous. Best wishes -

[kudzu]

We have a 3 step plan that works pretty well:

1. Leave nothing surfable on the counters. (But because we are human & very fallible we need #'s 2 & 3.)

2. Teach a solid "Leave It". (Sue Ailsby's Levels training is a great place to start. Click

here

& scroll to "Zen" near the bottom. Then click

here

, choose Level Two & go to the next level of Zen.

3. Make staying away from the counters highly rewarding. Our youngest, a Deerhound cross, is really wanting to take up counter surfing. So she now gets heavily rewarded for laying on a small throw rug in the hallway when there are surfables in the kitchen. When she really wants something in the kitchen she is now prone to lay on the rug & stare longingly at the nearest human hoping a treat is coming her way.

4. "Hey" or "Eh" or "Out" all get the dogs attention & causes them to leave the kitchen. Don't ask me why. They just do. (Yeah I know I said it was a 3 step plan. That is because we only plan for steps 1-3. Step 4 is very spur of the moment.

)

What ever approach you choose, remember that consistency is the key. Remember that you must be very consistent or the dog will be confused & that is just unfair. Plus, counter surfing itself is so rewarding that it is worth getting in trouble if you know there is the possibility of bagels.

Edited January 30, 2010 by kudzu

[Guest whimzical]

My Phoebe girl is the worst counter surfer EVER! What do you guys do to stop this? Any ideas?? Thanks!

I agree with the booby traps, after a friend brought over some dinner and Jonsey decided to help him self,we only had to do it once and then left the cans i sight. i also took the cans to my sil for Christmas and our grey did not try to eat anything. we also try not to leave anything on the counter. i defrost in the oven.

 

good luck