Counter Surfing Dog

[Anonymous]

We've had several dogs, but our latest is quite the counter surfer. There doesn't need to be food on the counter, just stuff. She is curious about everything.

This does not sit well with one member of our family. Is there any way to cure the dog of this habit?

[Anonymous]

Cure the people from leaving stuff on the counter.
Block access to the counter or kitchen.

Basically - make sure she doesn't get rewarded with finding stuff on the counter, or she's going to continue to try.

If you can't train the higher intelligence creatures in the house, why do you expect so much from a dog?

[Anonymous]

Yuck.

[Anonymous]

Agree with what was already mentioned.

But also to fix this you need to be present to correct it. Leash your dog and when she goes for the counter tug the leash or step on it so she can't jump up. Ask for a sit or a down and reward for the good behavior.

You can put treats or toys on the counter and work you way up to teaching her "leave it" so she knows she's not allowed up there.

If you can't watch your dog and your dog can't be trusted alone then you should be crating her.

[Anonymous]

What breed? Our golden has always been that way. Much worse than even our younger dogs.

[Anonymous]

If you catch her doing it, tell her no.

But don't leave anything interesting on the counter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If you can't train the higher intelligence creatures in the house, why do you expect so much from a dog?

NP here. I sadly disagree with your premise…either the more intelligent the creature, the harder to train, or dogs are more intelligent than family members! OP have you ever tried to train a DH?

[Anonymous]

Only one member of your family has a problem with this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with what was already mentioned.

But also to fix this you need to be present to correct it. Leash your dog and when she goes for the counter tug the leash or step on it so she can't jump up. Ask for a sit or a down and reward for the good behavior.

You can put treats or toys on the counter and work you way up to teaching her "leave it" so she knows she's not allowed up there.

If you can't watch your dog and your dog can't be trusted alone then you should be crating her.

Dog trainer here:

Careful with this method. It's very easy to create a behavior chain where the dog runs in, jumps up, then sits for a treat. I managed to do this with the mail man barking with my first dog--she would run to the window, bark her head off, then come to me looking for a treat and sit at my feet. Took a LONG time to break the chain.

You want to teach an incompatible behavior (so the sit/down is fabulous), but it needs to come before any attempted jumping. My current dog has a "go to your mat" behavior where if she is in the kitchen, she is lying on the mat in front of the kitchen sink. Else she is not in the kitchen. She's only 25 lbs but the goober has the ability to get ON the counters when she desires it.

I agree though...the easiest way around this is just management. Either keep the dog out of the kitchen, or keep stuff off your counters.