# Counter Surfing



## jnmarr (Mar 7, 2008)

The problem with these behaviors is they are self rewarding. Even if he knows it is wrong, he gets a reward when he does it.. Try to make sure there is nothing left where he can get to it.. try set ups.. 13 pennies in empty soda cans taped shut. use fishing line to tie them together and attach to a peanut butter sandwich.. have the cans hidden under a tea towel. Be SURE he does not see you do this.. have him outside. It will seem as though the sky fell when he gets that sandwich. I trained with not as drastic set ups.. leaving food within reach and turning my back or leaving the room . You peek and correct when they THINK about getting the item.. Ah Ah !! will stop mine in their tracks. When you can not watch use that nubby up carpet runner in front of the counters on the floor. Still making sure nothing is left within reach. It might help to have a special place for him to be while you work in the kitchen.. crate, bed, pad, mat, etc. where he can see you. Give him a stuffed Kong.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Good luck! The best advice I can give you based on personal experience--clear off the counters and hide the trash cans! We too have a couple of counter surfers and nothing worked. We tried almost everything we could. It finally resulted in us clearing our counters after one scary (but funny) incident. I had an unopened can of honey roasted almonds on the countertop (the kind with the pull off foil top) and a large pair of scissors. I went into another room for a few minutes and when I came out I saw my 4 year old with a funny look on his face. He had taken the can, opened it and eaten all of the almonds. Next to him? The big scissors! I'm not so keen on my dogs retrieving sharp scissors! He didn't use them to open the can but who knows what he was thinking when he took them off the counter. This dog counter-cruised and ate my cell phone when he was a puppy. Now we just try to keep everything off the counters and out of his reach. Yes, our little almond nut did have a tummy ache afterwards too!

Our other Golden has eaten a half filled brownie pan. The DH left it out on the counter and left the house. When I arrived home I saw one half brownie left in the pan. I called him to ask why he didn't finish the brownie and put the empty pan in the sink or something. That's when we discovered our old guy with severe hip dysplasia had scarfed most of them, leaving just that one tiny morsel. Perhaps he was thinking we wouldn't notice because he left a bite!


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## Powderpuff (Dec 30, 2007)

Murphy used to be a counter surfing champion....he's one of those dogs that likes to stand on his back legs whether it's to look out of the window or to claim a stolen snack off the worktop.

We simply kept nice things well out of reach and now he doesn't bother to even look most of the time...it's a long term approach...it's taken him 18 months to stop it!


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## SoGolden (Jul 17, 2008)

*Surfer Dogs in the Kitchen*

Harry is only 16 weeks, but he is very tall. He loves to stand on his hind legs and rest his head and front paws on the counter. Mostly I try to get him to sit (negative commands like "off" don't seem to work). We already know to keep the counters clear...


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## Joanne & Asia (Jul 23, 2007)

We're doing the long term approach here too and so far no luck but also no reward as we make sure there is no chance she can steal anything! I am hoping it will stop eventually once she realizes it is not worth it. Someone suggested mouse traps but I can't make myself even consider that one!


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

I have the If fence inside my house. Cruiser loves to counter surf.... but this has kept him of the counters.


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## SunsetSam (Sep 26, 2008)

We have the same problem with Sam. I posted on a general dog forum about it recently and got many of the same suggestions here-mouse traps, double sided tape, empty pop cans. Someone also gave me this link....I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like a possibility if the all-positive approach doesn't work. (Which I doubt it will, since as someone else said, it's intrinsically rewarding to get up there and eat whatever is available....)



http://www.safehomeproducts.com/shp2/es/pet-boundaries.aspx?hash=es-k2-tt


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## twogoldenboys (Mar 3, 2008)

*Thank you*

Thank you for the suggestions. I'll check out the website. I thought about mouse traps too, but it seems a little drastic. I think maybe just keeping the counters clean will eventually be boring for him to surf.


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## MurphyTeller (Sep 28, 2008)

It IS a self rewarding behavior - and if he's getting stuff off the counter you are perpetuating the cycle - it starts with a meatball and escalates to the thanksgiving turkey.

I'm not a fan of traps, penny cans, tape etc. First, I don't think it's fair to the dogs because we allow the behavior to happen and secondly they learn VERY quickly when there's a penny can and when there isn't. My first response to something like this is better management and training the human. He can't get the goodies off the counter when you are there (with him). If he's got 100% freedom of the house and is counter surfing he needs to have less freedom - at a minimum he needs less freedom to the kitchen - I'd recommend letting him drag his leash around so that you have an umbilical to step on if he heads into the kitchen to surf. Eventually it gets better but you have to set him up to be successful.

FWIW, treating him in the kitchen with something that's not on the counter is not going to increase counter surfing behavior...BUT treating him for jumping up then sitting is going to create a reward chain: I make like I'm going to jump on the counter and when I don't and sit I get a cookie - so you increase the likelyhood that he'll attempt to jump up in anticipation of self-correcting his behavior and getting reinforcement. 

If you don't want him to countersurf (and honestly who does want a counter surfer) you need to remove the resources he's seeking and prevent his access to the resources...works every time  The same goes for yummy butter wrappers in the trash.

Erica


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## Chelsea's Mom (Nov 8, 2008)

I found that if I actually busted Chelsea she stopped. You can't correct a behavior if you aren't there. 3 hours later it is forgotten by the dog. So, when I caught her in the act I let her know it was not ok verbally. I left some food out on purpose right on the edge and it was still there 8 hours later!! so I guess she learned (I hope:crossfing)


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## Popebendgoldens (May 16, 2008)

I have resorted to keeping my kitchen counters bare and the trash can in in another room because my male golden counter surfs. He has never jumped on the kitchen counter. Another reason for keeping the kitchen counters clear of food is because of my cats. My cats will get into anything that has food in it too. 

Pat


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## CharmedOne (Sep 2, 2008)

This is Forrest from a few years ago just before he and Chloe scored something off the counter LOL


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## Romeo1 (Apr 19, 2008)

Fortunately, I've never had that problem. When my dog wants something off the counter, he sits and stares at the item and barks at it. He's done that since he was a tiny puppy. When he was little, after he'd eat his food, he'd sit there, stare at the bowl and bark.... too funny.


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## Nutty's Mom (May 27, 2008)

Well as I read this last week, I found myself thinking I should try some of these suggestions to prevent counter surfing because both dogs occasionally try to see what's up there. Tonight, I wish I was paying a bit more attention to the robbers; errr I mean dogs. I had left some money next to my purse, Hunter stole it and Nutty helped him rip the bills to shreds. Does anyone know if the bank takes trade ins? Poor George and Abe will never be the same. Time to get the non-counter surfing training in gear.


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## Saphira (Nov 2, 2008)

I'm wondering if using a baby gate with a combination of teaching "Out!" would work? They make those long accordian style gates for the open concepts. When a family member is working in the kitchen, they would lead the dog out of the kitchen and then put in a stay, but when nobody was home to enforce it, the gate would keep out repeat offenders.


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## 3SweetGoldens (Feb 28, 2007)

Saphira said:


> I'm wondering if using a baby gate with a combination of teaching "Out!" would work? They make those long accordian style gates for the open concepts. When a family member is working in the kitchen, they would lead the dog out of the kitchen and then put in a stay, but when nobody was home to enforce it, the gate would keep out repeat offenders.


Definitely it will work!! Klondike is now one year old, and is STILL the King of counter surfing. He though, makes no "bones" about it, and will do it right in front of you!  Telling him "Off, NO. does no good at all....he is determined to have what ever I am making on the counter. None of the other suggestions other members have mentioned have NOT worked with Klondike.He has not changed since he was old enough to reach the counters.
I had him in obedience class, and the Instructor told me to give him one chance to lie quietly on the floor as my other male Brody does. He is always my "helper" and is such a Gentleman! If he even attempts to put his feet on the counter.....tell him OUT......remove him from the kitchen, and block him off with a gate. Needless to say....that gate gets used a lot!!!


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## JoelSilverman (Oct 21, 2008)

twogoldenboys said:


> I just can't seem to get Fargo off the counters. He knows the word "_off_", because he'll immediately jump down, but I don't know what to do to keep him off in the first place.
> 
> We tried double stick carpet tape :no:
> We tried cutting up strips of the plastic rug protector with the nobs facing up and taping it to the edge of the counter :no:
> ...


Another way to go is teaching your dog that this is not allowed, and correcting him at the exact time he jumps up. If you like videos, try these.. Although these deal with training your dog not to jump on people at the front door, you can use the same principle to keep your dog from jumping on the counter too.....and you can use any word you want.... even though I use "no".

http://www.companionsforlife.net/Jumping_members1.html


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## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

CharmedOne said:


> This is Forrest from a few years ago just before he and Chloe scored something off the counter LOL


 
Okay. Is that baklava? Because if it is, I don't know if I'd have waited to say grace. In this case, I hope that you REWARDED Forrest for being such a good boy.  

Seriously, great pic.

The only counter surfer I ever had was quickly cured of the habit when I put open newspapers up, single layered. When the feet went up, she slipped all over (really clean counters and a single layer of papers is really slidey, plus it made noise...) and never did it again.


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## SadieBodean (Mar 28, 2008)

Nutty's Mom said:


> Does anyone know if the bank takes trade ins?


Yes, they do. As long as you have both serial numbers and they match. 

Gracie tries jumping up on the counter but she's too short to reach anything unless it's right at the edge. But our CAT Zoey jumps up on the counter and loves to play with little things--pony tail holders, small pieces of paper, etc. She'll carry it around like it's a dead mouse and then go drown it in her water dish. So a couple weeks ago Zoey stole a $10 bill off the counter and Gracie found it and tore it up into about 6 pieces. I managed to find all the pieces except one little section in the middle, both serial numbers were there so the bank replaced it with a new one.


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## bluetou (Oct 13, 2008)

we have a serious counter surfer too, and what we have decided to do, is to actually place the dog on a long leash and when she enters the "KITCHEN ZONE"...we tug on the leash (like in training) and we say "out of the kitchen"...if she jumps on the counter we say "OFF"

is it working you ask? Hey my Golden will be five months old in a few weeks, and well it is a work in progress. I would say it works about 75 percent of the time.....but if we take her off the long leash she is back to her surfing kitchen tricks....I know she will get it....it is just patience and repetitivenss. 

I also the love the PICTURE WITH THE SQUARES !! OMG!! that is totally ADORABLE!! I can just picture her eyes...! LOL!


/maggie's mom


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## WLR (May 11, 2008)

Any suggestions?[/quote]



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