# Counter surfing help needed



## tucker2013 (Sep 9, 2013)

I am looking for some advice on how to stop my 1 1/2 year old golden from stealing food from the counter. When I turn my back for a minute he jumps up and eats whatever he can see. I have a 7 month old golden too and I have noticed he is starting to do the same. 

Also, when he does steal from the counter what should I do? Should he be punished in someway? 

Any suggestions how I can stop this behavior? 
Thanks so much.


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## Cody'sMom (Nov 7, 2010)

Oooops! He got rewarded with food by putting his paws on the counter.  

Try to keep all food away from the edge at all times. Use those eyes in the back of your head to know where your two dogs are at all times so you can block them before they counter surf. Teach them down/stay while you are in the kitchen cooking and reward them with a morsel and "good dog" every once in a while by making them part of the party so they don't feel the need to counter surf. If they do happen to get away and sneak food off the counter, oh well - let it go - no punishment - it was your fault.
Good luck. :wavey:
Connie and Cody


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## Ruby13 (Dec 28, 2013)

I am trying to break the habit in a 3 year old Golden.

If it gives you any indication of how it's going, my crock pot is cooking on top of my fridge when I am gone. 

This is the only bad habit Ruby has! She stole quite a few things before I got to the point that losing half (or all) of my dinner was not exactly endearing. 

I have to really watch her, but she won't do it while I'm in there with her, and she can be very sneaky about it when she does decide to do it. It was suggested to me that I 'set her up' and catch her in the act and try to convince her that it isn't acceptable, but I'm pretty sure she is smarter than I am, because she wouldn't fall for it when I wanted her to.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I baby gate the kitchen.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Mr. Darcy comes from a long line of countersurfer wannabes so when he started putting paws up at just 10 weeks old I decided to be proactive. At 16 weeks, it's been 5 weeks since he put his paws up. Here's what I did.

I got out cookie sheets, muffin tins, cake cooling racks, pot lids...any rattley things I could think of. I put them on the counters around the kitchen. But rather than waiting for him to knock them down, I knocked them down. If he was on one side of the kitchen watching my husband make a sandwich, I would stand on the other side of the kitchen. As soon as he put his paws up, I sent the cookie sheet or whatever clanging to the floor. Not aimed AT him or even near him...I didn't want to create a noise fear. After doing that 3 times in a week, he quit trying. I finally put all the tins back a couple of days ago.

Sometimes I had to set up the situation. I told Dan to go fiddle with some food, knowing Mr. Darcy would be right there. Then, I was ready to watch him and shove the stuff onto the floor.

We also are being very careful to put food away, clear up dishes, etc. so there aren't any temptations available. So far so good but I imagine we will revisit this later. Food is just SO hard for them to resist! It takes a lot of impulse control.


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## CRS250 (Dec 31, 2012)

Murphy is a notorious counter surfer but we started using the approach shown by Zak George in these videos about a week ago. I know this is a hard one to fix long term but I feel we are seeing some improvement.






followup:


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## TXGolden (Jul 29, 2012)

We dog-sat a large dog was a proficient counter surfer. The way I stopped her was I put a couple of handfuls of pennies in an empty Planter's Peanuts can. I put the lid on the can and when I saw her get close to the counter, I would shake the can loudly and say no. It only took a couple of times before she left the counters alone. I liked that method because it didn't hurt her, the loud noise just startled her. This is also how I taught my golden to get off the furniture. (He can only sit on the couch when we invite him.)


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## ARBaumann (Dec 22, 2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYsdozy4fVc


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## GinnyinPA (Oct 31, 2010)

Management is the most important thing. NEVER leave any food within reach. That may mean hiding bread, etc. in cupboards. DH had a dog that would steal off the top of the refrigerator., so we try to put everything edible away or well back. 

If we have to leave food out (i.e. something baked that is cooling), it goes well back and we set up cans of pennies or bakeware, so if Ben puts his paws on the counter, he'll knock off something that will make noise. 

Ben rarely steals food - maybe because he wasn't raised as an indoor dog, he doesn't really think to look for food on the counter, and I just don't leave anything out. He has surprised us a couple of times though - once when he got a basket of peaches and tomatoes and ate them all.


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## TheZ's (Jun 13, 2011)

At our most recent vet visit Gracie jumped up to try to get a treat the vet tech had left on the counter. The vet tech asked if counter surfing was a problem we were having at home and I admitted it was. She then told me I must not be feeding Gracie enough and the way to solve counter surfing was to increase her food. I wish it was that easy. I'm not repeating this as a serious suggestion but thought others who've owned Goldens (or Labs) who counter surfered might find it amusing.


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## KeaColorado (Jan 2, 2013)

Kea breaks ALL the rules at the vet's. Counter surfing, jumping on people, etc. 

One of our previous rescue girls was a proficient counter surfer. We solved the problem by not keeping stuff on the counter that she could get. Trash went under the sink cabinet and food/cereal/human medications, etc. were all put away all the time. 

Unfortunately it took awhile for her to train us to keep stuff put away, but we eventually learned.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Darcy was a counter surfer when we got her last July. First we put back the pet gates (Rose has earned her independence around the entire house by the time we got Darcy). 
Second, I started creating the situations where Darcy thought she was alone in the kitchen, her desire to get up there blocked all her other senses. Timing was crucial. I tried to catch her in the act of getting up and not once she was already up. 
She was underfed when we got her. 
Third we fed her while we were sitting around the counter but made her sit and wait first and praised her for taking it from the hand. 
It took two + long months of repetition and patience. She has never counter surfed since.


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