driving me bonkers... I shouldn't complain too much as storm (who is 6 1/2 months) is good in most ways. Her constant worktop surfing is really getting to me. She managed to steal 8 slices of bread the other day while I tried to make the kids lunches. She is constantly up on the worktop sits just getting worse. Anyone have any tips? We have a open plan lounge kitchen dining area and that is the area she is confined too as the only other rooms we have are bedrooms. I don't want to put her in her crate as I put her in there when we have our dinner at night and she just yells. Happy in her crate any other time except when we are home with food. She is so food obsessed. She also snatches food out of hands which I'd really like to sort out too.
It's a common complaint but you need to make sure there is no food on your counters to encourage her to counter surf, if it's not there she can't steal it. As far as the food snatching teach a 'leave it' cue which will help in other areas too. You could also 'mat' train so she remains on the mat being treated whilst you are preparing/eating, my two have a blanket by the kitchen door which they sit on and get treats for remaining there until I release them then they get a yummy treat, works most of the time x
I despaired at this and most particularly at 6 months but suddenly it has stopped! Libby is a bit over 8 months and is only doing it occasionally now and only when I'm not there. This will hopefully happen for you. Last month I trained "take it" using the curled up fingers method so that she will only take food from a hand when told "take it" so maybe that's why, I don't know (don't for a moment think that she just ignores food left unattended lol). She also has to sit and wait for her dinner until I say "go on". It's impossible to keep my counters clear, I don't know how people do it, but I do shove anything edible to the back. I also did lots of treats on the floor when she wasn't jumping up. When I'm preparing food she sits on her mat waiting patiently for a bit of it like Charlie describes. I do feel for you and really hope you find a solution or get that day when you think 'hey, that's stopped'.
Archie did this in December when we had company over and there was food every where. A friend suggested I set him up with bread and wasabi sitting on the edge of the counter. I didn't have wasabi, so I tried bread and hot sauce. The little goof stole the bread and then basically forced himself to eat it. It was actually quite comical. I bought the wasabi, loaded up a chunk of bread, and set the trap. It worked like a charm. Archie was not a fan of wasabi in any way at all!! He didn't eat the wasabi covered bread and has not stolen food from the counter since. It might be worth a try. If she receives a nasty reward after stealing food, it may stop her from stealing it.
Axel has been bad for this lately. Like said above. Make sure your counters are free. I can't even have a piece of paper on it or else Axel tries to sneak it to his bed. It's not all the time but it's enough that I have to try to remember to keep it free of anything. Axel stole a raw chicken breast off of the stove in December... he munched it a couple times and I said 'leave it' and he spat it out on to the floor and gave me sad puppy eyes so definitely helps to have a strong 'leave it' cue
It was pretty funny to watch him force himself to eat the bread and hot sauce. He'd pick the bread up and spit it out, smack his lips a few times and then try again. He's a lab, right? He'll eat anything...but not wasabi! He dropped the bread with wasabi and left it on the floor.
Re snatching food from hands: I don't have any advice how to train to take it nicely but hopefully the excited puppy behavior will be replaced by calm adult behavior, which happened with us. Snowie now ever so gently takes a treat. As a puppy the only way to manage it was to give treats with an open hand to protect fingers cos he was too over-excited to take a treat gently.
When exactly did you notice the nice calm adult behaviour? Axel is 13 months and still can be super excited and takes a couple fingers along with the treat
Hi, I also find this useful, sometimes Cassie gets over enthusiastic taking treats in some training exercises. I always notice a difference in her general attitude if I do it consistently for a few days. As someone else has said, if the foods not there they can't take it, but difficult in a busy household. Cassie will take other things off tabletop sometimes, but usually an item personal to me ....my glasses (panic) or a pen I've used. Usually worse if she's not had enough games/training.
Mousetraps - stops counter surfing very quickly. Ting is mousetraps when they go off are scary. Cheap little wooden ones that wont actually do anything if they do somehow catch a finger or dog. They never do though and if they snap when you are handling them dogs pay even more attention. We use them as a deterrent as dogs need to stay away from electrical cords etc
It sounds like because he has been self rewarded (by getting food off the sides) it is something that is good to him so he will continue to try this method. You need to ensure no food is left on work tops or tables. I done very similar to @charlie above - I heavily rewarded Harley for sitting down whilst I was preparing food. I started with really nice smelly treats which she got as long as she sat nicely and stayed there. If she jumped up I would move everything back out of reach and give her the 'off' cue. When she sat again I would reward this again. I wouldn't use hot sauce or wasabi or mouse traps as it could do more damage than good. I personally would never want to give my dog 'a shock' to teach her to do something. She soon learnt it was more rewarding to sit and wait. I also taught her to wait for her meals until I say 'go on'. As for taking treats, hold a treats between you finger and thumb and don't let them have it until they go gently. I always say 'gentle' if she's getting a bit grabby. Your fingers will take a bashing to start with, but the end result is worth it. At meal times, she has her dinner at the same time as us, then will lie on her bed until we have finished. It took us a week or so to teach this, but it's one of the best things we did.
We had terrible times with Indie with this for ages. Moving stuff to the back of the counter worked until she realised she could shape her gangly front leg into a hook shape, stretch right to the back and hook whatever it was she wanted. Caught her patiently hooking a whole box of eggs, another day the butter dish...of course making sure she NEVER found any food up there is the aim, but was impossible for us (well, impossible when my husband was around). Treating her very frequently for sitting nicely on the floor whilst I was cooking solved the problem when I was there. But I am afraid to say the only method that worked for us to stop the counter surfing entirely was quickly and calmly putting her out of the kitchen into the hall for 30 seconds every time she jumped up. I know this isn't a 'positive' solution and so hopefully other nicer methods will work for you. But we had been struggling for 6 months with this, and putting her out for a timeout immediately as her paws hit the worktop cured the problem 99% in two days. This Christmas, we left our Christmas dinner all over the counters with her unattended and all she did was stretch her neck up and forlornly flap her tongue at the air sometimes she bites the air too if it smells reeeeeaally good...
I totally agree with this, you could just be creating another problem that you will need to solve too. There is lots of good advice above so I am sure you can make it work positively with consistency for your dog.
Mollie is something of a surfer. I make sure she can never ever get to any food, not even a crumb. If she's surfing when I'm preparing food I step away and give her a treat when her paws come down. She won't keep doing it if she gets no reward whatever. I don't tell her to get off (the attention would be a reward), but as soon as her paws hit the floor I say 'off' and reward. The behaviour is already fading ..
Stanley is a nightmare for this. We really try to keep the counters clear but sometimes you turn your back for 2 seconds and they're up. Stanley gets rewarded for for sitting nicely while I'm cooking and not jumping up. If he does jump he gets told "off" then when he's sat nicely again he gets a treat. If he looks like he's about to jump I give him an "ah-ah" to get his attention then when he doesn't I give him a treat. If I'm getting hot things out I sometimes put him in his crate because I would hate to burn him or scold him. There's definitely been a big improvement - sometimes he still gets things but that's usually our fault for leaving something for him to get. I think what's also helped is making him wait for his own dinner. He has to sit on his mat and if he jumps up I just stop pouring and step back and he quickly gets back on his mat and waits. Then he goes in his cage and waits for the "take it" cue. Obviously sometimes there's still errors - like when he stole his doggy day care lady's lunch off the side *sniggers* I wouldn't give him wasabi or scare him with mouse traps - I think you'll just have more problems later. You wouldn't put something horrible in a child's chocolate to stop them eating it or trap there fingers to stop them grabbing stuff. They're just babies at the end of the day.
Thanks everyone there are lots of ideas for me to try here. I will work through and give some a try. I seriously am in awe of anyone who can keep all their tops clear and tidy. I've been working on this for years. I guess I'm just not made that way and with a husband, a 6 and a 5 year old. There is always something left out The problem isn't really food as that is fairly easy to keep out of reach (for the most part) the sandwich incident happened when my husband was away and my two were up at the breakfast bar actually doing their homework and they wanted help. I was in such shock I was distracted haha. But storm will reward herself with a tea towel, a cup, a paper towel, her own urine sample, anything really. Tissues are a favourite. My two are quite clingy so don't want to go and eat their afternoon snack away from me and I want to be in the room with storm as I have just left her for the school run. That's when sometimes she'll snatch out of their hands. Sometimes they barracade themselves in with chairs haha. I'm really hoping she grows out of it.
