I’ve done some online training with my four month old puppy which went pretty well. But now she seems to be able to get her paws up higher, on the work surfaces and so on, even though I try to see there’s nothing within reach. So she’s not a thief yet, although she would like to become one! I have explained the idea of ‘four paws on the floor’ but she shrugs and says ‘ two will do’! I don’t want to reward her simply for putting her paws back down and I don’t want to smack or shout when she’s up if it can be avoided. I can’t think how to reinforce the behaviour of NOT putting her paws up. The whole positive reinforcement thing seems to get a bit unstuck when you want the dog not to do something. I know the theory of turning your back and ignoring when dogs jump up on people but that doesn’t work well with cupboards!
Hi Anne, welcome to the forum! I agree that jumping up work surfaces is one of those behaviors that it's tricky to preempt! Something that worked well for us was generously rewarding an alternative behavior in the kitchen, which is completely incompatible with having paws up on the counter. The obvious one is "relax in a bed". Every time our dog lies down in his kitchen bed, he gets delicious treats. So his first inclination now, when ever he's there, is to head for the magic treat-producing bed. That's said, he's still a bit of a nuisance for counter-surfing when no one is around to dish out the treats, so I'd love to hear what's worked for other people too!
With Luna when ever we were in the kitchen with her we had a blanket at the side which was her area and always took a toy through for her. If she decided to jump up at the counter we would take a step back and say down until all 4 paws were back on the floor, when she did we gave her praise. We are lucky in that she won't take anything without being 'told' to so even when she jumps up for a look she doesn't take anything with her
