My 14wk old Gus has gotten tall enough to stand on his back legs and pull stuff down off the kitchen counter especially when we arent home. Yesterday we came home and he had eaten a whole loaf of brown bread which will probably upset his stomach, is there any training i could do with him so that he knows that hes not allowed up there. Thanks
Hi there, the quickest and most effective long term solution to counter surfing is actually to make sure there is nothing on the counter that is edible. Putting bread in a metal bin for example. It's even more important to do that when you are going out. That's because every time the dog makes a successful raid on the counter, it reinforces the behaviour and if you are not there you can't do anything about it. Have a look at this article on stealing for more information and tips: How To Stop Your Dog Stealing. Do post up if you have any questions And I hope Gus doesn't get an upset stomach!
Our 12 year old lab Tilly has become a terrible counter surfer in her old age. Several loaves of bread and English muffins. Even though she is at a pretty good weight, she seems convinced that she is starving. She figured out how to open the pantry doors as well as some of drawers. Worst of all was when she surfed her own bottle of Deramax. (3 days at the emergency vet clinic and $1600) We have pretty much dog proofed the kitchen now.
We have a child gate on the kitchen door, it kept her out so we could out so we could have time to train her, was a simple remedy
Our 11 yr old lab only counter surfs when we are gone. We always just make sure there is nothing on the counter. Now our 17 week lab is now jumping up to look on the table or the chair to see what is up there, we obviously don't encourage this we just tell him off but we haven't seemed to make much progress.
Add my name to the counter surfing issue. I get that the counters should be clean, but seriously.. I sometimes leave things on my desk, which has been displaced because my dog's pen is in it's place. We recently gave her more freedom on the first floor where the desk now is, but she is surfing there. There isn't any training that would be helpful?? This is not my first pup, but she is our first pup who has counter surfed..
We have three labs, 2 are great and don't counter surf, however, Benson, nope he is a master at counter surfing! We just kept our worktops clear and when we are cooking, use a baby gate.
What can help in the long run is doing "Boundary Games" which is where you teach them to go on a boundary, or bed, something that is clear to them. Very briefly, they learn over time , to make the choice that we want them to and remain on their beds. I'm probably not explaining this well, I did it through the Absolute Dogs training games (I hope it's ok to mention here). Cassie is 2 now and has been a counter surfer, she's a lot better now since people have got better at not leaving stuff on the side and also I notice she will stay on her bed if I pop out of the kitchen and not touch stuff. Does depend though if the butter is left tempting close it gets licked! Also I think that the coming away from food section in Total Recall is very helpful.
