Our 15 week pup seems to be developing a bit of a habit of getting his front paws up in the table/counter to see what food/interesting things he can find. I know that the key to stopping this is to make sure he always comes up empty handed. That is harder than it sounds since to a 15 week old puppy anything he can get in his mouth is interesting (tea towels, cameras, books)! The vast majority of the time he props himself up he doesn't find anything he can reach, but there has been the occasional slip-up especially when the kids are in the kitchen. This is exacerbated by the fact that he is still confined to our kitchen for house training reasons. Would appreciate any thoughts/experiences/suggestions.
Ha! The latter I'm afraid. Does seem to have stopped on its own but I don't leave anything tempting out.
Unfortunately Labs are food obsessed and food just above nose height is a temptation. I am not sure if Toby has grown out of it or we have just become very used to moving any food to the back of the work top. They are also very quick. I have heard of people losing whole pizzas and a cooked chicken turning their backs for a second. Also be careful where you leave anything edible. A friend’s rescue dog managed to climb onto a desk and then shelves to eat wedding favours she had made complete with netting! In the old days you were told to bang a rolled up newspaper next to them but I expect that is frowned upon now. Also someone else tied a sausage to a piece of string and a bowl of water. The dog was drenched and never did it again. Knowing Toby he would have swallowed the sausage whole along with the string. Not advisable.
We had a child gate on the kitchen so no access at all really. It’s also pretty hairy having a bouncy lab under your feet when trying to cook. With lots of obedience training (KC Classes) she has brilliant control. She won’t take a thing, except she is quite fond of shoes but she just carries them to her bed so we live with that. It’s quite handy as at least we know where they are
Mostly don't give them the opportunity. Tilly was a counter surfer, and got worse as she got older. Cooper seems a lot better, even though she is so tall she can see over tables. Be really careful with meds, or anything that would be dangerous to the dog. We had extensive vet bills with Tilly because she ate a months supply of Deramaxx.
