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Counter Surfing
My 6 month old puppy keeps jumping to see what’s on the counters and pulls stuff off if he can reach them. However, he quickly learned to mostly stay out of the kitchen while I’m in it- mostly just telling him to get “out of the kitchen” pointing and walking towards him until he hits the carpet, then stopping and telling him good boy and going back to my thing. If I’m not in the kitchen he checks things out and ignores me when I tell him to get off. He always gets down before I can make it over to him. Any suggestions?
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7 Replies
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Hi Melissa. This is a great question and I look forward to all the creative solutions. I favor management, pure and simple. My puppies NEVER have access to my kitchen unless I’m in it and actively paying them to lie on a mat, out of the cooking area. I build the behavior I like (staying out) while preventing the behavior I don’t like (pretty much everything else!) by never giving them a chance to practice it. Every time a puppy wins at countersurfing is money in the behavior bank of that unwanted skill. I use a crate, a baby gate and/or a tether to my body to keep them out. Side note: my dogs are at least 2 years old before I give them free run of the house, unsupervised. By then, I have them sufficiently skilled at desired behaviors. If I’m present, I pay them alll their food by hand for doing things I like, or puzzle toys if I don’t have time. Hope this helps!
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I’ve thought about a gate, but the walls in the building don’t line up except for doors. He is a high energy breed so he needs to be able to run and play. He does great mostly sleeping while I work from home, but in the evenings (and worst) weekends he’s not going to stay close to me. I try to take him to the dog park to use up his energy, but sometimes he gets a second wind while I am always exhausted. I have found one kind of chew that takes him a while to work on and I’ve used David’s advice about tethering the dogs in the same room but not accessible to each other, but that only works for so long.
I may try keeping treats on hand to reward him for coming to me, but other suggestions for keeping him out or uninterested would still be appreciated. I do try to keep things out of reach, but after making dinner, things are hot and we don’t have much counter space. I have also tried wiping off the counters more often hoping to rid them of any food smell. He is smart, so I’m concerned he’ll learn a chained behavior- jump on counter, get called over/ told to leave kitchen, obey, get treat. The living room, where I try to relax after work and dog park, has it’s back to the rest of the place, so if he leaves the living room I can’t see what he’s doing to keep him out of the kitchen before he jumps. He also doesn’t eat all of his food in one sitting so eating, finding another toy to play with, getting water, or signals to go out all happen behind the living room. So following him every time he moves isn’t an option. I also don’t want to keep him in the living room all the time because that could increase separation anxiety- his breed is already prone to it
Sorry this is long.
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@lissa Hi Melissa. This can be a frustrating one for people. I can’t wait to see what people come up with too, because I feel like so many clients of mine go through this! I just had one and we went through this process and had to brainstorm so much! They too, had an open floor plan so baby gates were hard. We did do some management first. So we did tether like @david said. The dog had its bed there and we did things like stuffed Kongs, and puzzles, something to keep them entertained. I see you said you are wiping counters and keeping them clean, that is great!!! Prevention is key! Than we came up with some training options. We worked on a advanced leave it cue, and go to place cue- an alternative behavior to do besides going to the kitchen to check the counters. We also worked in the kitchen itself. If the dog was allowed in the kitchen with the client, we worked on going to place as client food prepped or was doing something. So management was first to stop the dog from getting to the counter. Than some training with leave it, also go to place. Than actual training in the kitchen itself, so the dog knew what behaviors we wanted if he was in the kitchen, setting him up for success instead of telling him what we don’t want him to do. It is so hard to summarize what we went over. I am lucky the client worked hard when I wasn’t around, and she said she uses go to place more than everything and it really improved! Hope something helps from this! Let us know if you found a different option. I am always looking for ideas and what works for people in their situations!
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So management was first to stop the dog from getting to the counter. Than some training with leave it, also go to place. Than actual training in the kitchen itself, so the dog knew what behaviors we wanted if he was in the kitchen, setting him up for success instead of telling him what we don’t want him to do.- Krista C
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@pawsup : I like the use of Leave It, as well, as part of the training against counter surfing. I(awesome said. know mostly this is a large dog behavior, but recently I had a border collie stay with me who was quite apt at this counter-surfing. I’ve also heard of smaller dogs doing it. So, it becomes hard to manage things like coffee table and end tables in a living room, which are, in essence, the same behavior of “counter surfing”, at less height.
I did this with my Berner and Lab when they were younger, when I used to entertain more often with a young family. Kids are notorious for putting food within reach of dogs at parties. So, Leave It, starting first on the floor, then adding height by working on coffee and end tables, then kitchen table and counters is a great way to train the dog that it’s the same thing, Leave It applies everywhere!
I also agree with management techniques @programdev and @amymc mentioned. I really like the Mat Training and gates and think there are really unique ways to conquer this. Tethering is a great idea, too!!!
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@Lissa this is sure common so I’m glad you shared it with us. As Krista and Catherine have already said so well, management is so important to success. Counter-surfing is self-reinforcing (all it takes is a couple of tasty treats commandeered off the counters) so being proactive by not allowing access to the counters is critical. I really love the collapsible metal exercise pens that open all the way up. They are 8 panels and can be configured around anything. The one I have and love can be found here.
Teaching them to settle on a mat is another great resource. This is a video of one of my favorite pups to work with Miss Merry. She was young (less than 7 months) when I made this video but had already started spending LOTS of time with her paws up on the counters. We worked on being on her mat as a default behavior anytime someone was working in the kitchen along with making sure she was never allowed in the kitchen unattended.
Have you considered utilizing something longer lasting like a frozen lickimat or stuffed Kong to use while you are prepping food?
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@amymc : I just subscribed to your YouTube channel! I love the way you worked with her! I think that is so important and I love how she gets rewarded as going through tasks in the kitchen. I often have my clients do the same, with Mat Training, Run the sink, chop some veggies, etc…rewarding as the go for awesome Mat stays.
I don’t know what a lickimat is. Could you let me know how it’s used and what it is?
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