Counter surfing

[rytek1]

Our boy Genghis just turned 6 months old and is just starting to get big enough to be able to get up on the counters in the kithcen and table which he is starting to do fairly regularly. I have been telling him "off" which he complies with about half the time. The other half of the time he waits until I move towards him then he gets down. His "drop it" skills have also gone by the way side. He takes things off the counter and prances them by us. Most of the times its a dish towel which we have now hung way up. I never get a chance to play the trade it game with him because as soon as I head for the treat cabinet he spits out what he took and comes for the treat. On the other hand, if I don't have a treat he won't listen to the "drop it" command. I watch him like a hawk and most of the time see him looking up and can stop him with an "ahh ahh" or "leave it" Any advice on how to stop his Counter surfing?

[Terri Lambert]

The best way I have found to deal with counter surfing is say nothing and push the dog down by his collar or if no collar the back of his neck. Continueing to do this should stop his counter surfing. Also with the dropping stuff, I would just refresh him on what you want.

[Zumie05]

What works the best for counter surfing is really just to make sure that there is NEVER anything left up there that could potentially reward your dog. No food, towels, dishes, nothing. Every time a dog goes up there he is looking for something tasty or fun, and if he occasionally gets a reward, why would he ever stop? Even when you catch him, why would he stop surfing if even when he did get something you made him exchange it for a treat? It is always a win win situation for him.

If you want to see him stop surfing, you have to keep the counters clear, always. He will go up there and never find anything fun, and you should slowly see that behavior disappear. Just remember though, that each time he does find something and get it, he was just rewarded, and it will be 10x harder to convince him again afterwards that it really isn't worth it to check for stuff on the counters.

[Nishasmom]

'Counter Surfing' is self rewarding. The way to break his habit is to keep counters clear of any food, butter, drinks, ect. If he doesn't get 'rewarded' for counter surfing, he will stop doing so...unless he smells a big steak !

[AngelBunny]

I haven't used this but maybe you can and will let us know the result.

Booby trap the counter so that the counter attacks your dog.

Get duct tape, several empty soda cans with flip tops intact, and string.

Put a long piece of duct tape, sticky side up, on the counter where your dog places his paws.

Tie a piece of string to the can's flip top and stick the other end of the string to the tape. Put the can on the counter with the tape between it and the edge of the counter. Do this with the other cans.

The idea is that when the dog jumps up on the counter, his paws touch the sticky duct tape, and when he jumps back down, he brings the cans clattering down around him. You haven't scolded or yelled at him or done anything at all to him.

The counter attacked him.

I don't remember where I read this and I've never used it because I've never had a counter surfer.

[cleaningchick]

Good idea Angelbunny.
The Rott we adopted a couple of years ago and lost due to osteo :( had a bad habit of licking dishes in the dishwasher. His previous owner said he tried numerous ways to get him to stop till one day his collar got caught on on of the shelves he took off, dishes flying through the air breaking scared him to death and he never went by the dishwasher again. :)

[rytek1]

Ok, I am at work right now laughing out loud! I love the booby trap idea and will let you know how it works. Right now I am thinking I am a bad person because I can't wait to watch him do this!

[Nishasmom]

Originally Posted by rytek1

Ok, I am at work right now laughing out loud! I love the booby trap idea and will let you know how it works. Right now I am thinking I am a bad person because I can't wait to watch him do this!

Set up a camera!! !

[Diva Satanica]

Originally Posted by AngelBunny

I haven't used this but maybe you can and will let us know the result.

Booby trap the counter so that the counter attacks your dog.

Get duct tape, several empty soda cans with flip tops intact, and string.

Put a long piece of duct tape, sticky side up, on the counter where your dog places his paws.

Tie a piece of string to the can's flip top and stick the other end of the string to the tape. Put the can on the counter with the tape between it and the edge of the counter. Do this with the other cans.

The idea is that when the dog jumps up on the counter, his paws touch the sticky duct tape, and when he jumps back down, he brings the cans clattering down around him. You haven't scolded or yelled at him or done anything at all to him.

The counter attacked him.

I don't remember where I read this and I've never used it because I've never had a counter surfer.

I used a similar "trap" with Brinks. It DOES work. I am religious about keeping the counters clear.
I used paper towels, the length of the countertop. I put the length of paper towel on the edge of the counter, half hanging over. I put empty pop cans, with a few marbles in them and then taped (so there would be no loose marbles to be ingested when the event happened). I placed the cans, randomly placed along the paper towels. Took a few hours, but Brinks did go in and try to counter surf. I missed the action by a millisecond, but he scared the holy h*ll out of himself. Haven't had a problem since.