Ask The Dog Trainer: How to I keep my dog off the counter?

Our family just adopted a new dog named Bess, and she is absolutely perfect except for her habit of counter surfing. She varries in her approach, from sneaky and quiet to boldly hopping onto our kitchen island and nonchalantly helping herself.

She’s not picky either. Green salad, guacamole, steaks, potatoes, cereal and cabbage. She even eats items that can’t taste good, like my reading glasses, paper napkins and dish soap. Yesterday she got into my prescription pills and had to spend the night at the veterinarian. I’m worried she’s going to hurt herself, please help!

-Amy

Dear Amy,

Counter surfing is a near and dear subject to my heart, largely because we struggled with it when our own rescue, Ragnar, displayed a talent for opening fridges, cupboards, cabinets and drawers. The first night we had him, we unwisely left him unattended and returned to find five pounds of spicy peppered jerky strewn around our house! We were up all night long with one very sick – but unrepentant – dog!

Counter surfing is an exercise in foraging that often proves extremely fruitful. All too often we don’t notice that something is missing until it’s too late, or even if our dog is caught in the act, it’s swallowed hastily as we approach to retrieve it. Remember, the domesticated dog has strong instincts to scavenge, search for resources and investigate novel items. Every time they are successful, the drive to return to the scene of the crime and see if something new and fun has turned up is strengthened.

Now that we understand why our dogs counter surf, I’ll outline the steps to extinguishing the behavior below. Firstly, start by gathering all of the forbidden and dangerous items and storing them securely out of reach. You may have to use baby locks or rubber bands to keep your cupboards closed and push all temptations to the back of the shelf or even keep them in your bedroom or garage. The goal here is to keep all objects that Bess wants to eat out of her grasp. When she revisits the counter in the hope of finding something interesting to steal, we want her to be disappointed.

Next, we want to limit Bess’s access to the counters, so that even when she searches for items and comes up empty, she is being corrected for jumping up to examine the counters, not merely for stealing. Remember, to be effective your corrections need to be 1. manager mindset (cultivate a mindset of calm instead of frustration or fear) 2. timely (you need to catch her in the action of jumping onto your counters) 3. startling, not injuring (the goal of a correction is to startle her from completing the action, not to cause any form of bodily harm or distress) and finally 4. efficient (once she has been corrected for getting on the counter, instead of walking away, linger and see if she tries to get back onto the forbidden surface. If she does, then repeat the correction so that she understands what she was being corrected for in the first place. If she doesn’t, then reward the success!).

Often, we find that people are very good at correcting their dogs when they jump onto the counters, but then folks leave to go to work, watch TV, answer the door or sit outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. When that happens and Bess is able to jump onto the counters without any repercussions, there is a weak spot in the training plan. To help limit Bess’s access to the counters when you aren’t physically in the room to stop her, you may need to put up barriers such as gates or close doors to the kitchen or keep her in parts of the house where counter surfing is impossible. You may even put her on a leash or stay close to her when you are in the kitchen together. A short tether attached nearby where you can observe her while you cook but she can’t get to the counters is another great form of maintenance.

Putting this training plan together may require you to sit down with your family and strategize. Perhaps you will need to alter your daily routine for a couple of weeks, or designate one family member to be on “Bess duty” where they are intervening if she jumps onto the counters and praising when she doesn’t. You may need to keep certain dangerous items locked away until the training takes root. This allows you to train (catch her when she counter surfs, reward when she doesn’t) and maintain (limit her successful counter surfing excursions when you can’t be present) and therefore, progress toward your ultimate goal of leaving food out and unmolested.

No one – or training plan – is perfect, so expect to make some mistakes! When that happens, instead of chasing Bess to retrieve the object she stole, keep a jar of tasty treats handy and offer to exchange her for the forbidden item. This does not teach her to counter surf! Rather it teaches her to hand over whatever she’s found, in exchange for a reward. I find this strategy of “trade me” works best when we begin teaching the skill using low-value items, and progress up to coveted ones. I also suggest teaching “out,” by tossing a treat behind Bess whenever she enters the kitchen. She will turn to collect the reward, leaving the area, and with repetition will learn to stay out of the space. Place commands on a dog bed and boundary training are also useful skills to develop around the kitchen.

My last piece of advice for counter surfing is to give Bess’s drive to forage appropriate, safer channels. You can experiment with snuffle mats, Kong toys stuffed with frozen dog kibble, rolling balls that expel treats and other such activities that encourage and focus those drives. After all, we want our dogs to be happy and thrive, but need to keep them safe from the dangerous objects we keep in our homes.

Kendall and Chandler Brown are owners of Custom K-9 Service Dogs, a dog training business serving Minden/Gardnerville, Carson and Reno. For information go to customk9servicedogs.com or email customk9servicedogs@gmail.com.