There is an 80% chance your dog is counter-surfing while you’re reading this! And if you fall in the 20%… Well, I don’t think you’d be reading this if you fall in that 20%. *wink*
Now that you got your dog off the counter for the umpteenth time, let’s proceed. Dogs are born foragers! If there was a sport our dogs would naturally excel at, it would be Scavenger Hunt, wouldn’t it? To get into the deets of how to stop a dog from Counter surfing, let’s first understand what makes your dog jump at the table in the first place.
Why do dogs counter surf?
Oh, where do I even begin?
– FOOD… Duh!
I’m sure you’re familiar with your dog’s favorite pastime – Do nothing but brood.. On food, magical food… Wonderful food… marvelous food … Food, glorious food (If you did not sing that, we cannot be best friends). However, your counter always has something new to offer to your dog. How do you expect anyone to give that up?
– Fun reaction from humans
Apart from the fact that counter surfing provides your dog with titbits, it’s also a fun way for your dog to get fun reactions out of you. Every time he jumps up, he gets a different reaction from you. Sometimes it’s a laugh, sometimes you scream, at times you run upto him and push him off and most times he just ends up eating whatever he finds. That makes your dog look forward to jump again for the nth time.
– Lack of training
How do you expect your do to stop himself from counter surfing when you’ve never really taught him an alternative behaviour? Just saying “NO” when he jumps on the counter and not doing anything to mean it, will not do a very great job at training him to stay off.
– Unsupervised access to the counter
As easy as the solution sounds, if you don’t want your dog to steal food, don’t make food available for your dog to steal!
An 11-Step Guide on How to stop a dog from Counter Surfing
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Do not leave food unsupervised
The more your dog repeats a behaviour, the better he gets at it. This applies to good and bad behaviors. It’s going to take you 5 minutes extra to keep that food away and make it unreachable to your dog. In a way, you’re also nipping the problem in the bud. Everytime your dog surfs the counter in your absence, he ends up finding nothing. The behaviour starts correcting itself right there.
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Master the “Leave it” command
When you ask your dog to “Leave” the food on the counter alone, he’s got to know the meaning of “Leave it” first. Practice “Leave it” in controlled situations for the first few weeks to move on to uncontrolled and unsupervised situations much later in life. A few tips to master the “Leave it” command –
– Practice on low-value items like toys first, then move on to teaching “leave it” with food
– Have a clear difference between Take it, leave it and drop it. Leave it must be used when the dog is about to go for something. In this case, there is a considerable amount of distance between the dog and that item. Drop it must be used when the dog has already picked something up in his mouth. Take it, as the name suggests, when you want your dog to take something.
– Have full control of the situation. When your dog is repeatedly able to take it in spite of you trying to ask him to leave it, your dog is just learning to be sneaky and not leave anything
– Reward well when your dog successfully leaves something on command. Yes, it’s a trade off.
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Avoid using harsh punishment methods
I know it can be really annoying when your dog grabs the last piece of bread from the counter that you were going to eat with PB and J. But guess what, your dog doesn’t know any better. So when you end up smacking him every time you find him on the counter, you’re not going to have a dog that stays away from counter; you’re going to have a dog that growls to keep you away from the counter.
In his head, the counter is still a positive association as it still provides him with food. You become the bad guy here because whenever you approach him near the counter, he gets smacked.
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Discourage the begging and feeding off of table scraps
Is this what your dog looks like when you sit to eat or whenever you’re around food? And do you constantly find yourself giving in to this look? If yes, please tell your dog I said “Congratulations…!! Great job training the Hooman!!”
When you keep feeding table scraps to your dog, you’re in a way encouraging and rewarding the begging behaviour. Your dog starts believing he is entitled to every piece of food he is tempted to eat.
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A no-entry zone around the dining/ counter area
How is your dog ever going to stop counter surfing as long as there is free entry and exit around that area? A few ways to make sure your dog physically stays away from the counter or kitchen area are-
- Fence or block the area with baby gates
- Tether and train – Tether your dog to a particular spot while you’re eating or cooking and teach your dog to settle down.
- Crate Train
You can also consider using corrective measures as follows –
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Double sided tape
– Most dogs hate sticky surfaces and prefer staying away. Notice where your dog keeps his paws while counter surfing and cover it with double sided tape. However, a con to this is it can attract a lot of dust and food particles making it unhygienic for a counter area.
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Aluminium foil
– This is one of the easiest deterrent to lay. If your dog is someone who hates the sound of the metallic surface of the foil, this corrective tool is for you.
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Steel utensils
– For some pooches, it takes a lot more than aluminium foil to act as a deterrent. If your dog experiences steel utensils falling all around him a few times as he jumps up on the counter, the noise might scare him and he might choose to stay away.
However, a thing to remember here would be that if your dog has been counter surfing for several months, it’s a habit that’s been ingrained over time. In such cases, temporary and inconsistent corrective measures may not do the trick.
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Scat Mat
Scat mat is an electronic correction tool to keep animals away from counter tops and furniture. The mat uses touch and pressure to be activated, delivering a light static shock. This acts as a consistent correction everytime your dog lays his paws on the table to counter surf.
Humane Societies in Canada and the USA, the Canadian Council on Animal Care and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association have deemed Scat mat as an acceptable product for use in situations where positive reinforcement doesn’t work. According to them, the Scat Mat is a humane and potentially lifesaving product.
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PetSafe Pawz Away Mini Add-a-Barrier
The PetSafe Pawz away mini add-a-barrier helps keep dogs and cats away from unwanted areas of the house at the click of a button. It is a great option for those who have limited time on their hands to train their dogs to stop counter surfing but want to still ensure their safety at all costs. It is a humane, safe option to keep your furry kids out of areas they should not be in.
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Set a routine during your meal times/ cooking times
By now you must have figured out how well your dog responds to routines. Be it potty training, walk times, meal times, resting times, etc. Our dogs are a more disciplined as compared to us. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise when I tell you creating a routine around your cooking or meal times for your dog will work wonders in terms of training and obedience.
Set up a routine for your dog around the time you experience counter surfing the most. My dog had a habit of jumping up on tables when my mom used to cook. So as a habit, he was confined in his playpen with his favorite chew toys or puzzle toys while she would cook. Similarly, when we ate, he would be tethered to a piece of furniture from where he could see us but not reach us. While he was tethered, he was left with his Kong Popsicle. Over time, he learned to settle down on his own during cooking and meal times.
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Use a leash for better control
I’m a big fan of using the leash inside the house for a dog. It gives me better control and helps me in reinforcing obedience commands in a flawless and fool proof way. In order to use the leash as a prevention rather than a correction, leash your dog BEFORE you lay food on the table.
Use the leash to get your dog away from the counter before he actually reaches it and jumps. Try and catch the behaviour when you predict it happening and not when it actually happens. Using a leash enables you to correct calmly rather than trying to grab the collar or physically pushing your dog away from the counter.
Here is an indoor leash option you could use for your dog –
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Build better obedience before feeding your dog
In order to go about how to stop your dog from counter surfing, your first focus should be to help your dog have a better association with food. Meaning, that rather than being rewarded for begging, jumping, barking or any other excitement-led behaviors, teach your dog to behave well to earn his meals.
Trust me, it’s in his instinct to work for meals. Our ancestors had a very solid working bond with their dogs. They got their meals at the end of a tiring day and those were the happiest dogs! Free lunch is a concept created out of sheer laziness by pet parents who refuse to fulfill their dog’s instinct. And don’t even get me started on overweight dog parents. Ugh!
Coming back to counter surfing, when your dog feels entitled to food without having to work for it, behaviors like snatching, counter surfing, excitement barking for food, etc start cropping up.
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Watch like a hawk
Once you get in the groove of training your dog to behave around counters, you have to make the plan foolproof. That will happen only if you watch your dog like a hawk. Remember, before the behavior gets better, it WILL get worse for a while. It’s because your dog will apply every trick in the book to get that last morsel off the counter.
That’s your make or break. If your dog ends up succeeding, you’ve successfully trained your dog to be sneaky!
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Snatching in any form should not be allowed
Counter-surfing is a glorified form of snatching. To teach your dog to stop the behavior in one particular situation, you have to train him to not snatch AT ALL.
This means no snatching anything from human’s hands, from kids, off other pieces of furniture, etc. The more consistent the correction is, the better the learning for your dog.
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Keep reinforcing
Once you’ve implemented everything that we spoke about, it’s time to reap the rewards and continue reinforcing good behavior. Once you start consistently correcting your dog’s counter-surfing behavior, you will notice moments where your dog looks at the counter and decides to not surf it.
Live for such moments and reward HEAVILY. These reinforcers are what will keep your dog going.
How to Stop my Dog from Counter Surfing when I’m not home?
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Dog Proof the counter/kitchen area
At the cost of repeating myself, do not leave food unattended at the counter. Counter surfing is a self-rewarding activity for your dog. The behaviour will continue as long as he has access to the counter. Cut off all access by gating the area.
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Crate train your dog
Being in the crate while you’re away for a few hours will not only keep a check on the counter surfing behaviour, but also keep your dog out of any other trouble. Right from puppy hood, make sure you’re investing time and effort in crate training your dog.
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Booby traps
Consistent correction is the only thing that can keep your dog away from the counter top. If the correction is not coming directly from you, make sure you leave other means of correcting your dog, as discussed above.
Last but not the least, what better than a camera especially designed to keep an eye on the apple of your eye? Yes, we’re all working from home at this point, but there will be a time where we’ll get back to our lives outside of the house. Although, why wait till we start getting out again? Set your dog up from right now to be independent as well as well-behaved while fool proofing it with this awesome pet cam.
Start the Home Alone process by leaving your dog home alone for few minutes multiple times a day while Furbo lets you know how he’s doing without you.
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To sum it all up, there is no one way or hack on how to stop your dog from counter-surfing. Like any other obedience command, it will take time, effort, and consistency. But, trust me, it’ll all be worth it when a few months down the line you come home to a dog that refuses to surf the counter!