Counter Surfing
My main issue is counter surfing. My wife and I work all day and due to the colder weather, the dogs are allowed in the kitchen through the doggie door. Anything found at counter level and below has become a chew toy. They know it is wrong since I never see the behavior when we are around. They have destroyed cook books, Tupperware, paper, rolls of tape and paper towels. They even ate my birthday cake. That was my fault for not putting it away. Nothing is safe since they just jump up and reach whatever they want on the counter. I am thinking of using double side tape for a week to break them of the habit. I heard that if you put the tape on the counter, the dogs will get their fur/paws stuck in the tape and associate the counter with the sticky tape. They have a ton of toys and kongs. If you were to watch them they play constantly and seem to get a bunch of exercise from running around and fighting with each other. Any other ideas? |
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| You can try the tape, but due to their age and the fact that they have free access to the kitchen with no supervision I can't see the counter surfing stopping. It is a self rewarding behavior (every time they get food or something off the counter, they are rewarded and enouraged to try it again).
I would never leave 2 seven month olds loose together in my kitchen! 
Or any other room in my house, for that matter. Unless you can limit the area they are in, I would crate them. Or just resign yourself to the fact that your kitchen will be trashed. Whatever area they have free rein in will become their playground. Once they learn the behavior, it will need to be retrained, and that is always an uphill battle. |
got sheep wrote: I would never leave 2 seven month olds loose together in my kitchen!
Or any other room in my house, for that matter. Boy do I agree with Dawn on this. As a matter of fact, my dogs (ages almost 4, 8-1/2 & 10-1/2 years) are always kenneled when we are gone....for their own safety. 1st thing is to find a way to limit their access in the kitchen. 2nd thing.....EVERYTHING gets pushed back to the wall & in from any accessable ends. Leave only things on the counter that the dogs can't get into their mouths such as coffemakers, toasters, etc. Never leave anything food related on the counters, not even while you are home. 3rd thing to try is as follows. Fill an empty soda pop can with several pennies. Be prepared to carry it around with you as you move from room to room. Whenever your dogs even show the slightest hint of counter surfing, rattle that can of pennies really hard. As with any training or retraining, timing & consistency are the key to success. |
got sheep wrote: Unless you can limit the area they are in, I would crate them. Or just resign yourself to the fact that your kitchen will be trashed. Whatever area they have free rein in will become their playground. Once they learn the behavior, it will need to be retrained, and that is always an uphill battle.
Ya think??? I should have taken picture of Sybil wearing a bowl's worth of pancake batter a couple of days ago. If you don't want to crate them, you need to split them up because Dawn is absolutely right: siblings will egg each other on (my personal exhibits: A + B: sisters Macy and Sybil) and tend to be at least twice as hard to train in most manners areas than if you only had the one. Especially if you're lucky and the one isn't very innovative in the destructo department. if I had just had Mace I wouldn't be having a countersurfing issue period. Sybil trained her. She's just not that innovative on her own. Your best defense is to sanitize the entire kitchen of anything and everything - and by that I mean leave NOTHING on the counters, tables, anywhere. Absolutely nothing loose. (The only safe area in my kitchen is the top of the fridge). The problem is that eventually, being human, you WILL slip up. Exhibit C: pancake batter  And, being that it is self rewarding as Dawn said, it will become that much harder to extinguish the behavior because they may never know when you're going to slip up, but they do know that eventually, if they just keep patrolling the area, you will.
That said, my boss - who has two little dogs but whose dog training skills are just intuitively and often quite astonishingly remarkable - swears by upside down mouse traps that will go off when touched. The idea is that they spring up and make noise which should startle the dog - not that you want them snapping on to any part of the dog. I've never tried this, I don't know if it would have any effect on an OES. I know they've also been used to teach dogs to stay off furniture but, again, in that case too I think it's easier to use as a preventative than a fix. Bottomline, clear the counters till they're completely bare and just discipline yourself to never leave anything there. Kristine |
| [quote="Mad swears by upside down mouse traps that will go off when touched.
A friend of mine puts a mouse trap in her garbage pail whenever she gets a new rescue. They automatically go for the food in the pail and are cured. Works for her everytime. Using this trick...I wonder if one could put one in a container on the counter and have it go off and have the same result? Counter surfers could eventually get themselves into serious trouble. Abi is not her sweet self if there is fresh baked bread. She would eat the entire loaf and bloat. |
| Hehe - I have images of two sheepies yelping like crazy with a mouse trap each - right on their nose!
My pup has always had access to the kitchen while we are out, that and the utility room, he now mainly keeps his CSing to the cat food bowls! and dish clothes for some odd reason? Sounds like they need wearing out - good luck! |
they do work , Dudley (at the bridge) was cured of garbage surfing when I placed a mouse trap in it  |
| You need a counter cop like I have. Every time Owen tries to get up the counter, my Komondor springs up, barks and pushes him off. He's the best babysitter I could ask for. He watches him like it were his own kid. |
ButtersStotch wrote: You need a counter cop like I have. Every time Owen tries to get up the counter, my Komondor springs up, barks and pushes him off. He's the best babysitter I could ask for. He watches him like it were his own kid.
How much????? To rent him, I mean!!! 
Kristine |
| ^^^^^^^ROFLMAO!!!^^^^^^^^^^^
Jill, take her up on it!!! Seriously, I have been there and seen them in action. The 1st time I was there, I was SO impressed what an immaculate kitchen Kristine had. Then I noticed the garbage can on top of the fridge 
Then the wheels started to turn and I figured it out! |
| Ooh, I'm next in line!
Send him to my house after Kristine's please. |
| My wife was at the vet yesterday and asked the puppy class trainer there for any ideas. She mentioned mouse traps. We disregarded it for two reasons.. dog getting a paw caught and they would probably eat them. Again, the trainer did not say anything about them being upside down.
I think I may stop at the store and get a few to try them out. They had a great day today. Nothing trashed just one paw print. My wife must have done a good job moving everything today. |
| Garfunkel The Great....countersurfer. He tried for the thanksgiving dinner when out backs were turned.
I made popcorn this evening and made the mistake of leaving the bag on the counter. Pretty soon here comes Gar with the bag in his mouth and Simon in hot pursuit. |
Archies Slave wrote: Hehe - I have images of two sheepies yelping like crazy with a mouse trap each - right on their nose!
My pup has always had access to the kitchen while we are out, that and the utility room, he now mainly keeps his CSing to the cat food bowls! and dish clothes for some odd reason? Sounds like they need wearing out - good luck! Ha Ha someone else who has holes in every one of her tea towels, kitchen towels, dishcloths then! |
Mad Dog wrote: ButtersStotch wrote: You need a counter cop like I have. Every time Owen tries to get up the counter, my Komondor springs up, barks and pushes him off. He's the best babysitter I could ask for. He watches him like it were his own kid. How much????? To rent him, I mean!!! Kristine Can I have a turn after you?? LOL my 8yo GSD still counter surfs to this day if we dont put things up. |
ButtersStotch wrote: You need a counter cop like I have. Every time Owen tries to get up the counter, my Komondor springs up, barks and pushes him off. He's the best babysitter I could ask for. He watches him like it were his own kid.
Quin is too plump to couner surf himself so, I think he advises the puppy of what he sees up there. Finn then proceeds to grab it so they both can share!! |
| Well, you gotta love the team work....
Mine don't share normally. Sybil just polished off a frozen pizza. Most of the box it came in as well.
Oh, Jill....... Kristine |
| Chauncey has never counter-surfed food, in fact I can set a plate of food on the coffee table and go back to the kitchen for a drink, and he won't bother the food. Bob works evenings so I eat most meals in front of the TV. He has always been free-fed, I'm not sure if this plays a roll or not. He is not food driven. He does like to sneak a lap or 2 out of Bobby's iced tea glass when he's not looking, I'm pretty sure that's just a British thing though.....
But what is it with dish cloths? He will snatch them off the sink with you in the room so slick that you never notice. Friends also have this problem. I always know when he's up to no good because he always takes his bounty to his bed in the family room. He doesn't chew them, just hides them in his bed  |
| Tiggy does that too. She has never counter surfed but my dalmo does and she will share the spoils
She just loves to steal cloths though, either off the counter or if I dont shut the door under the sink properly where one hangs she fits her nose in and steals it. She is so sneaky that she has stolen one from right beside me and I didnt notice till I went to pick it up and use it. I thought that old timers disease was setting in and my memory was failing till I found her happy as in her bed having a chew of it. She does chew them by the way. |
| I read this thread a few days ago and also saw some OES counter surfing on youtube the other day and was feeling quite superior,as I have never had a dog do that.Fate of course,gave me a slap,I was up in my loft bedroom that overlooks the front loungeroom and could hear the rustle of paper,Summer (labradoodle) was sittng on the good loungeroom sofa (a definate nono) with a bag of sugar,trying to open it!I buy very little sugar,I just cant drink my peppermint tea without half a spoonful,so I guard it carefully.I went downstairs to retrieve it and she had jumped onto a chair,onto the dining table in the kitchen,up onto the kitchen counter,walked either through 2 sinks or along the window ledge and grabbed the sugar off the shelf! |
| Wow that is some counter surf.
Maybe she's trying to convince you that she'd like to do agility. |
| Gosh,maybe she would!I really love watching dogs do agility,I might look into joining her into the non competitive class.Great Idea!Thanks. |
| No great stories about Bella and counter surfing but mouse traps set so they snap away worked great. We set several of them on the counter and had also left enticements "cheese" and just went down stairs to watch TV. Two loud snaps later she has not tried it again. In fact an unset mouse trap is enough to keep her from entering a room or taking something that she should't. All of our mouse traps have a big yellow plate for the food. We recomend them to everyone with a puppy. They go off and we aren't even around. |
Tabatha wrote: Gosh,maybe she would!I really love watching dogs do agility,I might look into joining her into the non competitive class.Great Idea!Thanks.
Pleeeease dont blame me if after you start agility classes she just gets even better at counter surfing
Then you'll really need those mouse traps  |
Mim wrote: Tabatha wrote: Gosh,maybe she would!I really love watching dogs do agility,I might look into joining her into the non competitive class.Great Idea!Thanks. Pleeeease dont blame me if after you start agility classes she just gets even better at counter surfing Then you'll really need those mouse traps Yes, agility can have unpredictable consequences like dogs that can't be contained by baby gates, who jump on and off the tops of metal crates for sport and who think laying down on tables - any tables - is A-OK....
Kristine |
| oh that's even more antics than I'd imagined
kind of like taking the oes clown of my family and crossing her with the circus gymnast |
| Obe does not countersurf thank god. But he will take his noes and run it the length of the counter(s) searching for some lost morsel laying, waiting to be scarfed up.
I too can leave food on the coffee table and Obe wont touch it. He looks/ smells but knows better. He does think that it is ok to sit on coffee tables. Gives him a better view I guess. |
| I've found that a little red pepper does the trick too. Just sprinkle a little around their favorite spots. The sneezing didn't last long and I don't think they like the tast either. |
2 seven mos. old left alone, to do whatever they want I wish you had a video I have a 4yr. old, 31/2 year old, 2 yr.old and 5 month old, The older 3 all surf, the baby is in training  I cannot leave my gang without being gated or crated when we are not at home. My nephew is staying with us for awhile, he was in the kitchen the other day fixing sausage, got it off the stove onto a plate and set it on the counter, turned around Bella the magnificent had it off the counter and eaten within 2 sconds I said to my nephew, "When I told you they all surfed, I meant counter surfing". He has never had any experiences with OES, boy has he gotten an education this past month  The licking, wiggling, nose poking, nudges, bouncing and all around craziness. He has always had Beagles. I am hoping to turn him into an OES nut.  |
loried wrote: He has always had Beagles. I am hoping to turn him into an OES nut.
yeah and Bella stealing his breakfast is the way to do that |
| Yea, but I want him to realize the skills they have is real TALENT, I bet his Beagles have never surfed |
| Just an update: I think Bear completely "cured" Owen. I haven't seen Owen anywhere near the counters for days. |
| My first two sheepies weren't counter surfers, they would just steal anything that was left on a table if you walked away for a second, but my 5 month old, Jenny is a definite counter surfer. She isn't event sneaky about it. |
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