Counter Surfers

[Lunatic59]

The thing is, not only has he never counter surfed (there for has never been rewarded for it), he's never jumped up to beg, and has never even pawed at the counter. There has been NOTHING to encourage this behavior so I'm clueless on how to train him to stop! I got mad when he ate the cookies, manly because I was scared he had eaten chocolate. The cookies were warm, sweet, and smelled delicious, VERY tempting, but the bread an tortillas were not. He has never done ANYTHING like this in the past!

If he never has done this before then it might be for attention rather than the food. Or it could just that he "discovered" counters and they are new and exciting. The food is just a bonus.

I'd try non-chalantly removing the temptations and not reacting to the behavior unless caught in the act (ie. on the counter) then a firm "down" or "no" should give him the idea he's not supposed to be there.

 

[Justicemom]

The thing is, not only has he never counter surfed (there for has never been rewarded for it), he's never jumped up to beg, and has never even pawed at the counter. There has been NOTHING to encourage this behavior so I'm clueless on how to train him to stop! I got mad when he ate the cookies, manly because I was scared he had eaten chocolate. The cookies were warm, sweet, and smelled delicious, VERY tempting, but the bread an tortillas were not. He has never done ANYTHING like this in the past!

Ah but you see, he never did it before because he didn't know it could mean food. But now he knows yummy things live on the tables and counters. It will continue if you leave things out. That is how counter surfers are born. It is a self rewarding behavior(eat the food is the reward), he may check a hundred times from now on and nothing is there but 1 time he checks and finds something it will encourage checking in the future. He is now thinking how could I have been this stupid all my years.

Key from now on never leave anything on that he can get. BTW bread was my Labs favorite thing to steal, she even got to the point that she would open the bread drawer to get it. Latches did not stop her. She was 3 yrs old when she discovered the taste of bread.

 

[Tabitha]

Sigh. I geuss I just can't wrap my mind around it. My sweet little sheltie, a trouble maker. He was almost always very well behaved all his life. He figured out the do's and don't's and stuck to them. Now he's a trash digging, counter surfing, barking maniac! "He is now thinking how could I have been this stupid all my years." That just about describes him now. I'll see if I can get a door installed. There are two entrances to the kitchen. One has a door the other appears to have had one at one time, but it was gone when we moved in. Darn. It would have been handy!

 

[Mignarda]

Sigh. I geuss I just can't wrap my mind around it. My sweet little sheltie, a trouble maker. He was almost always very well behaved all his life. He figured out the do's and don't's and stuck to them. Now he's a trash digging, counter surfing, barking maniac! "He is now thinking how could I have been this stupid all my years." That just about describes him now. I'll see if I can get a door installed. There are two entrances to the kitchen. One has a door the other appears to have had one at one time, but it was gone when we moved in. Darn. It would have been handy!

That reminds me of a funny "Far Side" cartoon where the family dog is pointing a pistol at his master and saying "Hey, Bucko ... I'm through begging!"

 

[Justicemom]

Sigh. I geuss I just can't wrap my mind around it. My sweet little sheltie, a trouble maker. He was almost always very well behaved all his life. He figured out the do's and don't's and stuck to them. Now he's a trash digging, counter surfing, barking maniac! "He is now thinking how could I have been this stupid all my years." That just about describes him now. I'll see if I can get a door installed. There are two entrances to the kitchen. One has a door the other appears to have had one at one time, but it was gone when we moved in. Darn. It would have been handy!

My boy Justice is the poster child of perfect dog but as he has gotten older he has gotten naughty. Well not naughty compared to the rest of my crew but still. Barking, begging, etc. He says I am almost 11 and I don't care anymore. He knows he is still my favorite and he knows how to work it..

 

[Tabitha]

My boy Justice is the poster child of perfect dog but as he has gotten older he has gotten naughty. Well not naughty compared to the rest of my crew but still. Barking, begging, etc. He says I am almost 11 and I don't care anymore. He knows he is still my favorite and he knows how to work it..

Yep! F-kap knows he's my favorite too! I didn't want to pick a favorite dog, that's like picking your favorite child! But he knows he's my special baby, dogs always know.

 

[Tabitha]

I was getting a chicken ready to cook today and decided to split up the neck, liver, heart, and gizzards between the dogs to see if they liked it raw. I mixed it up with half a cup of their kibble (I usually feed 1 cup) and fed them one at a time to monitor them. The boys ate every last bite and was begging for more. Sarah ate a few chunks but was unsure of it, she did eventually eat it all. But Ida avoided the chicken and ate the kibble instead. I tried hand feeding it to her, but she would take it and spit it back out. The only thing, other than kibble, I could get her to eat was the neck and a little bit of liver. Is she just not sure of it or does she not like it? I'm willing to cook for her if I have to, but I know raw is best. I may be able to give her raw chicken bones, since that's the only thing she seemed really interested in. Does anyone have any advise?

PS This was just a test to see if it would work, they are not on raw yet.

 

[Mignarda]

I've got my son's dog Chloe for the week and today I gave her and Dickens each a couple of chunks of raw beef. I don't think Chloe has ever had anything raw (my son and daughter-in-law evidently think that if they give her anything other than cheap dog food she'll catch some horrible ailment and die) and it took her two or three minutes before she finally decided that it was edible. Meanwhile, Dickens had scoffed his and sat in front of Chloe's dish trying to make up his mind whether she was going to eat the one remaining piece. After a minute or so he quietly walked over and took it. By that time Chloe was convinced it was pretty good stuff, and went back to her dish only to find out that Dickens had gotten there first!