Counter Surfing

piperh

My 2 have recently started counter surfing and we are trying to discourage it as neither of us really like the idea and we do have to watch what the little girl eats as we need to keep her weight down. Any suggestions on how to stop it, (and yeh we know put the stuff away:rolleyes::rolleyes:). We've tried the hiding around the corner but they now we're there, i've tried mustard on food hoping it'd discourage them but they like the taste :rolleyes:

tk123

Time to teach them leave it, take it

piperh

They already do leave/take it and i can leave stuff on the table or the floor and they're fine but the worktop seems to have a fascination for them lol

tk123

I practiced with my guy by lining treats along the counter lol

piperh

Yup did that today and they left them fine while i was there, then i put mustard on 6 pieces of Ham thinking if they didn't like the taste it'd reinforce that things on worktop not tasty. Never went near them while i was in the kitchen and saying leave, i walked into the lounge and back again and all six had gone so the mustard didn't put them off after the first taste they'd gone back for seconds and thirds :rolleyes:

TooManyDogs

I had the very same problem, the food would stay there all night as long as I was there but if I went to answer the door it would be gone by the time I got back.

I ended up borrowing a second laptop, leaving one in the kitchen and setting up a Skype call with video, brought the second laptop upstairs and when he jumped up to get the food I shouted 'No, leave it'. It freaked the willies out of him that I could know what he was doing and the problem pretty much went away

mymo

I had the very same problem, the food would stay there all night as long as I was there but if I went to answer the door it would be gone by the time I got back.

I ended up borrowing a second laptop, leaving one in the kitchen and setting up a Skype call with video, brought the second laptop upstairs and when he jumped up to get the food I shouted 'No, leave it'. It freaked the willies out of him that I could know what he was doing and the problem pretty much went away

Genius :D:D:D
I need to try that on the dogs, cats and daughter:p

piperh

TooManyDogs wrote: »

I had the very same problem, the food would stay there all night as long as I was there but if I went to answer the door it would be gone by the time I got back.

I ended up borrowing a second laptop, leaving one in the kitchen and setting up a Skype call with video, brought the second laptop upstairs and when he jumped up to get the food I shouted 'No, leave it'. It freaked the willies out of him that I could know what he was doing and the problem pretty much went away

Fantastic idea thank you, i'll use one of the kids pcs and try it. :D

Bookworm85

I had a foster that was a terror for counter surfing.

I did eventually break the habit. You'll need to clear everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) off the counter. If you need to leave food out to defrost for example, just leave it in the microwave or in the oven instead. Clean down counters after cooking or preparing food.

If you see the dog even thinking about jumping up, let out a high pitched noise to distract them from that train of thought and then say something like 'leave it' or 'down'. (I think my neighbours were on the verge of calling the men in white coats for me... I spent weeks in the kitchen 'EEEEEEEP'ing at poor Dasher) Then reward with a nice tasty treat like a little piece of liver.

tk123

piperh wrote: »

Fantastic idea thank you, i'll use one of the kids pcs and try it. :D

I'm going to try this too for a laugh and see what he does!! :pac: