Stop dog from jumping up to get food off the kitchen table

[mddoc]

How do you stop a 5 month puppy from jumping up to the kitchen counter or table to get food or whatever he can reach?

[jillgrobo]

I don't know if this is appropriate advice but we have a rescue dog who when we first got him would counter surf. I looked online and saw an article about putting sheet pans on the edge of the counter so that when the dog would jump up on the counter, the noise of the pans would scare him. We even caught him on top of the table once. Imagine walking into the dining room and seeing a 68-lb. brindle dog on top of the dining room table! If you catch him, you could also do the Victoria Stillwell "Ah-Ah!" in a loud voice. This is what I did and he eventually stopped counter-surfing. He still begs and is my "assistant chef" when cooking so whatever I did, did not scare him away. Others might have other better suggestions. Good luck!

[JMFS]

We've all been there! Jill, the pan thing works Great for cats. :D I tried 2-sided tape, but the cats kept jumping on it until their fur coated it and then it was no longer an irritant. Flippin' wise cracking animals. Another one I never tried with the cats was to tie empty bottles together with string or yarn or whatever is on hand. Then dangle that from the counter. When kitty decides to see what's what, the bottles come down, making all sorts of racket, cat poofs up and tears out of the kitchen. I feel this is fair game with cats being that they're so willful and less trainable than canines. I'd wager it takes at least 5 and probably no more than 100 tries before the lesson sticks in their feline brains.

 

Here's one specifically to the kitchen table: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?30-How-do-you-get-puppy-to-stop-taking-food-from-table&highlight=counter

 

If you toss the word "counter" into the search field in the upper right-hand corner you'll find one from me, and a couple others.

 

The Best method is going to be management. Help them be good by keeping tempting things out of their reach. However, the little devils need to learn manners, too, and that's where the advice Adrienne gives in those posts will come in handy. Until they have a good grasp on "leave" and what the boundaries are, though, management is your best friend. :)

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello Mddoc, welcome to the forums!

Here's the other thread on countersurfing with some more details:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?43-Thieving-Pooch&highlight=table

Best,

Adrienne

[M MCSTRAVICK]

Hi there - I’m getting a 404 “unfound page” message with both of these links. Does anyone have the updated ones please? My 4 month pooch is going mad for counter surfing 🏄‍♀️ 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Those links aren't working for me either. Here are some newer links tackling countersurfing:

Feel free to post on the forums if you need help with anything, 

Happy training!

Best,

Adrienne