She Counter Surfs!!!!!

[tikeyas_mom]

Ever since I moved in with my boyfriend, Miss Tikeya has been raiding the garbage and the counters for food... She will literally jump on the kitchen table and get a loaf of bread or any thing edable on there and bring it down to share it with Ebony and Daisy.. I have come home several times to a house scattered with garbage.. what do I do??... I really need advise on this.. I Never catch her doing it, But I know it is her...

She is SOO stubborn...GR

[BOBS DAD]

If it is "really" only since you moved in with your boyfriend, then I say, "dump him". Seriously though... "dump him". Just kidding, it must be the change in environment. Most likely she is foraging for food because there is "food to be had". Every time she is successful in getting to/locating some, it reinforces in her that it is a good and worthwhile thing to be doing.

Try making absolutely sure that there is no food within reach of her and that it is not tantalizing dangling where she can't reach either. Try eliminate all smells and trace odors and take the garbage out in a vestibule, garage shed or even just take it out of the house for the day until you come home. And oh yeah... "dump your man".

[catnapper]

This is the first rule I teach in class: remove all temptation. After a few weeks of her finding nothing up there, she'll give up. An added bonus: A perfectly clean kitchen every day ;)

[borzoimom]

I agree with catnapper. Removing the source when you are going to be gone will solve the problem. If she didnt know she could do it, she would be doing it when you are there- well she doesnt do that. She knows- just waiting for you to leave. I think she is using it as a source of something to do while you are gone. Get her one of those food balls.
I am also wondering if this is nevous energy- and if so- why is she nervous? Or did the housekeeping change when you moved, and now its a new game and something to do..

[BC_MoM]

You can try putting tape on the edge of the counter where she places her paws. We did this with Molly and it brought all countersurfing to a halt.

[BOBS DAD]

I agree with catnapper.

What do you mean - "you agree with Catnapper"???

What about me? That's what I said!!! LOL!

You ever see that commercial where the lacky at a board meeting suggest that they start using Fedex Ground... while everyone appears to be mulling it over, the boss says, "how about we start using Fedex for all our ground shipments". Everybody responds with a huge applause, kudos, "great idea". He sits there bewildered and says, "he just said what I said - only he did this (hand signals)"

...everybody's quiet again, mulling it over and then all at once say nah, different, nooo.. you didn't....

[borzoimom]

What do you mean - "you agree with Catnapper"???

What about me? That's what I said!!! LOL!

You ever see that commercial where the lacky at a board meeting suggest that they start using Fedex Ground... while everyone appears to be mulling it over, the boss says, "how about we start using Fedex for all our ground shipments". Everybody responds with a huge applause, kudos, "great idea". He sits there bewildered and says, "he just said what I said - only he did this (hand signals)"

...everybody's quiet again, mulling it over and then all at once say nah, different, nooo.. you didn't....
I stand corrected! Yes -and I agree with you too!!!! lol

[tikeyas_mom]

well i agree that getting rid of all food source, it's commence sence.. and I have thought about that, but I dont want to have to be wondering if I left food on the counter or not when I leave her alone at home.. I want to know that she will be good, and NOT jump up to retrieve it... How can I go about training her to not jump up on the table/counter and "help her self"??

[borzoimom]

Okay- all kidding aside- my guys are terrible counter surfers as babies because they are so tall and its there. I set my dogs up. I use a safe mousetrap ( its plastic that goes snap but they cant get their tongue in it) and put it under a piece of newspaper in the trash. Now I am concerned about her getting rancid food so pull the bags for now but leave the moustrap in crumpled paper. I also got those cheap alarm things- you know the kind that if you use for like a window or a hotel room. Mine have a switch I can turn on and off. When I leave the room I turn it on. I have a flip lid trash can, so to turn it off I just lift the whole top off. Anyway- it blasts- not too loud but enough. Another thing. Keep a old dirty dish towel, and wrap a duct tape soda can with pennies or rocks in it. When they pull at the towel it crashes to the floor in front of them. Also a scat mat. Lay it on the counter when you leave. If they get up, it will vibrate under their paws ( with my guys its their head.. lol.. )
Short of containing her in a room or a crate my biggest concern is medications. Zubin got a advil bottle once. Luckily injested none, but it scared me. Can you move the water bowl out of the kitchen when you leave and just put up a child gate?

[BOBS DAD]

Well...

as Perry once said,
"It's impossible, tell the sun to leave the sky, it's just impossible
It's impossible, ask a baby not to cry, it's just impossible...

Can the ocean keep from rushin' to the shore? It's just impossible
If I had you, could I ever want for more? It's just impossible

Impossible, immmmmm-impossible..."

Yer asking an awful lot of an unsupervised dog. Let me know if you figure it out, cause I want to do it to!!!

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

I've never had a counter surfing dog fortunately but it seems to me that Tikeya knows she's not supposed to be doing it which is why she only does it when you're not at home. I don't think there really is a way to teach her to stay off as she obviously knows it's wrong already. Dogs have a very hard time resisting temptation as others have said, so I think the only way you're going to get by this would be to remove all food items from your counter tops. You could try the tape idea as suggested also, I've heard that works for a lot of dogs. If all else fails, can you block off the kitchen so that the dogs can't get in there when you're gone with a baby gate or something?

[Love That Collie]

I never had a counter surfer but Chloe (aged 5 months) seems to be thrilled with the toilet paper I keep on the floor in a basket in the bathroom. She doesn't tear it up she just brings it to me after she slobbers on it.

I have never picked anything (except live plants) up off the floor and moved it because of dogs but I used the penny can on top of the toilet paper in the basket and one time of knocking that over and she doesn't like TP anymore. A friend of mine used penny cans for counter surfing and the furniture and it worked.

[Giselle]

I used the penny method Love My Collie suggested. All it took was one time and Giselle stopped her counter surfing completely. I, too, set her up by placing a piece of meat in a cup. I pierced a hole in the cup and tied a piece of string to the cup. I also tied the piece of string to another cup with pennies. As I expected, Giselle fell for the trap and I spent the next 10 minutes cleaning up pennies :p It was worth it, though. No physical harm was done and we've never had a counter surfing problem since. Just make sure the meat is in a container that Tikeya can't eat right off the counter like a cup. Otherwise, she'll outsmart your trap!

[cali]

it sounds like she has already rewarded herslef enugh that making her stop will be VERY difficult, I tried all the traps with Misty, the tape, the noisy cans and mouse traps.. nothing she had already rewarded herself enugh that she overcame every sort of scare, for example I booby trapped a bagel, I left it in her reach but tied to a shaker can and left the room, the first time she tried to grab the bagel just the movment of the can scared her, 5 seconds later she was back grabbed the bagel the shaker can slammed to the ground making a horrable racket and she ignored it and ate her prize. considering Huskeys are considered just as hard headed if you figer out a solution I too would like to know!

[BOBS DAD]

...considering Huskeys are considered just as hard headed if you figer out a solution I too would like to know!

Cali,

I love your Siggy shot of your 3 dogs!!!

[tsteele93]

well i agree that getting rid of all food source, it's commence sence.. and I have thought about that, but I dont want to have to be wondering if I left food on the counter or not when I leave her alone at home.. I want to know that she will be good, and NOT jump up to retrieve it... How can I go about training her to not jump up on the table/counter and "help her self"??

Hmm, that post made me register so I could post. You really might want to get a few dog training books. You are going to find a common theme in most of them I suspect.

MANAGING the situation is the first step, and best step, to any behavior controls you want to reinforce.

In other words, the first step is to remove the food from the counter. It might be annoying to have to keep up with that, but until you've got the behavior under control - the first step is to remove the reward.

Somewhere down the line, you might get your countertops back - but short term you should seriously consider making the effort.

:)

[Glacier]

She is a husky. Countersurfing is actually listed as a breed trait in many descriptions. Lots of mine would clean the cupboards off given half a chance! If I can't watch them, anything edible goes into the microwave, also known as the food safe!

[joycenalex]

i live with the king of counter cruisers. on occasion alex the wonder dog will forget i'm in the room with him and he'll check out the counter with me RIGHT THERE!!!!. the real solution is to train the human to put away everything/anything edible(including mardi gra beads :rolleyes: :D ).

[husky_lover]

All I want to say is good luck!!!!! I have two counter serfing Huskies! My solution to the problem was nothing edible or even un-edible gets put way out of their reach(like the top of the fridge). My male husky has even figured out how to open our pantry door. it now has a child lock on it for the time being :rolleyes: . I have two kids under the age of two and I'll have to say that they are easier to keep out of things than the huskies. One *trick* I did find to work was putting something that taste bad to them but not harmful on the couter for them to get. It helped for about a month and I have to repeat the process agian. Hope you solve your Husky problem :D

[Cinder & Smoke]

(Reprinted from a 2004 PT Thread ...)

http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/eek.gif

I always "share" with the FurKids...
sometimes UN-knowingly http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/rolleyes.gif

Former (RB http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/frown.gif ) Shepherd/Husky Shadow became a bit of an
opportunist after her adoption off the streets -
she'd apparently learned to never pass up a meal when opportunity
presented itself...

I'd whipped up TWO giant Dagwood-style sammiches -
LOADED with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mustard.
Shadow lay on the floor in the kitchen, *watching* intently...

Sammich Construction complete, I had a Major Brane F@rt and
decided I just HAD to do ?something? in the basement -
grabbed a quick *byte* of Sammich #1 and returned it to the
plate - sitting on the kitchen counter. Off to the basement ...

Returning, I grabbed the plate and moved to the dining room -
*wondering* why Shadow wasn't in sight and *begging* for her *taste*.

Hmmmmmmm... http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/confused.gif
I MADE TWO - did I eat one ALREADY???
Finished off Sammich #2, saving a smidgen for Shadow -
who ignored my call of "Wanna Byte?" ... *strange*

As I was rinsing off the plate, (*wondering* WHY I was still HUNgree
after eating TWO giant sammiches)...
I http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/eek.gif stepped in sumpin *squisshy* under the counter... http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/eek.gif

A Close examination revealed ~~~
..One Tomato Slice,
..One Lettuce Leaf,
..Three Pickles,
..and a small smattering of Bread Crumz -
all piled up under the kitchen cabinet overhang...
http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/mad.gif

"Oh SHADOW, Dear - please come HERE!!" (NO response!)

She was located - UNDER the BigBed - frantically *thumping* her tail
and *licking her chops*. http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/rolleyes.gif

We marched back into the kitchen and sat down to *discuss* my
findings of what she apparently didn't care for on the sammich menue...

I swear I head a distinct Dawggie *BuRRp* mid-way through
our *discussion*!

http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/biggrin.gif