Counter Surfing Advice

Darcey is a bit of a monster for counter surfing. She will stop and get down if you say 'off' but the moment your back is turned she will do it again.
For me she isn't so bad and I can leave things cooking on the hob and she won't touch them, but she isn't so well behaved for other people in the house.
I've tried water spray which worked with Cooper but it's not putting her off and she keeps going back, she's knocked things off and they have scared her at the time but she keeps going back and doing it again.
Unfortunately she's been allowed to self reward for quite a while, and although I don't allow her to self reward other people in the house aren't as careful and she is still managing to grab food.

Does anyone have any tips? I

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1034

I've read the link and I've already done that with her, when you are in the kitchen with her she lies on the vet bed by the back door (or she does when I am there, sometimes she can jump up and try to take food when I am not there), it's the problem with counter surfing when we are not in the room. I do not want to shut the door because the water bowl is in the kitchen and there isn't another suitable place to put it. Even when there is nothing on the counters to get, she will persistently jump up to look.

Hah, she sounds exactly like my Bo. At least on the rare occasion my Lab counter surfs he does it when I am well out of the room. Bo will gladly do it as soon as you turn your back.

I reprimand her verbally every time she does it but she doesn't seem to care. We just manage the situation by not leaving any food on the sides which is no problem really. If I am cooking and she is being a pest I shut her in another room until I am done.

Safety gate on the kitchen and don`t leave food about.

My GSP is a shocking thief too. We have always managed it by not leaving food where he can reach it. If we do he gets it, although he will give it back to me it kinda spoils a joint of pork once he's had it in his mouth. He walks around the kitchen checking out the work tops with his nose making a note of where everything worth stealing is. Once he's alone he's up on his hind legs and if you'be been stupid enough to leave something where h can reach it...it's gone.

Safety gate advice is good

If she is self rewarding, the behaviour won't stop I am afraid, so you will have to get the other members of your household to put things away more. Of course, safety gate wil solve the problem from this angle anyway

One tip I can suggest is to try double sided sticky tape stuff on the counters. It won't hurt or scare, but may feel really weird and yukky and might put the dog off, it does work with some dogs but not all

Wys
x

I started off thinking you must be talking about a CAT getting onto worktops?

A dog? I've never heard of a dog getting onto tables, counters or worktops!

Cain did this a lot when he was younger and we first got him. We totally cleared the work surfaces and ensured they were kept totally clean and empty for months. After a while we stated to slowly reintroduce boring things like storage jars etc. Cain soon realised there was nothing worth having and gave up the habit entirely.

This is my adolescent GSP showing off because he has been shut in the kitchen with the other dogs. I think this is what they mean when they say GSPs have a mischievous sense of humour!