I've read some posts on this, but am confused as to what I should do with my 70 lb dog who counter surfs. I think the can idea would scare him to death. He just puts his nose in the air and starts to sniff until he finds what he's smelling. He's pretty tall, so I have about half a second to get there, if he finds dinner.

Mouse traps. The learning rate is impressive.

A big part of this sort of problem is management, pack structure and respect.

Take some time to read (or reread, as the case may be) Ed's Pack Structure articles.

http://leerburg.com/pdf/packstructure.pdf


In a general sense, your dog is not housebroken. He may not pee inside, but he has other house manners "issues".

A crate when you can't watch him. A tether when you can.
Never loose until he has earned it.

Edited by (12/15/2008 06:01 PM)
Edit reason: Link added

This is why I don't allow dogs in my kitchen. And also because I would like to keep our food relatively husky hair free.

The can thing does work though, at least for a while. I have never tried mousetraps because of the cats, but I would imagine they would work pretty effectively.

The cat counter surfs though as well so we still have a bit of an issue.

I don't suggest mousetraps unless they're the ones specifically made to scare the crap out of dogs. Seriously... basically a mousetrap with a rubber flap that stings like a buggar.

Seriously though the problem with counter surfing is an easy solve. Keep the dogs out of the kitchen unless you invite them in the kitchen.

We had an issue with the dogs circling like sharks when my nephew was learning the solid food thing. After that they got to observe mealtimes from the glass sliding door.

Hair free food? How do you manage that? We've brought fast food into the house from McDonalds, taken it out of the bag, and found Hans hair already there. It's incredible.

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

A big part of this sort of problem is management, pack structure and respect.

I agree. MANAGEMENT is huge.

Carrie,
Everytime you allow the dog to practice the counter surfing, it is reinforced. If you never allow it again and teach a behavior which is rewarded by the food he surfs for; you should be able to break the habit. I wrote a post about this awhile ago and how I taught my dog not to be a counter surfer; I'll send it to you when I find it.

Melissa,

When our son was home he frustrated all our attempts to keep Hans away from the dinner table. Now that we are empty nesters we put him in a down stay at least 6' away from the table. He'll whine and whimper, and sometimes try to crawl towards us. If he moves (includes crawling) I just get up and put him back where I want him. It works very well now. Sometimes we don't have to put him in a down, he does it himself when he sees dinner on the table.

Rich,

I was just trying to demonstrate the ease of correcting some of this stuff by simply putting the dog in the position where they can't do it. While the rewards are there for the dog to take part of any dog with a decent food drive will learn how to modify the behavior themselves.

In the case of my less than year old nephew it's impossible to keep the food off the floor. Have baby ... will hurl food... I never knew wet cuisine could travel so far. So the dogs quickly learn that the shark circling will earn one of them the reward faster than the other. Once it became obvious that this issue would escalate with two dogs, we simply put it to an end. Now that we're at the stage of life at 5 years old where food can stay off the floor most of the time. The dogs can stay inside for snacks.

In the case of counter surfing and dumpster diving aka the garbage can raid your dog so long as the rewards are there (food on the counter) the dog will find ever more elaborate ways to getting to that food when you set up the trick for them. They'll start to wait until you leave their sight, go into the computer room, etc. The easiest way to keep them from getting that reward is taking the food off the counter (some dogs will learn to open cubbords and fridges) or just keeping them out of the kitchen in general. I find keeping them out of the room in general or unless invited is the easiest/fairest way to go about it. It is also easily proofed with an e collar, a corner mirror, and a remote motion sensor and chime.

You can also get indoor invisible fences.

 Quote: Rich Pallechio

Hair free food? How do you manage that? We've brought fast food into the house from McDonalds, taken it out of the bag, and found Hans hair already there. It's incredible.

the key word there was relatively!
We have gone to dinner and someone else at the table has found Yote hair in their food. And they weren't at our house before dinner either!