Hi Sallie, I have two friendly mixed breed dogs that share my home. Most of the time, they are very reliable, but when I leave something tempting on the kitchen counter, it disappears. Both have guilty expressions, so I can't be sure which one did the dirty deed. Can you give me some practical advice for how to break either or both of them of "counter surfing?" Thanks, Ann

Hi Ann,
Your question reminds me of a fun email that I read years ago. It was a thank you letter from a dog to his owner thanking her for the lovely snack that she left on the kitchen counter for him while she was at work. The letter explained how he found the roast very yummy but frozen in the middle. He apologized and stated that he didn't mean to offend her by not eating the Styrofoam and cellophane wrapping. He could clearly see that she was upset by this because she kept pointing at it when she discovered it on the floor. Next time he would try to eat all of it.

The truth is dogs don't know they aren't allowed to eat items off counter tops. Dogs are scavengers as well as predators. It is their nature to eat what they find. To make things worse we occassionally encourage dogs to eat dropped item off the floor. Dogs need to be taught not to counter surf and that certain areas are off limits.

My sister's Rhodesian Ridgeback got kicked out of doggie day care because she jumped up onto the counter, all four paws, and ate another dogs medication. You can see that counter surfing can be hazardous to the dog's health.

I always teach the 'leave it' command. It starts off simply with a treat in your hand that you present to the dog. As soon as your dog attempts to get the treat you say 'leave it' and close your hand. You repeat this exercise until the dog no longer attempts to get that treat. You then say "yes" and give him a treat from your other hand. After your dog has figured out that he will get a treat if he leaves the obvious treat alone he will start to back off from an item when he hears 'leave it'. This can be transferred to items on the floor, coffee tables, and counter tops, etc. but you need to be present to reinforce this command.

I go a step further by having a tempting item on a counter top where I know the dog sees it. I will say 'leave it' while he is looking at it. I will then disappear around a corner where I can see the dog and item but the dog can't see me. If the dog goes for the item, I throw a rolled up dish towel at him. I try to not let him see me throw the towel. I want to make it seem as if it came out of thin air. This again works great if you're home but what about when you are gone?

The first rule is to not leave something tempting or dangerous out if you can help it. However, this isn't always posible. I had a client who's Austraillian Shepherd would run off with the cordless phone whenever it ran. The dog thought this was great fun because the teenage daughter would run and chase the dog trying to get the phone. The person on the other end of the line would hear a lot of muffled screaming and breathing.

What we did there was to set up a booby trap. We took four empty soda cans and placed four pennies in each one. We then tied a long piece of regular dental floss to the tops of the cans and then the other end to the phone. We placed a tall cardboard box next to the phone and placed the teetering cans on top. We then made a phone call. When the dog went to grab the phone and run off with it, the cans came crashing down and the dog abandoned the theft of the phone. If the dog had run off with the phone then some very noisy cans would have followed him.

There are several commercial products on the market that are very effective. The ones that work best are the ones that make the dog think that his behavior caused something undesirable to happen. You want the dog to see it in the same way he would if he bothered a bee or a skunk. Some of the best products are the ones with motion detectors. There is one called the garden ghost. If the dogs breaks the beam of the motion detector he is sprayed with harmless citronella. Some will make a high pitch sound or give a big blast of air. There is also a Scat Mat that is layed on the counter top and if the dog places his paws on the mat he will get a random static electic type zap , very mild but suprising.

Sometimes the best prevention is to leave your dog in a safe, secure dog proof area where he can have plenty of safe toys to keep him busy when you're not around. Also teach him that the kitchen if off limits.

I hope this helps.

Sallie