# Counter surfing



## BrennasMom (Mar 2, 2008)

Hi, my mother's newly adopted GSD is a counter surfer, what can we do to teach her not to do this. As it is, we can't leave her alone in the house because she pulls anything that smells edible down or even out of the sink.


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## triordan (Dec 5, 2008)

mouse traps...SNAP


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## littledmc17 (Apr 9, 2008)

Crate her when she is alone


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

> Originally Posted By: dresdenmouse traps...SNAP


Seriously? Ouch!! 

Any other suggestions that don't hurt? Jax surfs the garbage bin when we aren't looking.


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## BrennasMom (Mar 2, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: littledmcCrate her when she is alone


She has a 4x4 kennel in the basement, the problem is I live in the basement and like to let my kitten out in the downstairs family room and she has gone after him, so that would mean juggling the kitten and the dog who wants to eat him every time they want to step out of the room, and while they are here they are in and out of the house all day long doing stuff outside and such. The other problem is my mom has bad knees and doesn't like going up and down the stairs more than once or twice a day.


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## Daisy1986 (Jul 9, 2008)

Not a trainer so hopefull you will get better advice than this....
My Golden Mix does this, IF given the opportunity...I just keep stuff out of her reach, AND if seen she of course is told Down, she will sheepishly slink away, she knows better..it is just to much to resist. 

Mouse traps....







That is a joke right....


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## meisha98 (Aug 27, 2008)

I have cats and traps would not be a possibility. Do those scat mats work? This is a Lainey issue too. She loves pens from the table or food off the counter. "Off" is attempted. A water bottle squirt makes her cranky so I don't use it.


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## adas (Nov 22, 2008)

Aloha, I would hate to be labeled a cruel sadist, but I think a small mouse trap snapping and a little ouch, Brenna would VERY quickly associate counter=ouch. Counter Surfing needs to be taken care of quickly as there are a lot of dangers there...old food, knives, fish bones, etc. But NOT recommending the mouse traps though!!

frank


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## LuckyD (Apr 21, 2008)

Set the pup up for a learning opportunity.

Put your juicy steak right up there and leave the room. Wait. Watch. Catch the offense and correct. The correction we used was to shake a soup can of pennies. We did it about a dozen times and our problem was pretty much solved. Lucky Dog thinks every time her little nose touches the counter an angry Penny Can God bursts open its reign of terror. 

Poor little puppy hasn't had a steak in months. (0;


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## lcht2 (Jan 8, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: dresdenmouse traps...SNAP


no no no, no mouse traps. that just gives the dog a bad experience. positive training methods should always be the way to teach the dog something new....

anyway, teach the dog "off" or "leave it" then when the dog UNDERSTANDS the command..start useing it, sooner or later he/she will get the hint.


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## Jessica H (Mar 14, 2009)

When Dozer grabbed half of my friend's sandwhich today I WISH I had mouse traps, he's a little &**&^. He has been counter surfing the past few weeks and making me crazy!!!!


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

omg..that reminds me when my son was a toddler about 3 years. He was standing there waving a sandwich around while he was talking to me. My collie sat patiently behind him...eyes on the sandwich...back and forth..back and forth...back and forth...SNAP! 

The look on his face right before he burst into tears was hysterical.


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

A finger flick on the bridge of nose always worked for me when timed properly with NO! My kids haven't mastered this so Otto still plans sneak attacks on their dinner plates.


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## doggonefool (Apr 15, 2004)

We turned our mousetraps face down so as to avoid any claims of cruelty







When those suckers snapped, me and DH would jump a mile. The surfers were quite astute at avoiding the mousetraps, all 16 of them, so we gave up on that.


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## lcht2 (Jan 8, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: DozerWhen Dozer grabbed half of my friend's sandwhich today I WISH I had mouse traps, he's a little &**&^. He has been counter surfing the past few weeks and making me crazy!!!!


ok so put her in her crate when you are eating or there is food around!

where has all the common sense gone in this world??

its appearing its not the dogs fault...

dont set your dog up to fail!


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## StryderPup (May 16, 2009)

I like the penny can god


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

Please keep in mind that SOME dogs just cannot be broken of this habit. I have one.

Sasha is food theif. We have tried penny cans, we tried rigging the counter to have things fall and scare her, I have tried positive and negative methods. She only does it when we are not in that room.

I don't know, maybe at some point in her prior life she didn't always have enough to eat and ANY chance to get more food was a requirement.

Now we simply make sure the counters are food free and she is not allowed in the kitchen unattended. A single success on her part will completely negate any training we have done.


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## SpeedBump (Dec 29, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: BrennasMomHi, my mother's newly adopted GSD is a counter surfer, what can we do to teach her not to do this. As it is, we can't leave her alone in the house because she pulls anything that smells edible down or even out of the sink.


Don't leave anything out for the dog to get even in the sink. We now do that as well as put child safety locks on every cabinet as we adopted a known counter surfer.


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