If your dog is getting on the table or counter and stealing food, you are not alone. The topic of counter surfing is one that I get a lot of questions about, and it’s frequently requested for me to cover on my podcast. Your dog taking things from the counter is a big frustration, and we’re looking at how you can turn this around.
In the episode you'll hear:
- The three ways you could deal with a dog who surfs the counter.
- Why dogs start stealing food, and the gradual climb to the crime.
- Where the reinforcement is for your dog, and why it might not be what you think.
- What you might be doing that rewards your dog’s counter surfing.
- How to recognise a behaviour chain.
- Games to fix counter surfing and the steps for food theft prevention.
Resources:
- Podcast Episode 11: The Power of Permission in Dog Training
- Podcast Episode 16: The Thing Before Your Dog’s Thing
- Podcast Episode 20: Bridging the Gap Between Blame and Kindness in Dog Training
- Podcast Episode 27: Do Dogs Need Rules?
- Podcast Episode 32: 20 Easy Ways to Exercise Your Dog at Home
- Game: Learn how to play ItsYerChoice (IYC)
I love all the podcasts so far, and being a dog trainer in training, this has really helped a lot. What I love about this one is, you said ‘It’s none of you business’. I tell my dogs that all the time! Barking at the neighbours, or people walking past the house, None of your business 😂
At last a common sense solution to the dog invading the kitchen and standing at the island as if he’s about to start cooking something. Thank yo Susan. Will apply this right away. Love the funny stories . . especially the dog that got into the microwave. There is no end to their cleverness. Sometimes it feels hard to stay ahead of them.
Can you post the link to the dog opening the microwave? I tried to search, and found a real lame video of a dog opening a counter microwave. Your video is WAY cooler.
Is your game treat diving a way to teach dog to go to their “place”. Where you want them to go when you are teaching no counter surfing or where you want them to go when visitors come in the house? I am trying to teach 3 dogs to place and not having much success.
I have a very tall, confident, and clever standard poodle who was rehomed to me as an adolescent (18 months old). He has been a champion counter surfer, and even though I have tried to be super vigilant, he has taken every single opportunity to steal what he can. Anyway, I listened to this episode two days ago, and immediately started grabbing him by his collar and wordlessly leading him to his bed in the living room and the rewarded him after a bit if he stayed there. Well, I probably did that 3 times total the first day and then he 100% stayed out of the kitchen and didn’t beg. Then yesterday I did maybe twice, and he again was in his bed. Now today, he didn’t even try to come in the kitchen and beg or steal. Of course, I’m not going to leave him alone in the house with a kitchen table full of food or anything yet, but I’m amazed that I can see progress so quickly. He totally gets what he needs to do to be rewarded. Thank you so much. Looking forward to continuing to work with him.
Our dog Dixie steals PAPER off the Dining Room table, desks and end table. We also have a vinyl table cloth that she likes to rip. I know that early on we created a chain with off, leave it, etc. My husband says down and pushes her off and then rubs her when she is on the floor ….. we’re working on changing HIS behavior too! Lol. I’ve been working on keeping her out of that room when we aren’t in it, but my husband sits at the DR table for his morning routine (reading the Newpaper) and works off of that table with huge sets of “plans”. How do I apply IYC to discourage her PAPER fetish???? We don’t have offices, our desks are in our open space common areas.
So much sense, Day 1 today!
Had to watch this twice to “get it”. Thanks!
This is very useful as my mini poodle is an expert counter surfer. Now I have started to put him in his hotzone when he does it, but he now tries to escape my grasp and hides under the table. Should I have him on a lead so I can get him? He is quick and clever.
I watched this video and thought “at least I don’t have that problem”. Oscar Wilde has not counter surfed since the first few days we got him. I learned that bananas must be put up high, other than that no problems. Oscar is on a diet and I started giving him green beans to fill him, he is about 20 pounds overweight. (My fault he was so thin when we adopted him I overfed him.) I fed the dogs and planned to eat after my bath. When I was in the tub Oscar pulled the pot of beans off the range and ate them all. I’m glad he likes beans, doesn’t know they are diet food but now have another behaviour on my list of what we have to work on.
Hello,
I am enrolled in Home School the Dog and working diligently on Hot Zone which is helping with counter surfing but I have a specific question. There are times that my 6 month old Lab/Irish Setter mix will come in from our garage door and will walk by a counter near the washing machine and take a quick backward look at me then jump up and pull some freshly folded clothes off the counter. I would appreciate knowing specifically what to do in that moment.
Thank you!
Had my first case of counter surfing today with my 4 month old Bernedoodle. I immediately found this podcast and now know somethings I need to work on to prevent this from happening again or becoming a big problem. I do have a question about hotspots. Can you have more than one? Right now I have a kennel in my living room, a blanket near the kennel, and another blanket in my bedroom. When I do treat diving I use the blankets as hot spots. In this podcast Susan says to have the dog go to their hotspot while I’m working in the kitchen. Right now the hotspots are not where I can see the dog when I’m in the kitchen and there is no way she will stay in the hotspot very long at this point without close supervision. So…should I put her in her kennel and close it when I’m working in the kitchen or when she has been caught counter surfing or should I set up another hotspot blanket where I can see/monitor my dog and she can see me from the kitchen—maybe in a corner of the dining room???
Well I am glad I watched this, because it seems I have been a bad teacher to my dog. There are many things that I need to fix. Thanks for the wonderful podcast. I am going to make significant changes immediately. I just told Ozzie – you’ve been had buddy, mom’s been doing a lot of this stuff wrong. We’ll see if things improve in two weeks or sooner. Thanks again Susan.
Awesome podcast, I have struggled with figuring out how to use IYC to stop counter surfing. I appreciate the clarification and step by step instructions.
Susan is a teacher of humans who happen to own dogs. As a high school teacher, I see so many parallels in her positive reinforcement that has been so studied with teens and we all know dogs are more easily trained than teens! I use her easy and thoughtful techniques on my own loving but dopey Great Dane puppy and if he responds there is hope for any dog. Thanks, Susan. You have saved me so much time and money I would have spent on countless dog trainers. Keep the podcasts coming, please.
THANKS Susan!! Perfect timing! My 4 month old puppy just started doing this! I was doing IYC but not the right way for this issue. Thanks to you now I have a solution and a plan! Can’t wait to start training her. My other 2 dogs are good and don’t counter surf (my pug is too short LOL), but it’s been years since I have had to deal with this. What a relief (sigh). You are the best!!!
My dog doesn’t come to the table or steal food from the countertop, but for reasons we don’t understand, she likes to sleep on the dining room table. She never does this when we’re in the room or at home, but we’ve caught her sleeping there a few times or noticed things being moved and the table covered in hair. What should we do since we can’t actually see her doing it?
Fortunately, my puppy hasn’t gotten anything from the counter but I definitely tell him off and he gets into the DW when my husband loads it. You must be a mind reader.
All of this sounds doable given that the puppy has made great progress with IYC and HZ. BUT, he goes limp and tries to mouth my wrist when I grab his collar and try to get him to move. I’ve been looking everywhere to see what the solution for the limp noodle challenge. Please help