Counter surfing

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Darla'sdad

Boxer Pal
Our pup Annie, 8 month old brindle female, seems to have an issue with getting things off of our kitchen counters when we are not around. To date that has been 2 cups of coffee (not too hot), bowl of sugar, cookie batter, bacon, mail (on several occasions), ink pens, etc. This only seems to happen when we aren't around...we are in the house just not in the kitchen area. It is hard to break her of this because we always find out after the fact. I realize that to reprimand her at that point is futile. She very seldom, if ever, tries this when we are around. How can we break her of this when we never "catch her in the act"?
 

boxer

Boxer Insane
Two things, in combination, would probably work to break that habit. First, she must never (ever) find a food item on the counter - that is a reward for the behaviour (and for many dogs, food is the strongest possible reward - so as long as she is rewarded for jumping on the counter, she will continue to do it). So you have to put all food items away in cupboards where she can't get them.

Second thing you can do is to booby trap the counter. Put a row of cans with pennies inside them up there, and when she jumps up, she'll knock them off and get a nasty surprise. That is a deterrent. But it won't work if there is still a reward (food) for jumping on the counter though, so you still have to put everything away.

If you keep that regime up for a while (most especially putting the food away) then she will eventually give the behaviour up. It won't be instant, since she knows she can get food that way - so it will take a while of no food reward plus something unpleasant (the cans) to convince her that it is not worth doing. Obviously, any time she is rewarded (food) that would serve to reinforce the behaviour - so it is very important that she is never again rewarded.

After a few weeks of zero rewards, you'd probably find the behaviour ceases. In the long term though, the best plan is still to keep food items out of temptation's way.
 
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