jumping oncounters

[Kristen Juarez]

Help ! Hendersons counter surfing.  I cant cook without him jumping up and peeking on the counters.  Its so annoying. Then when you sit down to eat hes right there jumping up.I can push him down and hes right back up . I need suggestions please!

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

I've used it on my own dog and on guest dogs with counter-surfing tendencies. The most stubborn dog took 3 sprays to cure but relapsed after a week It then took 2 more sprays and he was done stealing stuff off my kitchen counter. The collar is a bit expensive though and you have to buy citronella refills.

[Kristen Juarez]

What is this ? How does it work?

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

It´s a training collar you put on your dog with a small compartment filled with citronella. When you activate the remote, the compartment will spray citronella into the dog´s nose, which they tend to dislike (both my dogs hate it). I have an older model, but here is a link to the latest & greatest model:

http://www.amazon.com/Training-Spray-Multivet-Petsafe-Commander/dp/...

 

The advantage of the remote is that the dog doesn't associate the spray with you, but with the behavior (you have to hit the button at the right time of course). I prefer this device over a shock collar because it doesn't hurt the dog. 

[Natasha]

We put a pillow in a corner of the kitchen - about 6 feet away from where we prep and cook. We made Rouser LOVE that pillow. During non-cooking time, we would say "Go to your pillow" and take him there and give him the most rewarding treat (chicken). We did it over and over again until he would run to the pillow. Then, we introduced the cooking aspect. We had a big pile of chicken handy for days while we cooked. One person prepped and said "Go to your pillow" and the other person immediately gave him a treat. We introduced the "stay" command and the chicken handler would say stay every - like - 10 seconds and then give him chicken. He learned quickly and we did the exact same thing while we were eating. It's also helpful to give him an antler or a bone.

 

We also used that pillow as a requirement before we would get his food bowl and feed him. To this day, when we say, "Do you want to eat? Go to your pillow," he makes an immediate bee-line to that pillow and sits down where he must wait patiently until we put his bowl back down and THEN release him and tell him he can go eat. This is a really great way to keep his over-enthusiasm down and keep him from being under foot while we're trying to get to his food container (a problem - he used to trip me).

 

Now - he immediately goes to his pillow no matter what we're cooking or which friends we have over for dinner. This was really easy to train and - the added benefit - he learned the stay command at the same time.