Is your dog a counter surfer? (Photo: dog staring up at a table with food on it)
You’ve prepared a fantastic meal, or simply set a steak out on the counter to thaw. You turn your back to open a bottle of wine, or ask the kids to set the table, and suddenly the steak is missing. By the time you locate your dog, all that’s left is a stain on the carpet.
The holidays are here. There may be unopened presents under the Christmas tree or a box of chocolates on your counter as you celebrate the eighth day of Hanukkah today — the question is: will you open them, or will your dog?
Chocolates aren’t the only thing that can seriously harm your dog (Photo: box of chocolates on a table)
Counter surfing is extremely dangerous behaviour. Not only can your dog ingest food that is toxic for them, they can also eat the packaging. This leads to a stressful trip to the veterinarian, surgery, and an empty bank account.
If you have a new puppy, you’ll want to read this blog post right away: How to Stop Your Puppy From Counter Surfing
Here is the link: https://beyonddogtraining.ca/news/how-to-stop-your-puppy-from-counter-surfing
If you have a dog who counter surfs, here are three tips for how to stop this behaviour:
1. LEAVE IT — Teach your dog a reliable “leave it” command. Leave it saves lives.
2. CALMNESS — The calmer you are, the better your relationship will be with your dog. If you are frustrated and often push your dog and yell “Stop it! Drop it! Bad dog — that was MY dinner!”, rather than calmly teaching her the behaviours you LIKE, spend some time working on yourself first. Calmness ripples outward and begins with you.
3. SUPERVISE — If your dog can’t be trusted to be alone in the kitchen yet, teach her to lie down calmly just outside of the kitchen while you cook and prepare her food too. This simple boundary says a lot in the dog world.
Teach your dog to be calm around food and to give you distance while you are cooking (Photo: dog laying on a dog bed)
Remember: Training your dog isn’t a sprint — it’s a marathon. How do you train for a marathon if you’ve NEVER done one before? You watch videos, you ask your friends who are runners for advice, you join a running club to learn how to do it, you research which shoes to buy, you break in those shoes gradually, you train for months, you change your diet, you pay attention to your hydration, you read, and you get in tune with your own body.
This is the SAME for training your dog or your new puppy. It takes time, effort, dedication, patience, and often help from professionals.
It takes patience, dedication, repetitions, and commitment to teach your dog not to counter surf (Photo: dog sitting near a table with a smoothie on it)
You CAN do this!
And then one day, you’ll also be able to do this!
Teaching your dog to be calm around food sets everyone up for success: whether you’re at a picnic, eating off a coffee table, or hoping to have happy kids at the kids table. (Photo: Magic the Rottweiler resting calmly on the floor near a plate of bacon)
Dog leaders: Get out there and help your dog lovers! Send this blog post to anyone who is struggling with counter surfing. Let’s keep dogs safe this holiday season.
Alyssa
Photos by: Upsplash images (dog staring up at a table with food on it,) Upsplash (box of chocolates on a table,) Upsplash (dog laying on a dog bed,) Upsplash (dog sitting near a table with a smoothie on it,) Alyssa Foulkes (Magic the Rottweiler (the author’s dog) resting calmly on the floor near a plate of bacon.)