Question:
My dog steals items off the kitchen counter. How do I get him to stop, especially when I am not there?

The Trainer Answers:
Ah, the infamous counter surfer! Start by using management to control the situation when you are not there. Make sure your dog does not have opportunities to practice the undesirable behavior and reward himself.

This might mean keeping your dog out of the kitchen by blocking it off with baby gates, keeping the dog crated, or otherwise preventing him from getting to the counter when you are not there.

One way to teach your dog not to jump on the counter is to make sure the dog is never rewarded for the behavior. Rather than completely preventing access to the counter, clear your counter tops for now. If the dog does get a chance to put his feet or nose on the counter top, he should find absolutely nothing.

Even if there is no food on the counter, he might still enjoy pulling items off the counter to play with or chew. Ensure he never finds any value in accessing the counter tops. This alone will eventually extinguish the behavior. Dogs will discontinue any behaviors that are not rewarding in some way. If your dog does continue the behavior, then he is being rewarded in some fashion!

In some cases, the dog is counter surfing out of boredom – he’s looking for some fun. Help him to avoid the counters by ensuring he has plenty of other appropriate activities to do – on the floor. Find ways to make the floor more interesting by placing toys, his meals, or interactive toys with his meals on the floor in the kitchen. If items on the floor keep his interest, he will soon lose interest in the counter tops.

When you are ready to work with your dog, go to the kitchen armed with some tasty treats, fun toys or other items of interest to your dog. Any time he shows interest in the counters, redirect his focus to something else.

Ask him to perform some known behaviors, offer to play with him, or find other ways to engage his interest in something else. Do not give him the chance to jump on the counter. When ready, you can make it more difficult by placing tempting items on the counter, but make sure you can stop or redirect him before he gets to it.

Initially, you will need to be standing close by so you can step in and block him with your body. Don’t yell at him or push him away with your hands, but rather simply step in and use your body as a barrier to the item of interest.

If you’d like, you can add a cue to the behavior of redirecting away from the counters – “leave it” is an example. Your dog will begin to understand that he should turn his focus away from whatever he was focused on and turn attention toward you instead. Do not wait for him to have his nose or feet on the counter before you say “leave it” – do so as soon as he shows any interest in the counters.

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