Episode #46 Counter Surfing

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This is the puppy training podcast episode number 46 Counter surfing This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning as you train your own dog from home.  And I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the puppy training podcast, and I'm your host.  Amy Jensen.     

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Thank you for listening and being here with me today as we talk about puppies jumping on things we prefer they don’t. I get asked a fair amount of questions about puppies jumping on counters so today let’s help you make a training plan. Thanks Hilary for your help with the idea for today’s podcast! But first, just in case you are new - welcome - my name is Amy Jensen. I’m a certified dog trainer and owner of BAXTER & Bella - The Online Puppy School. I help hundreds of families each year through the puppy training process and more than that, the ins and outs of puppy ownership. I help you have a seamless transition into your home and show you step by step how to train your puppy like a professional and really how to help your puppy be a calm, well-mannered member of the family. You’ll hear a lot about Boots on this podcast. He’s currently our service dog in training. He just turned 10 months old last week and is about half-way through his training. Even though we market mostly to new puppies we help train dogs of any age. Our program is comprehensive. You pay once and have our support for life. So if you find yourself needing some help in the dog training space, reach out and I’d love to help you.Alright let’s talk about counter surfing. For those of you new to this topic, this refers to when your dog puts his paws on tables or counters to find food or other fun things. Dogs do what motivates them and counters are pretty tempting. This behavior usually doesn’t crop up until the teenager months mostly because young puppies are simply too small to reach. But around five months of age, puppies start to look like their adult age, and for the larger breed puppies this  means they’ve grown enough to stretch their paws onto tables or other high surfaces. If they try this once and find something worthwhile, they will try again. In fact, intermittent reinforcement - or getting a reward only sometimes - creates super strong behavior because it becomes addictive. Much like gambling in our world, if we win something once, we’ll keep trying multiple times even without winning for that one time we might win again. This explains counter surfing for dogs. If they get a piece of pizza once, they will try again and again to see if they might get another piece the next time. That makes it a bit tricky for us as humans. The behavior is self reinforcing to the dog and extremely motivating.If you’ve listened to this podcast before, you hopefully know what I’m going to start with...management. Exactly. First, when we talk about changing dog behavior, we need to limit the ability of our dog to practice the unwanted behavior. Why? So it doesn’t get stronger. We are trying to change what our dog is currently doing - but if he gets to keep doing it - that training will take a really long time. Your first task (if your dog is a counter surfer) is to figure out how to prevent him access to your counters as well as make the counters less motivating. This may mean crating them when you are not in the kitchen with them. Or tethering them to you so you know exactly where they are and what they are doing. Send them outside to play in a safe fenced area until you can watch them indoors. You can use exercise pens or baby gates to block access to the kitchen area. Keep counters free from food after meals or snacks. Wipe them off completely so if your puppy does try to surf he won’t find a crumb - hence no reward. Be creative. You may use one or all of the above suggestions or think of your own. This will look different for each of us as we have different living spaces, daily schedules and breeds of dogs. Now that you are preventing your dog from practicing this super enticing, self-rewarding and addictive behavior - how can we train better behavior?I like to picture what I want my dog to do instead. I also consider my dog’s motivation. What is making them want to search on my counters? Dogs are usually in search of food or something else rewarding on the counters - up high. What if we changed their motivation to lower surfaces like the floor or a dog bed? This brings up two training ideas.First, train your dog to go to bed in the kitchen. Teach them that is the only place they get food in that area. This method works well when you are home. Anytime I’m in my kitchen prepping or eating food, my dog knows to lie on their bed and they will be rewarded for doing so. I train very young puppies to do this from week one. Start by putting a dog bed on the floor in your kitchen. Lure your puppy into a down on the bed, mark YES or click if you use a clicker - then feed them a treat. Every 5-10 seconds, drop another small treat (cheerio size) onto the bed in between their front paws to help them stay in position. Over time lengthen the time between treats. After you play this fun game with your puppy a few times, they’ll start to go to the bed on their own whenever you are in the kitchen. They can learn to stay there longer and longer out of your way and when they are on their bed, they can not be counter surfing. Another idea is to provide fun rewarding things for your puppy to search for on the ground. You can do this by placing your dog’s toy bin at the base of the counter. Every so often, drop a yummy biscuit or other food reward in the bin. Each day rotate the toys so a new toy (or a toy that hasn’t been played with in awhile) appears. Put a Kong filled with something good in it in the bin. Don’t show your dog you are doing these things, simply put them in when they aren’t watching. If you start with something that has an enticing smell to it then your puppy will figure out this game and keep going to the bin to find the goods! This helps bring your dog’s motivation to search on high counters to the low surface of the floor. Finally, make sure your dog is getting plenty of daily exercise. A tired pup is one who loves a good nap on the floor. With warmer weather on it’s way, take the exercise outside and enjoy games of fetch, frisbee, hide and seek, FIND YOUR TOYS- I’m telling you, these puppies have about a month to prep for those easter egg hunts! OK, don’t really let your dog hunt for the egss, but if you’ve ever watched a toddler find eggs at an easter egg hunt, your dog is the same and will be so excited to find tennis balls hidden in your yard in exchange for food rewards or having the ball tossed once found. Not only will your dog (and kids if applicable) have a lot of fun together - it’s great physical and mental exercise. 

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