Solving Counter Surfing.
Counter surfing is a term coined to describe dog behaviour around food and counter tops. This might involve, jumping up on kitchen worktops, dining tables, or making sweeps of the coffee table. Despite being annoying (and potentially harmful to the dog), they are perfectly natural dog behaviours. For some dogs, the promise of a morsel of food, or a whole plate of goodies, is enough to encourage counter surfing. And once the dog has been rewarded for their efforts, it can be tricky to persuade them otherwise. However, it can be done – read on for some top tips on preventing counter surfing in positive ways.
Dogs are opportunists and scavengers by nature. Seeking out food, is one of their primary goals in life. The more successful a dog is at pinching food from a certain place, the more likely they are to repeat it 😉
Because food is a primary reinforcer – in other words, one of the most favoured reward for most dogs – counter surfing quickly becomes an enriching activity. Your dog may only have to discover the delights of the kitchen counter once, to initiate a strong pattern of behaviour.
A dog does not understand what a kitchen counter is, or what it represents. Your dog isn’t misbehaving out of ‘spite’, or sheer naughtiness and, therefore, punishing your dog is both unfair and counter-productive (sorry 🙂 )
Remove temptation.
The most obvious way to deal with counter surfing is not to leave food, dirty dishes, or other goodies available. Although your dog may not jump up while you are present, even the best-trained dog may spy their chance, if left unattended with the waft of delicious smelling food just above their nose. To present the dog with such temptation is probably a bit unfair.
Equally, leaving a plate of food unattended while you go and fetch a drink, or answer the telephone can put temptation your dog’s way. Try and remember to control the environment so that your dog cannot fail.
Use positive reinforcement training for successful results.
A lot of owners might deal with counter-surfing by shouting at the dog. However, dogs cannot reason as we do. Therefore, they won’t connect the reprimand with the food stealing. In addition, they will definitely not associate the correction with the ‘misdemeanour’, if they are chastised after the event. Please don’t do this.
As well as this, the value of the forbidden food is usually far greater than the reprimand from the owner. As a result, the dog will simply wait for their chance and continue the quest as soon as their owner’s back is turned. It is important to remember – your dog isn’t breaking the rules intentionally, but is simply driven by an innate desire to gain food. It’s that simple.
As we have suggested, the best way to deal with counter-surfing, is to keep temptation out of reach. That way, the behaviour never starts. However, there are other tips which will help convince your dog counter surfing is non-rewarding.
Top tips.
- Don’t let your pup jump up. Always reward them for keeping four feet on the ground, (whether, or not, they are in the kitchen).
- Avoid feeding your dog scraps from the dining table, or worktops.
- Avoid feeding your cat on the worktops.
- Train the ‘leave it’ command.
- Make sure your dog has no access to human food at any time. Remember – many foods are toxic to dogs.
Apply a combination of positive training and control the environment – remove temptation. This way, your dog is less likely to engage in counter-surfing behaviour in the first place.
