Counter surfing is an informal term for what many dogs do every day: stealing food or objects from counters or tabletops or stovetops that should be off limits. Another more specific term for this misbehavior is counter thieving. I’ll discuss three methods that might stop counter surfing.
Management
First and foremost, don’t make stealing food or objects off counters easy for the dog!
What does that mean? Control the dog’s access to any area with objects or food within the dog’s reach . . . and don’t underestimate the dog’s reach! I’ve mentioned before that I worked with two miniature poodles who managed to scale a tall armoire to get to a two-pound box of chocolates, knock it onto the floor, then rip apart the box to get to the candy. They consumed about half the chocolates—approximately a half-pound per each approximately 10-pound dog. Yes, they lived. But pulling them through chocolate poisoning was a terrifying and expensive procedure for their owners.
Counter-surfing infractions usually take place in the kitchen, of course, but the second most likely crime scene is anyplace where human food is out in the open, unguarded. At the dining table before or after meals (when humans are not watching), from the coffee table or desk when humans have been snacking and simply walk away, from the picnic table or barbecue set-up in the back yard, even from the refrigerator when an oblivious human leaves it open to step a few feet away. Children are often victims of food thievery by dogs because they eat while wandering around with food in their hands—food that can be easily reached, since children can be sloppy and children are short. Dogs grab and run, rewarding themselves for their own bad behavior.
One solution is to make the kitchen and even the dining area off limits to dogs. That can be easily accomplished in one of two ways—crate the dog during food preparation and mealtimes, or close the room doors so the dog cannot access the area. Complications arise when humans “forget” to crate the dog (I always have to wonder how often those same humans might “forget” to put a crawling baby in a playpen when they must leave the baby unsupervised). No, it is not “cruel” to crate your dog when you are cooking and eating. It might be unkind if you kenneled the dog right there in the kitchen where he could see and smell the food preparation, but you’re not going to do that. Crate the dog in the bedroom or family room—as far away from the food as possible.
Doors are not as simple a solution now as they might have been in the past, since many homes are constructed in an “open plan” concept, with no doors between the kitchen area and dining room, living room, family room. For management’s sake, in an open-plan home, you might consider the latest in “baby gates” for pets. Many attractive options are specifically designed to provide dog-proof barriers long enough to block one part of an open-concept room from another part. These barriers are not inexpensive, but it may be well worth the money to install an effective solution to control access to the more “counter surfing sensitive” areas of your home. Many of these long barriers have easy pass-throughs for humans and, remarkably, for cats! Yes, some dog barriers come with small “cat door” type openings to accommodate the feline members of the family.
Aversives
Twenty years ago, aversives were much more popular than they are today. Luckily for our dogs, it’s become fairly common knowledge that aversives are not nearly as effective in eliminating bad behavior as was once thought. It is far more effective to simply kennel your dog to control counter surfing than it is to punish your dog after the counter surfing. Aversives are meant to provide a negative outcome to the dog for his misbehavior but, since what each dog finds aversive differs, aversives as a shotgun approach often fail when the dog is not bothered by them or even when the dog turns out to enjoy the aversive! I’m not recommending aversives, but you should be aware of those most commonly used, if only so you can avoid wasting time by experimenting.
Water spray. Squirt or spray water at the dog while he is in the act of counter surfing. Highly ineffective if you have a dog that enjoys water, this method can also backfire by making a dog nervous around water, which makes bathing him more difficult. For this method to have a chance of working, the dog must not find the water rewarding, and the owner must not use the spray bottle as a “cue” for the dog not to counter surf. “I’ve got the spray ready, Fido. See the bottle?”
Taste deterrents. Spray bad-tasting liquid (usually about 70% alcohol with bitters added) on “bait” food, leave “bait” food on counter; dog steals food, gets horrible taste in his mouth, vows never to steal food again. Or . . . the dog likes the taste of the deterrent and looks for more of it! Or . . . the dog isn’t at all deterred by the taste and vows to counter surf more because he just got some food! The outcome is so iffy that, really, it’s most likely not to work. You’ll know if it does: use it once or twice and the dog stops counter surfing. Any other result means the taste deterrent method failed. If you have to keep using it because the dog keeps counter surfing, move along immediately to a better method.
Booby traps. Set up something scary on the counter and let it happen to the dog. The problem is, of course, defining what is scary to your particular dog. It takes some experimentation, you guess. It does. Unfortunately, modern knowledge of what works and what doesn’t when trying to change the behavior of animals indicates that experimenting with aversives often makes the unwanted behavior worse, or doesn’t change it at all. And there is almost always fall-out that affects other behaviors—even those good behaviors that we want to stay the same . . . like trust in humans. But if you must, make your own booby trap by piling pots and pans and pie tins (nothing breakable) in a precarious manner on your counter, bait with food, and wait for the dog to be scared straight. Or not.
Training
Unfortunately, training the dog not to counter surf—which is usually a matter of training the dog to perform an alternative behavior that is not counter surfing—is often the last option chosen by the owners of counter-surfing dogs. It’s human nature, I believe. We want the quick answer, the fast fix. We don’t want to take the time to teach the dog to do something else instead of counter surf. We want him to stop doing what he’s doing, period, and we get darn mad if he doesn’t. It’s almost as if he’s doing it to make us look bad! Nope, he’s really not. It’s dog nature to be opportunistic. How the heck do you think dogs have survived throughout history?
If your dog is a skilled counter surfer—if he is able to reward himself frequently by nabbing that piece of food (or stealing your shoes off the floor and chewing on them)—he’s proven himself smart and adept. That’s what ticks us off, I think. We believe, deep down, that the dog is thumbing his nose at us, figuratively at least. Trust me, he’s not. The dog may come to enjoy all the screaming and yelling and chasing him around. After all, he’s already swallowed the steak and now he’s getting attention for his success! Remember the simple maxim: behavior that is rewarded will continue. You’ve attempted to stop the dog from counter surfing and he’s still counter surfing? He’s been rewarded.
Training an alternative behavior to counter surfing is not as difficult as you might think. Your best bet is to train that behavior from the first day the dog enters your home. In other words, do not wait until your dog has stumbled across counter surfing for himself. Don’t ever let him discover counter surfing.
For chronic counter surfers, of course, training an alternative behavior may be more problematic. Perhaps you can use a behavior that you’ve already trained, like “go to your mat”? Puppies learn very quickly what “go to your mat” involves in any good puppy class. Adults dogs in a pet dog class may also have been exposed to this concept. Teaching “boundaries” is another solution—for example, dogs are trained to understand that a certain physical location, like a doorway to the kitchen, is a boundary they do not cross. They are rewarded for not crossing it.
Yes, that sort of training takes time. It’s your choice. You may be playing catch-up in solving your dog’s counter-surfing issues. Unless you’re willing to subject yourself, your family, and your guests to continued counter surfing and food thievery for the rest of the dog’s life, playing catch-up now may be your only option. Of course, you could continue to complain, tell stories, post photos on Facebook, even joke about how your dog is obviously much smarter than you. That’s a common choice!
But you might change your tune when your dog eats something that makes him very sick—like chocolates or your medication or your iPhone. It could happen. It does happen. As with shoplifting for humans, counter surfing for dogs can become the first step in an escalating life of crime. Make good choices from the moment you know good choices are available and you can avoid that outcome. You will know your choices are correct when your dog behaves the way you want him to behave, whether it’s resting quietly in his kennel while you cook and serve meals, remaining peacefully behind a barrier that you’ve set up to control his access to areas of opportunity, or lying happily on his mat until preparation and eating time is over. Your dog can learn to make a better choice, and so can you!
