# Jumping on counters



## MikeandDidi (Jul 19, 2016)

Our 6 month old Vizsla, Lucy, has been pretty disobedient with jumping up with her front paws on counters. She religiously checks the counters each AM, and throughout the day when stuffs being prepped in kitchen. We consistently say "down" and/or "no" but she is persistent about getting whatever's there. 

Does anyone have any suggestions/training tips that may help? We have tried shaking change in a coffee cup, but that has lost its effect as well. Help!!!
Mike and Didi


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## NutterButter (Mar 5, 2016)

I will be interested to hear the suggestions on this. Our Sadie stopped doing this (and worse as she used to "counter surf" and knock things on the floor). Wish I could say we cured her of that, but she just decided not to do it anymore about 6 months ago. Knock wood she continues to behave.

We had a Beagle/Rat Terrier mix that would stand on her hind legs to get a better look at things (in car windows, on countertops, over tall grass or bushes) pretty cool that she could just stand on her hind legs for many minutes if she chose to.


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## Hank Holt (Apr 1, 2016)

Our 4 month old puppy started doing this about 3 weeks ago. She grew in height and confidence over night and has started testing a lot of boundaries. She'll place her paws as high as she can on the cupboards as well on the coffee table and dinning room table. 
We use a firm 'eh-eh-eh' and 'sit!'. Our trainer told us to say 'sit' instead of 'down' since the desired behaivour is for them to sit patiently. I'm still confused by the logic though.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

One of the biggest things to curb it, is not leave any food unattended on the counters. Pick another action for them to do, and praise and treat them for doing it correctly. 
Some dogs have been lost to them turning on the stove when surfing for food. 
June can be a surfer, but no food left out pretty much broke the habit for her. Cash was never a surfer but pulled a glass pie plate off the counter at about 6 years old. I guess it scared him because I came home to a kitchen floor covered in glass, and him laying in his crate. 
I know some people don't like to use crates, but they keep dogs safe. Luckily I had Lucy, and June crated, and non of them had gotten into the glass.


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## cynrunner (Feb 17, 2016)

Hi, Our 10 month old, Cashew, is pretty obedient, BUT, sometimes cannot control his desire to counter-surf if he smells something irresistible. If he does not get down & stay down, I just show them this blue spray bottle of water, & he trots away... 

Really funny he would be scared of the water spray, cause he loves to swim.

This is the only "negative" correction we have ever used.


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## MikeandDidi (Jul 19, 2016)

Thanks All-

We don't leave food on the counters, but when we are preparing meals, she's all over it. She stretches her neck out (we call it ET neck) and she's as sly as a fox. 

We have been using the "sit" command when she jumps up to counter surf, and it has worked well. Thanks for that idea. We'll see. 

Right now we are just anxious to get her cone off. Lucy was spayed last week and she chewed her way out of two inflatable protective rings, and somehow chewed her way out of a cone while in the crate. Shes on number two. She's like a Houdini! Vet gave us tranquilizers for when she's crated when we are at work. Even they don't knock her out, but two more days before we can off leash walk her. 

Overall...she's the best. Keeps us on our toes for sure. Thanks for everyone's feedback, and Happy Thanksgiving. 

MikeandDidi


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## Penny4YourThoughts (Aug 4, 2016)

We have been dealing with the same with Penny (also 6 months) 
I found she would only "listen" when I got close enough to manually correct her. We decided that we would try using a squirt bottle with a long stream so we could correct her from farther away (This was a bit of a hail marry, as we had tried all the usual methods) 
It worked! Almost instantly. Only had to spray her twice combined with our usual Off command, and she got it!


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## jean (Feb 17, 2015)

We had this issue when our dog was a pup, despite him never succeeding. He wanted to check it out.

What worked for us was consistently putting him in a one minute time-out in his crate every time he jumped up. We kept a crate right at the kitchen entrance. We didn't scold him, but we did it cheerfully, as if by jumping up on the counter, he was requesting to go in his crate. "Oh, OK! Kennel! You want to go to the kennel?! Let's go!" and we'd escort him in. It took less than a week of this before it clicked. We no longer have a kitchen crate.  

Some people say not to use crates for timeout/punishment, but he was already crate trained and this had no effect.

We sometimes also have him sit in his place while we cook, but that would only solves counter surfing while you are actively working in the kitchen. Ours would randomly check out counters at any time, even if there was no food. 

A little maturity and being tall enough to see what was up there without jumping might have also helped.


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## MikeandDidi (Jul 19, 2016)

Lucy has been pretty good about jumping up to check counters. We used the squirt bottle method and it has been effective. Just having the bottle on the counter in her site seems to do the trick. 

Thanks again for all of the input from everyone. 

MikeandDidi


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## marcia (Jan 10, 2017)

Rusty,our 5 1/2 month old also loves to check the counters. We have been going to obedience classes and we were given a spray bottle filled with water. You have to catch them in the act. He doesn't like it still working on lots of behavior issues. It may work for you. I am sure if there were something there he wanted and we weren't around he would have it.


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Try not to use the command "down". As down means lie down. I would try teaching "off". Be consistent in whatever you choose to do. Try to get the dog to lie on a blanket or bed in one spot. When they are young like that constant supervision and training are key. It will eventually click with time. Now is the best time to mold the desired behaviours that you want going forwards.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

I heard that leaving a row of spoons on the worktop can work, ie the dog jumps up, it's paws hit the spoons and flip up and startle the dog. I've not tried it myself and it may well be an old wives tale, but maybe worth a try.


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## Anida (Jun 10, 2016)

harrigab said:


> I heard that leaving a row of spoons on the worktop can work, ie the dog jumps up, it's paws hit the spoons and flip up and startle the dog. I've not tried it myself and it may well be an old wives tale, but maybe worth a try.


probably depends on your dog  Willard and Inara wouldn't care. Kaylee would freak -- but she is easily startled by new noises.


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

Inara? Firefly fan, Anida?


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## weez (Sep 26, 2014)

Anida said:


> harrigab said:
> 
> 
> > I heard that leaving a row of spoons on the worktop can work, ie the dog jumps up, it's paws hit the spoons and flip up and startle the dog. I've not tried it myself and it may well be an old wives tale, but maybe worth a try.
> ...


Love the names! I was telling the kids that if we got a male dog, I would want to call him Jayne. Then, people would ask me if it is a male or female and I would say "Jayne's a male" and then they would say but Jayne's a girl's name and I would say, in my fake gruff manly voice, "Jayne ain't a girl!". Yes, my kids know their mom is both weird and a fan of Firefly. ;D

As for the counter surfing, nothing has worked for us. Mostly because we are far too inconsistent!


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## Rbka (Apr 21, 2014)

This could potential have ill effects if you have an anxious V... but we lined the edges of the counters with empty cans or cookie sheets sometimes so it would make a lot of racket when falling down. We only booby trapped it once or twice but then he stopped! I guess Nico began to associate counter-surfing with bad outcomes rather than tasty treats! We also taught him the command "out of the kitchen" to keep him out entirely when we were cooking and made sure there was no food around when we weren't.
We get our 2nd V pup a week from tomorrow - SO EXCITED!! Except for the potty training.... and sleep deprivation... and shark attacks.... hahaha I'm sure it'll all pass in the blink of an eye though


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## Anida (Jun 10, 2016)

We are firefly fans  I'm pulling for Simon if we get a boy V at some point.

Back on topic, I agree with Rbka. I'd avoid this kind of training with Kaylee because she gets anxious about new noises.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

Anida said:


> We are firefly fans  I'm pulling for Simon if we get a boy V at some point.
> 
> Back on topic, I agree with Rbka. I'd avoid this kind of training with Kaylee because _*she gets anxious about new noises.*_


but you can't "not expose" your dog to new noises surely?


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## Anida (Jun 10, 2016)

harrigab said:


> Anida said:
> 
> 
> > We are firefly fans  I'm pulling for Simon if we get a boy V at some point.
> ...


Of course not  It's something we are working on with her but I wouldn't want to use noise as a punishment. We are trying to boost her confidence and to not be so skiddish about everything new.


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