Help for jumping & staying off counters?

[lellis34]

HELP! I need some quick suggestions for keeping King from jumping on folks. He used to do it to us when we'd come in the door, but now once we're in and settled, we tell him to sit and he gets all his pets.

But, when we meet people that he knows while we're walking, he always wants to jump up. Usually he'll start on all 4s, get a few pets, then he gets overly excited and jumps up. I always pull him off and make him sit, but I'm loooking for a way to keep him from jumping in the first place. This is something that he's only really started doing in the last month or so.

Also, I know a while back there was a thread about keeping them off counters. I need help with this too - new problem just this week. He's had a field day/buffet this past weekend and any tips would be appreciated here too.

I know some of you guys are pros, so I'm sure you have some good tips.

Thanks a bunch,
Lynn

[Big_Ant]

What methods of training are you using?

Positive? Compulsive?

Does he have/use a prong?

- Anthony

[cheekymunkee]

I've never had too much of a problem with counter surfing. Justice used to do it aand so did Booger. I just snuck up on them ( when my dogs are being quiet, that means trouble and I sneak up on them to find out what they are doing) and scared the living crap out of them & that helped. WIth Justice I also put hot sauce on a plate of food & left it for her on the counter. She seemed to like it so I had to turn it up a notch & sneak jalapenos in. It worked pretty well...........in the kitchen anyway. If there is food left any where else it is fair game to her. I need to "reteach" her that lesson.

[lellis34]

What methods of training are you using?

Positive? Compulsive?

Does he have/use a prong?

- Anthony

I try to keep everything I do with him positive reinforcement. But if he's doing bad then he gets a verbal correction. If he's on leash and acts up then it's a snap of the collar with a strong NO. When he stops, then I give him a command for something else and when he does that he gets rewarded.

When he jumps, I pull him down while I'm using the "off" command then put him in a sit. Once he's sitting he can go back to getting his pets again.

Forgive me, but what's compulsive? I don't have a prong for him but was planning to go tonight to get one in hope it would help with this and some pulling he's just started to do. He has a martindale(?) right now it's part choke chain, part webbed collar and he's gotten pretty immune to it.

Also, does anyone know any trainers out this way? I'd really like to find someone with pit experience to work with him with me. He's having a couple other occassional issues too.

THANKS!!

[lellis34]

I've never had too much of a problem with counter surfing. Justice used to do it aand so did Booger. I just snuck up on them ( when my dogs are being quiet, that means trouble and I sneak up on them to find out what they are doing) and scared the living crap out of them & that helped. WIth Justice I also put hot sauce on a plate of food & left it for her on the counter. She seemed to like it so I had to turn it up a notch & sneak jalapenos in. It worked pretty well...........in the kitchen anyway. If there is food left any where else it is fair game to her. I need to "reteach" her that lesson.

I'll have to try the hot sauce. He may like it too much though. This weekend he had pork chops, chicken, brownies, a banana, and a bunch of bread. I came out of the bathroom to find dog biscuits spread on the counter and the blender on. I think he was planning to make a smoothie.

[cheekymunkee]

[mnp13]

stand on the leash with a little slack, so when he jumps up he will take up the slack and correct himself

[SisMorphine]

Set them up to fail!! I have a couple of suggestions for you that some of the trainers I've worked with use:

#1
Take a cardboard tray (like the ones cat food comes in) and fill it wth empty soda cans. Tie a string to the tray and set the tray up on the counter. Now put a piece of bologna or such slightly hanging off the edge of the counter. As the pup starts to go for it, you pull the string, thus making a huge crashing sound and scaring the poop out of the dog. After a couple of set ups the dog usually gets it. But the thing is, you have to set off the "booby-trap" before the dogs gets the goody.

#2
Stack up metal dogs bowls, pots and pans, etc, around the corner of the kitchen door. Again, set up your dog to fail but putting something yummy on the counter. As the dog goes up to get the food knock the tower of metal over, towards the kitchen, again scaring the dog.

#3
Take a flat piece of cardboard and put it on the counter, overlapping about an inch. Put a piece of food on the cardboard. When the dog jumps up and puts his paws on the cardboard to get the food, the cardboard will then flip over, again scaring him (the bigger the piece of cardboard the better).


All of these methods, of course, are dependent upon the fact that you own a normal dog who has a normal level of fear involved. Unfortunately with both of my dogs you give them something startling and instead of running away they go to investigate . . . which makes all 3 of these training solutions useless for me. So hopefully you have normal dogs!!

[rockermom]

Alot of people here hate this one but I had a bad counter surfer. Like a million times a day. When he started stealing knives out of the sink and running through the house I had to put an end to it. My very positive clicker trainer agreed this would probably do the trick. just a handfull of Pennies in a tall arizona ice tea can did the trick. Have to do it at right moment. Waited pretending to be sleeping on the couch watching reflection through oven door. The second he jumped up the can flew through the room and hit the floor. Never did it again. However he is now terrified of the can. I have stored it in my closet for months in case of emergency. If I accidently even touch it he will go off and be scared like a dog would be scared of lighting. I let you know of this because some dont care for the scare thing. But the counter surfing problem ended imediately. Would I do it agian? Oh yeah dont want one of my kids being stabbed.

[Romanwild]

I have been having a lot of success using the bonker for things like this. At our club trainings on Saturays we have been curing a lot of these things with a firm "NO" and a bonk. Not once has it not worked.

It does no harm and it's effective.

Roll up a small towel and wrap the ends with rubber bands. It should be about a foot long or so. I have one for every room.

You can throw it like a tomahawk or just bonk them with it. Whatever fits the situation.

The most important thing is the timing. "NO" should be said right before or right when the behavior occurs. Take 2 seconds then bonk them. Make it sufficiant enough to freak them out a little. Being too gentle won't do the trick or it will cause you to have to repeat it too many times.

For the jumping you can carry the bonker with you or have one of your friends help you by doing the bonking. That might be even more effective. I used that approach with a english mastiff last weekend because he lunges at other dogs. It only took one correction and he stopped even looking at other dogs.

On average I have found that it takes about three corrections then you need to do it in different enviroments so they generalize it.

For counter surfing you can do the same thing but it will be a throwing situation. Or you can get a RTC (electric collar) that is made specifically for areas like counters or rooms or doorways. That way you don't have to be around the dog when he commits the act. I've been told they work well. Make sure you get a collar that has a beep before the shock. It's works like the marker "NO" and I've been told makes the correction a lot more effective.

I don't beleive that positive reinforcement alone will solve your problems. Although I feel it's important to balance the negative punishment with a positive. For instance bonk them when they jump up and reward them after when they don't jump. I see the dogs understanding a lot quicker when you try to balance the approach.

The pennies in a can thing can work but as you experienced loud noises can mess with certain dogs. Sometimes it causes them to be afraid of all loud noises. Not to mention that they can get hurt if the can accidently hits them. JMO

[lellis34]

Ok, so last night I snuck up behind him as he was surveying the counter, yelled, and scared the heck out of him. I've never yelled at him before so I think it took him totally off guard. I then left a piece of bread on the counter and it was still there this morning. He was in and out of his crate last night and never even touched it. So I'll be keeping an eye/ear out to see if it worked. I'm sure I'll have to scare him a few more times for it to take, but it worked last night.

I'm going to try standing on the leash and the bonker thing for when we go on walks. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for all the great tips.