Caitlin888 Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 (edited) Hi everyone, My dog Fudge (A cavalier x poodle) who is now 1 is still taking things off of tables. We do try and keep our house really clean and make sure we leave nothing on the floor but occasionally we will forget and will accidentally leave something on the edge of the table and Fudge will jump up take them. He has now ruined 2 pairs of glasses, eaten a bar of chocolate from one of our kids rooms, chewed credit cards etc. This is over the space of a few months so its not like its happening everyday it just happens every once in a while due to us forgetting to leave things not near the edge. Is there any particular training methods we could use to train him not to take things because at the moment if feels like we are trying our best to make sure he doesn't make a mistake (by not leaving stuff lying around) but when we do leave stuff lying around and he gets it I don't think he understands that its wrong. Edited December 11, 2017 by Caitlin888 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PANDI-GIRL Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 HI, Dogs at 1 year are still like silly pups sometimes , all you can do is put every item up high, like you would if a baby was crawling on the floor. My little dog is 1 year also, & silly sometimes, but is getting easier & calmer each month. One thing she will always find is the toilet paper roll, loves it, she runs all over the house with toilet paper flying behind her, very funny, so i must put the toilet roll up . Eating chocolate is very dangerous for dogs, you will have to keep it in the kitchen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Did you ever get the one on one training for the other issues you had . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caitlin888 Posted December 12, 2017 Author Share Posted December 12, 2017 Yes we did and she helped us learn to correct some other issues we where having, but we can't continue to keep having one on one trainers coming in so I was wondering if anyone on here had any advice for how we could correct his counter surfing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PossumCorner Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Be glad he is not Rottweiler height or more. Piper was never really proofed against bench surfing. After some training (thanks Croydon Club Vic) never ever when there was someone in the house. But home alone the temptation was too much. Young Rheneas just grew out of it: 'bedroom retail' was his method. Trotting out with slippers, socks, wallets, whatever he could find and carry. Probably until he was about 2 going on 3 years. Then stopped. It was lovely, a decision to suddenly see what was available was a dash up the hallway to the bedrooms. "Going shopping, Rheneas?" Yep, lookit I got, n it was free. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuralPug Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 He is still a young child at this stage in his life. It is up to you to puppy proof the house until he gets his maturity on! Make sure that he has plenty of toys of his own to play with, and keep swapping them around so that he doesn't lose interest in them (put away 3/4 of them and every couple of days swap the 1/4 available to him with others from your cupboard.) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juice Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Resrict the areas he can access , you can't watch him everywhere. and put him outside or crate him if you can't supervise. Don't set him up to fail. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Yep he’s a puppy. My Springers and Dally were “puppies” for a lot longer than 6 months! Em has quite a few wallets and credit cards to her name....silly Mr TSD for leaving them lying around! It’s not that hard to pick stuff up. Otherwise I use pens when we can’t supervise, crates occasionally and my favourite is the baby gates. They have saved us a lot of socks, shoes and cat toys. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDJ Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 You have not got a lot of suggestions on how to stop the behaviour (just how to avoid the situations) - and unfortunately, I think that is because it is very difficult to stop :-). Some dogs just do it, so removing temptation is the only way. The good news is that it may stop as he gets older. But there are no guarantees. My brothers whippet stopped stealing and chewing stuff when he was about 3(ish). My SWF is 9 and he will still shred a tissue if he can get hold of one (thankfully that is not damage, just messy), and the beagle I had 30 years ago never grew out of stealing. And you are right - he would not realise he is doing anything wrong. 'Cos in his mind he isn't. I would suggest not reacting when he does it. Simply pick up the bits (without speaking/eye contact etc) and remove them (then go outside and kick the rubbish bin ). If you do interact (chase him to get it back, snatch it from him, yell etc) he may see it as a game/attention. Apart from that - it does at least drive a tidy household and neat kids (agree though - very frustrating) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PANDI-GIRL Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 @Caitlin888 People on Poodle Forum, stop counter surfing by leaving traps , like tin plates with meat & tobasco sauce on it , or a line of saucepans tied together with string so when dog takes 1 the whole lot bang on the floor, it alarms you & the dog. See what you can come up with, all the best. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 There are absolutely ways to stop countersurfing using positive reinforcement based methods. But most people want a quick fix and training just ain’t that simple. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDJ Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 Alarming a dog when it is doing something you don't want it to do can work with some dogs - but can also cause so many other issues. When I was young our dogs were 'bomb proof' - very strong and resilient temperaments and I didn't realise that was not the norm. I thought all dogs could be put in any situation and their attitude would be 'ok - there are fireworks going off next door, no problem, what's for dinner?' or 'ahh - I am now mixing with 20 unknown dogs with different attitudes, ok - hi' or 'yep, I am now standing next to a 6 lane highway with B doubles going past - sure, I will do a 10 min out of sight drop stay'. Now I realise I had amazing dogs who I didn't fully appreciate. And now I know that many dogs can be seriously rattled by a single incident. I have not tried the things suggested by Pandi-girl, and not having a go as they may be effective in some situations - just thinking about what a string of saucepans could do to the confidence of a pup 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 (edited) On 12/12/2017 at 10:58 AM, Caitlin888 said: it just happens every once in a while due to us forgetting to leave things not near the edge. And there you have it . Maybe some new habits need to be learned by everyone Alarming a youngster with lots of clattering things may indeed cause repercussions . Edited December 13, 2017 by persephone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen15 Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 (edited) I know with cats, an effective way to keep them off counters is contact with the sticky side up. They hate sticky stuff on their paws. I used alfoil on the couch with success to keep the cat off. May have looked rather strange, but also worked really well. Doesn't help a thieving dog problem though...... Edited December 13, 2017 by karen15 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PossumCorner Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 I'm a little amazed at that poodle forum snippet. I thought one of the mantras of poodle people was never punish a poodle. For good reasons. And to frighten a dog, any dog, ever, is so negative in my book. Fear can never be unlearned. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 57 minutes ago, PossumCorner said: I'm a little amazed at that poodle forum snippet. I thought one of the mantras of poodle people was never punish a poodle. For good reasons. And to frighten a dog, any dog, ever, is so negative in my book. Fear can never be unlearned. Agreed! That seems extreme !! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trishm Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Just don't leave anything within his reach........he might forget the behaviour ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottsmum Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 6 hours ago, Trishm said: Just don't leave anything within his reach........he might forget the behaviour ... My girl took every opportunity to raid the bin right up until the day she died if we were silly enough to leave it within her stumpy little reach. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Gifts Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 My stafford is now 10 and we still can't leave anything within her reach - no kitchen tidy on the floor, no fruit bowl with bananas in it on the breakfast bar and not even tissues on the coffee table! In the first 3 years of her life she cost me a fortune in the things she destroyed and we were regularly at the vet making sure what she ate was going to come out the other end. She even ate a 6 for by 6 foot corner lounge bit by bit! She has perfect response to the 'leave' command when I catch her but she just can't stop putting everything she sees in her mouth! She will be like it for life so it is up to us to remove the temptations. She's too lazy to get on tables but has been known to use her lizard like tongue to pull things within reach. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bundyburger Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 My dog used to bench surf regularly until he misjudged stealing a whole roast chicken off the bench and it landed on his head. That stopped him for years and years until a pork belly on the bench tempted him a few months ago (i left it out and they weren't supervised). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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