[NAGDU] [nagdu] counter surfing

[Danielle Sykora]

Hi all,

Thai has been a counter surfer to an extent since the second week of
class, but it's really become a problem in the last few weeks now that
everyone is home/not working for the summer--three of the four people
I live with are in college or work in a high school. The scavenging is
manageable while working and at school, but it's a real problem at
home because of the amount of reachable surfaces and the tendency for
my family to forget just how food obsessed he really is. I also have
to deal with the "you don't feed him enough" and the "guide dogs are
supposed to be perfect" comments. Gotta love family...

So far I've tried:
1. Click and treat for walking past food and/or getting off the
counter as soon as I say so. I've had limited success with this, but
it's difficult when there's food I don't know about or a lot of
background noise that makes it hard to hear my super sneaky dog, even
with a collar bell.
2. Obedience around food. He does a pretty good job leaving food when
actively engaged in a heel, stay, or recall, but not so much once he
is released from these activities.
3. Applying an aversive substance to the food. Thai isn't phased by
much other than cayenne pepper. He will often sniff the food before
eating it, either from a short distance away or when he actually jumps
up and avoids the sabotaged food, which kind of eliminates the
unpleasant surprise.
4. Walking past food with him on leash and correcting for any move
toward it. Only works for that one piece of food in that situation. If
we come back later or I let him off the leash, he eats the food. The
reward of the food is apparently worth the discomfort of the
correction.
5. Spraying with water or shaking a can with pennies inside. I don't
like using aversive methods, but I got desperate enough to try. I've
had some success with this, but we still run into the food is worth
the correction thing. The penny can also absolutely terrifies my
little pet dog... multiple dog problems.
6. Keeping him on leash or tiedown when ever we're out of my room and
not engaged in a specific activity. This management technique isn't
ideal, but it worked until about six months ago when the puppy was
actually old enough to have freedom in the house. She basically wants
to play all the time, and pounces on Thai every time he lays down.
It's not really fair for him to have to deal with a puppy literally
standing or laying on him without having the option to walk away. No
one really wants to help tone down the puppy's enthusiasm, and I can
only do so much on my own. That limits the time Thai can be leashed to
when she is also on tiedown or upstairs with someone else.
7. Putting a cookie sheet at the edge of the table with  a piece of
food behind it. It's supposed to fall to the ground when the dog jumps
up on it and make a really loud noise... He wouldn't jump on it.

I thought about crating him while someone is preparing a meal, which
is the most likely time for him to find food unattended. A tiedown
works just as well when puppy isn't around though, and since I'm not
sure if we are keeping her (she was released from all service dog
programs due to medical problems), I don't want to buy a crate just
yet.

I've also thought about using some kind of muzzle temporarily just to
break the jumping on counters is so rewarding cycle, but this also
would leave him at a disadvantage when playing with the puppy. They
love to play bite each others' scruffs...

I'm not comfortable using shock devices, so I'm fresh out of ideas.
Sorry for the long post, but I feel like I've tried everything, and
I'm getting desperate. I plan on contacting my school, but I figured
it couldn't hurt to see if anyone had any other ideas.

Danielle and Thai