[NAGDU] [nagdu] counter surfing

Tracy Carcione carcione at access.net
Fri Jun 24 12:15:33 UTC 2016


Hi Danielle.
I feel your pain.  Krokus was a bad counter surfer, though he's toned it
down a lot.  Or maybe we've gotten better at putting food where it isn't
quite so tempting.
It's been very helpful to me to put a mat at a spot in the kitchen that's
out of the way, and teach him to go to his spot and stay there while I'm
working in the kitchen.  At first, he got a treat (kibble) for going to his
spot and lying down.  Now, he gets random treats of various sorts, which he
only gets when he's on his spot.  But I still have to pay attention when
leaving him alone in the kitchen with food, and we never leave food on the
table without someone there to stop the monster bouncing up.
I'm sure having people not willing to help with the project is very
annoying.  Good luck.
Tracy


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Danielle Sykora
via NAGDU
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2016 10:49 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Danielle Sykora
Subject: [NAGDU] [nagdu] counter surfing

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

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