How to Keep Your Dog From Counter Surfing

Do you have a dog that likes to “counter surf” or jump up on the counter?

Today we’re going to talk about a problem that a lot of people have. It is called “counter surfing.” That’s when your dog decides to put their paws or their entire body up on your counter to try to gain access to something that they think is reinforcing.

So as with any behavior that we would like to modify, the very first step is that we want to try to set up the environment for success. And in the case of counter surfing, that means clearing off the counters or tables of anything that would be of interest to your dog.

So you want to make it easy for them to get it “right.” Then separately you would want to teach them some options for an incompatible or an alternative behavior. That might be something like settling on a mat.

You want to make that behavior so reinforcing that they wouldn’t even think about going near the counters because settling on a mat is so much better. And then we build a long and strong reinforcement history for that settle on a mat behavior or other incompatible or alternative option. Such that your dog doesn’t even consider going up to the counter and trying to get on it or to peek up and see what’s there.

Instead it’s their idea to automatically gravitate towards the alternative behavior, the settle on the mat, because you’ve made that behavior highly reinforcing.

Prefer to watch the “Stop Counter Surfing” video? See below.