How do you train NOT to jump up and grab stuff off tables etc.

    • Gold Top Dog

    How do you train NOT to jump up and grab stuff off tables etc.

    So Beau our 3 month old GSP has suddenly grown and discovered that if he stands up...he can pull things off the counter and table....I have tried NO really loud...seems oblivious to me.
    • Puppy
    What's on the table that he grabs?

    • Gold Top Dog
    ORIGINAL: butterfly7311

    So Beau our 3 month old GSP has suddenly grown and discovered that if he stands up...he can pull things off the counter and table....I have tried NO really loud...seems oblivious to me.


    I'm in the same boat here . . . . I'm at my whit's end with this one.  And like your pup, winston learned the same behavior at 3 months.  He's now 6 months and taller, with a farther reach . . . drives me insane!
    • Gold Top Dog
    ORIGINAL: muckypup

    What's on the table that he grabs?



    Anything. He has grabbed his leash, the other dogs leash, my purse, papers, anything! And he is always jumping up trying to see what is up there....Needless to say I have started pushing everything back, but he still jumps up to see what he can find
    • Gold Top Dog
    Have you tried a "shake can".  This can be homemade with an empty soda can with  like 10-20 pennies in it.  When ever you see him jump/reach up, don't say a word, just throw it near him but not AT him (make sure you don't hit him!); it will startle him down.   You can even  "set him up" by hiding around the corner until you know he is about to do his "surfing" and then toss it when he doesn't see you watching him.  This way, he will associate the scary startling sound every time he touches the counter, instead of learning not to not touch the counter just when you are there. (this also helps if he thinks negative attention (yelling NO) is still rewarding - my foster dog does!)  This is a tough behavior to break for sure when the dog is this tall, but it can be done with consistency.  It will surely help to prevent him from reaching any self-rewarding goodies that he might snag while you are training it.  I would not leave anything on the counter/table until you get to the point that you are testing him.  Good luck.
    • Gold Top Dog
    When I got a pup a few yrs ago a breeder recommended a "shake can".  I didn;t get along with it at all.  It did stop the dog in his tracks, buteven though we didn't use it often, the effect quickly wore off and sometimes I found I wanted to stop him doing something and the dratted thing wasn't to hand.  So now, for an "intterrupting noise" I use my voice and don't rely on any gadget!  AH-AH-AH! works pretty well and so does a growly kind of grunt (almost "humph!")  The moment I've interrupted what they were doing I ask for a sit or something, then call them over for praise and a fuss, then send them to bed.  If I can I step in and change something so they cant go right back to it.
    • Gold Top Dog
    As Chuffy said about the shake can method, interruption only lasts so long. My suggestion is to make jumping up on the table less rewarding by keeping the tabletop clear, and make not-jumping-up more rewarding by offering a treat every time your dog is behaving well - sitting, lying quietly - whether on command or on his own initiative.
    • Puppy
    Hello there :)

    There are a million things you can teach something like this, and it does in no way require loudness or startle (even though startle can work of course).

    Let me try to outline in all brevity a simple and gentle way to teach this: find a don't-do-this-marker that you use every time the pup does something he or she is not supposed to do. Say, he jumps up the counter with his front paws, you say 'ah-ah' (or some other words or sound you want to regularly use), then gently take him down. On the other hand, you have a reward-marker. If the dog does something you approve off, you say 'gotcha!' (or 'yes' or whatnot), and he gets praise or a little treat and maybe even something he wanted off the coutner in the first place. Now you are set to practice. Watch your dog. If he is about to jump up, give your ah-ah. If he still does it, gently get him off. Sooner or later he will not jump up, or he loses his footing when he tries to get up, or he goes down by himself right away again. Thats your moment to catch: Gotcha! and treat. Once this works well, you dont always gotcha/treat, but only every now and then and just praise him on the other occasions. You can make the difference between do's and don'ts even more pronounced by providing short time-outs (at this young age 30 seconds is plenty) every time he jumps up and ignores the ah-ah. For a timeout you put him into a separate room by himself, or put him on a leash fastened to a door-knob a little away from where the action is. As I said, just 30seconds to maybe at most a minute - not longer. You do this consistently and the little bugger will soon learn to mind your ah-ahs. :) A nice bonus of training things this way is that the reward/abstain markers you have established can then be also used to train all sorts of other things. :)

    Most importantly remember: patience and consistency will carry the day! ... sooner or later .... :)

    • Gold Top Dog
    Scout did this when we first got her. I waited for her to repeat it, and gave her a quick squirt with a water bottle. I did this maybe twice, and she hasn't checked out the counter since. Of course it also helps to keep it tidy as much as possible. When I see Scout sniffing or eyeing the counter, when she turns away from it on her own I quickly give her a treat. Sort of like, "hey you made the right decision".
    • Gold Top Dog
    ORIGINAL: butterfly7311

    ORIGINAL: muckypup

    What's on the table that he grabs?



    Anything. He has grabbed his leash, the other dogs leash, my purse, papers, anything! And he is always jumping up trying to see what is up there....Needless to say I have started pushing everything back, but he still jumps up to see what he can find


    Don't push the stuff back - *remove it*.  You can't train a dog not to go on the counter if he's being intermittently self rewarded for going there.
    Squirts don't work with most dogs - they "get it" that the squirt comes from you - so they will wait till you aren't around to go countersurfing.
    Polymathaeia's method is good, but most people don't have the patience for it - they want the dog to stop countersurfing *now*.
    You can rig a booby trap - a cardboard lid filled with cans into which you have placed several pennies each and duct taped the tops.  Tie a string to the lid.  Put it in an upper shelf or on top of a cabinet and take the string with you after you make a bologna sandwich and leave it lying on the counter.  As soon as Fido takes even a millistep toward the sandwich, pull the string.  The "kitchen witch" has just scared the tar out of your dog, but you have not, so long as you remain silent.  Dogs don't generalize well, so you may need to do this in different locations.  (For dogs who think it's raining toys, and aren't affected, you can resort to a mini air horn from behind - (Never ever let the dog associate the aversive with you!)
    • Gold Top Dog
    I agree that cans and water bottles dont work, actually you dont really need anything but yourself, is about the attitude you have when your dog does that, you can do a body block between the table and the dog, while facing the dog you can do whatever noise you want but the important thing is what attitude the dog feels you have about it, if you do it with an attitude of "you are cute but you shouold not do that" then is not gonna work" but if you face him with an attitude of "this is my house and here we dont do that" i can tell you the dog will start to understand that you dont like what he is doing, be sure that when you are doing it he is still not watching the table or he is wagging his tail because he means he is not taking you seriously, of course maybe it will take you more that a couple times to make him understand completly
    • Gold Top Dog
    ORIGINAL: espencer

    I agree that cans and water bottles dont work, actually you dont really need anything but yourself, is about the attitude you have when your dog does that, you can do a body block between the table and the dog, while facing the dog you can do whatever noise you want but the important thing is what attitude the dog feels you have about it, if you do it with an attitude of "you are cute but you shouold not do that" then is not gonna work" but if you face him with an attitude of "this is my house and here we dont do that" i can tell you the dog will start to understand that you dont like what he is doing, be sure that when you are doing it he is still not watching the table or he is wagging his tail because he means he is not taking you seriously, of course maybe it will take you more that a couple times to make him understand completly


    Body blocking only works when you are there!   The object is to have the dog avoid countersurfing even when you aren't home.  How would you address that?  I defy you to body block a dog that already knows good stuff is sometimes up on counters, then disappear from your house while there's a bologna sandwich sitting there.  [sm=eek.gif]
    • Gold Top Dog
    ORIGINAL: spiritdogs

    You can't train a dog not to go on the counter if he's being intermittently self rewarded for going there.


    Ooh good point - IME intermittently rewarding a behaviour is the best way to "solidify" it and make the animal's response reliable.  Hence why begging at the table is so hard to cure. If only the rest of my family knew about BF Skinner.  *sigh*

    ORIGINAL: spiritdogs

    I defy you to body block a dog that already knows good stuff is sometimes up on counters, then disappear from your house while there's a bologna sandwich sitting there. 



    Another most excellent point although (this is completely O/T) what is bologna?  Call me Mrs Stupid but I've never heard of it.
     
    Edited to change the word sandwich to "point".  It's 2am and I should be in bed!!!
    • Puppy
    I#%92d just keep the tables and counters clear then and if he goes looking call him away and redirect his attention on you. You don#%92t want it to become a habit. It#%92s probably just a passing phase and if there is nothing there to reward him, he won#%92t bother anymore. In time you can start putting things back. OR if you want to just keep your things on the tables and counters, keep a leash and pinch collar (or whatever you use) on him and correct him every time he jumps up.
    • Puppy

     The object is to have the dog avoid countersurfing even when you aren't home.  How would you address that?



    crate baby! [;)]