Training advice--taking things off counters/tables

[kwynn]

Do you have any advice for teaching a dog to not get things from counters/tables/couches? Any videos on YouTube for things that might work? How do you correct the dog if you don't catch them fast enough?

I told my mom I'd ask for her here...her newly adopted five year old lab is so sweet and knows some commands and is attending basic obedience training. She is potty trained and crate trained.

She knows: sit, stay, down, wait, easy (for a soft mouth to take food or pills--she was quite rough when first adopted), heel, paw, other paw, "kennel," and they're working on "release" right now. She doesn't get on furniture without getting the signal that it is okay, but she *will* put her paws up on furniture/counters in order to steal an item she wants.

This is a new challenge for my mom because the last lab they had (who passed) was a real sweetheart and picked up training very fast (she would respond to just facial cues even), but you have to work with Reilly (their newest lab) a little more.

She takes food from counters if you leave the room for just ten seconds. She won't ever take it in front of you--and she can leave a plate undisturbed completely but eat everything on it when you leave the room.

She also ate a bag of chocolate coins left on an end table (she was fine--the vet said it was a non-harmful amount), "stole" a stocking from on top of a mantle and played with it before getting caught, she's grabbed something from the trash a few times, taken yarn from a basket on top of a couch, and just recently, she took a snowman soft decoration from their TV stand to play with.

She likes food, stuffed/cloth items, and anything that makes a crunchy noise. She has plenty of toys and receives daily exercise. It's always something she takes that she has shown *no* previous interest in ever--you're not even aware she knows it is there such as the snowman, the stockings, the yarn. Anything that does tempt her is put away out of sight.

Thanks in advance for the help, ladies! I don't think obedience training (the basic class) is going to address this this round---that would be further down the line, I believe, so hoping to get some homework from this crowd to help my mom until then.

[redheadbaker]

Part of the problem is that dogs don't generalize. So, teaching them not to counter-surf in your presence doesn't translate to "don't counter-surf when I'm gone." So, it's about prevention -- don't make any food accessible.