Bouncing of the furniture and counter surfing.

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Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to stop Juno from bouncing off the furniture and from counter surfing and stealing food? She'll have these moments where she's perfectly normal and then it's like a switch is flipped and she tears around the house and literally bounces off the couches. I watch her and I can't see any indicators when she's about to do it and once she does the only way to stop her is to try and catch her, which turns into a game itself for her. The best we can do is try and corral her to go outside, but with my sister and her three small kids living with us (who Juno often uses as a springboard if they happen to be sitting on the couch at the time) it's starting to cause arguments, especially when people try to 'discipline' her afterwards. |: I just have no idea where to start training her to not do it when I can't predict when it'll happen and can't stop it once it does.

On the counter surfing / food-stealing issue, we always just worked around it. She has a very sensitive stomach so we pushed plates to the back of the bench, never left food on the table, put a baby-gate in front of the kitchen etc. Now that there's kids in the house though she pinches food from their plates on the table, or from their hand if they're walking around with it (which again is causing some arguments). I've tried trying a can full of coins to something edible and leaving it on the bench for her to take (which pulls the can down with it, making a noise) but after the first go she just learnt to not take that bit of food. If I put anything that tastes bad on some food and leave it for her she just sniffs it and walks away. She's too damn smart! I don't know where else to go with this either.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Tanya-Meika&Keeva]

When ours get a little too annoying or getting close to the kids when they eat, i put them in their crates til we are finished. In the past when our Keeva was jumping on the lounge or trying to steal food from counter i would straight away say a loud no and give him a look that shows i mean business. If he didn't listen then i would put him in his crate for a 10 min time out and then let him out. He knows not to do it now.

[Sarah]

try having a long lead in the house - if she starts with her mad moments grab the lead and say no - divert her attention to something else:)

Counter surfing - try double sided sticky tape on the edge where her paws would go - they don't like the feel of it on their pads

[Luna's Mum]

I'm afraid the mad five minutes aren't really possible to stop once they've got going, or atleast Luna's aren't! I find the best thing to do is get out of the way & don't react or encourage the behaviour. There's no point in punishing afterwards because I honestly don't think its something they can help doing. To me, its like Luna's trying to get rid of excess energy, a bit like when a human gets restless legs & the only way to get rid of it is to move them about.

Luna's never counter surfed so I can't really help with that. She's not really allowed in the kitchen, but will sit right in the doorway watching!

[persephona]

As I suggested in a different thread, you could leave your laptop with the webcam on (or just a camera) and supervise her when she is alone in the kitchen. Then when she trirs to steal food, you can trigger a strong noise to stop her. This way, it won't seem like the correction comes from you and she won't relate it with you being there (hence not stopping the behaviour only when you are there).

As for stealing from kids, you need to always correct her and be there to stop her. She knows that the kids are too small to stop her themselves so you need to take action even before she actually takes the food. If you see the intent to pinch food, tell her NO. Even better yet, remove her from the room for a few minutes and let her calm down before allowing her back in. Also, if she as much as puts her muzzle on the table, she should be removed from the room.

I should also mention that if you want to extinguish this behaviour, never ever give her food from the table or when you are eating it. This way she will learn that she is not to eat when you are eating and that the food you are having is not for her. (but if you do give her when she begs, she will learn the exact opposite)

You should also practice the "leave it" command and her not taking food until you give her the "ok". I really like this video and this method teaches dogs to be patient around food. I like to practice this kind of stuff all the time, like having food on the floor and him not taking it until told he can, having food in my hand under his nose and him not taking it until he is told "ok" and so on. This will really help with stealing food from kids hands.

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As for the crazy running around, all I can suggest is just placing yourself in front of a narrow space or door she is planning to go through and tell her NO really loudly. I found this is really the only way to stop ours when he does that, but you really have to block the door so that she can't squeeze out. You don't have to catch her or even touch her, just get her attention and make it clear that this is not allowed.

[soundeffects]

Thanks for all the responses guys, sorry it took a while to respond.

I don't like to put her in her crate as punishment, or even as time out, since she's still getting comfortable with me leaving her alone in it so I would hate for that progress to go back a step. Like Luna's Mum said, we've got an open-plan house so once she starts going it's pretty much impossible to stop her. She normally has a normal lead on her while in the house but it's hard to grab that too if she's going at top speed hahaha.

Thanks for the food snatching ideas, I'll definitely work with her on the 'leave it' command. I'm going to go get some double sided tape tomorrow and see if it makes any difference.

[ryder and kizzy]

Kizzy, my 14 month old red husky didn't get much excercise and when I went to see her she was running around the house like a loony. She also sucked my ear like a puppy latching on to its mother. She hasn't done it since we brought her home in September. I have 5 dogs and sometimes we havily tea watching a film. Mostly ok with fooad on lounge table but if I think it won't work I will let the huskies out into the garden until I have finished and cleared away. Hubby did make it a problem when I caught him feeding one of the dogs from the sofa several times !?!?!