Your dog is a French Bulldog. These dogs have stubby legs, which makes them short enough to put both paws on your kitchen counter.
Kitchen counters hold treats that you can't resist, making them a dog's treasure trove.
Because of a lack of rules, house dogs surf kitchen counters to get food.
Surfing counters can be dangerous.
Your dog could get on the counter only to ruin all your hard work.
Appliances could land on your dog and hurt them, all while they could run off with your food and eat something that could hurt them.
To stop a dog from counter surfing, all the food has to be moved and all the rules have to be changed.
To get your dog to keep all four paws on the floor, you have to remove all counter rewards.
Kitchen Counters Are Slot Machines
An empty kitchen counter is boring, but a single lost cracker is a grand prize to your dog.
The intermittent reinforcement of random snacks keeps the behavior going, so your mischievous dog keeps checking the slot machine.
A successful raid of the food slot machine is a positive reinforcement to your dog.
Calling your dog after the fact is too late.
The Management Phase
I’m going to stop the rewards immediately by making the counter boring and hard to get to.
Clear the counters of everything whenever you are done cooking.
Push the snack board to the wall, out of reach of the wet noses.
If you cannot control your dog while you are cooking, use a baby gate and block them from the kitchen entirely.
Better prevention of the reward leads to a better behavior correction.
Teaching The “Off” Cue
Teach your dog that it is better to keep all four paws on the ground than trying to check out the counters.
Hold a valuable treat and say “Off” when your dog puts all paws on the ground.
Mark the behavior and then give the treat.
Repeat this during quiet moments before distraction and food craziness.
This will help the dog understand the behavior better when it is tempted.
Teach Kitchen Independence
Mealtime teaching moments show your puppy what behaviors result in positively rewarding experiences.
For small appetites, try tossing treats to the floor a few feet back from the counter. Counter surfing becomes a habit, and breaking it requires work.
Our in-depth guide on how to stop a French Bulldog Puppy from jumping can help you with the daily behavior management and the setting of boundaries.
Our Final Word
Counter Surfing is going to be a real nuisance and take serious kitchen management and a rigid enforcement of boundaries.
The edge of the counter is blocked. Access to the kitchen is restricted when it is not under your supervision. Four feet on the floor are rewarded.