Okay, I know you’re worried about it.
You know what I’m talking about. You put that beautiful, glistening, buttery, golden-brown Thanksgiving turkey on the counter to rest after taking it out of the oven only to have your dog reach up and steal it, absconding with it underneath the bed only to growl at Uncle Earl as he tries to wrestle it away from your pooch.
This thought has either entered your mind or been played out in real life.
But how can you avoid your dog counter-surfing this Thanksgiving? And for the rest of the year for that matter?
There’s several ways, here are some ideas:
– The Pots and Pans method
Take a cookie sheet and precariously place it half-on, half-off the counter with some pots and pans perched atop.
You want to set this up in such a way that a small disturbance will send the pans falling down.
Now leave some lunch meat on the pan and leave the booby trap set up.
For many dogs that sound of crashing pots and pans will keep them away from the counters from that point on.
– The Mouse Trap method
No, you aren’t going to catch your dogs paws in a mouse trap.
I know some of you may want to, but that’s not what this is about.
On your countertop place some mousetraps that are set and ready to go.
Here’s the important part!
Now, place a towel over the top. We do this so that when the mousetraps go off they DON’T catch your dog’s paws.
Rather, they’ll simply be set off with a startling noise and a jump of the towel.
Bait the area with a piece of lunch meat and, for many dogs, the startle factor will keep them off the counter when the traps make their noise.
– The Scat Mat
A scat mat is a commercial product you can buy. It emits kind of a static electricity feel when touched. You can set that on the counter and it does the training for you.
– Teach your dog to stay out of the kitchen
Use a natural boundary like from hard wood to carpet or tile to carpet, for example.
You can also create a boundary using tape on the floor.
Keep a leash on your dog during this process.
As your dog crosses the boundary tell him ‘no’ and use the leash with a small leash correction to get him back behind the line.
Repeat this over and over and eventually get to where you’re doing it from a longer distance away.
The idea is that we want the counter area or the kitchen area to hold no appeal to your dog.
Best of luck and happy Thanksgiving!
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