Puppy - stay off the table!

[Aloros]

We have a small dog, about 10lbs. She''s 1/2 chihuahua and 1/2 jack russell terrier.

My hubby is at home today, and he just called me to let me know that when he left the room to answer the phone, she jumped up on the table and ate his pancakes! Now, she KNOWS she''s not supposed to be on the table. Heck, I don''t even let her on the dining room chairs. Obviously, not only is this unacceptable, but it''s not good for her health either. We never feed her people food!

So those of you who''ve been through this all before, what can I do and how can I train her so that she never does this again? Thanks! I was just

when he told me!

 

[dragonfly411]

I would try a water gun/spray bottle with a jet setting. If you catch her then spray her with it (the jet setting allows for longer distance). It will startle her and make that an unpleasant experience.

 

[sba771]

Sadly my dog does the same thing, and he knows he shouldn''t be up there and looks so guilty...mostly we just keep the chairs pushed in. For us it seems like a losing battle otherwise.

 

[dragonfly411]

Another thought is to leave something ridiculously spicy up there and let her jump up and try to get that!

 

[Haven]

Oh, Aloros, our pup used to do the same thing! She''s a 42 lb bulldog mix, and DH came home day shortly after we started let her out of her cage when we left the house to find her standing right in the middle of our dining room table. The problem was that he saw her standing on the table through the windows of the house, and she was sitting pretty on the floor by the time he made it inside so he couldn''t reprimand her.

She was also doing other naughty things when we left, so this is what we did:

We would both leave the house together in a car, and then park about a half a mile down the street and sneak back to our house. (We left the back door open so we could get in quietly.) Then we''d wait for her to do something bad and we''d jump in and reprimand her while she was in the act. It was a bit frustrating at times, but she was being bad enough that we never had to wait long. The trick is catching them in the act so you can train them that what they are doing *right then* is bad. Of course, our little girl *knew* what she was doing was bad, because she never did it in front of us, which is why we had to outsmart her.

She doesn''t go on the table anymore, as far as we know. We scared the heck out of her whenever we did that because she always thought she was alone, but it worked!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

We did exactly what Haven did. Of course, not on the table (haha, the image of that is hilarious), but several years ago when we got Byron we''d get home from work to find a Newfy-sized imprint on our sofa or bed. We started sneaking in the back door when we got home so we could surprise him and reprimand him. It worked almost immediately. The hard part was catching him because he''d jump off the second he heard a sound!

The same thing happened about 3 months ago with Bosun--one day he just decided he was going to start sitting on the sofa. Luckily Byron is the one who reprimanded him, which made our jobs easier.

I tried those "stay-off" type sprays and they didn''t work at all. I''ve also heard that if you put something up there, like a can half-full of coins right on the edge of the table, then it scares them when they knock it off and they jump down, but I think it would take some luck for the dog to actually knock the thing over.

 

[Maisie]

I think its funny the way you say that your dog knows not to jump up. I think dogs live in the now and if there is food around they are just too tempted! I wouldn''t leave food lying around for the dog to steal. If you really don''t trust your dog not to jump up then maybe keep it out of the rooms where food is served?

 

[Aloros]

Thanks for all the advice! I love the idea of catching her in the act. That could also prove fun for DH and I. Gotcha!

She''s 16 months now, so she''s been much better behaved lately. We don''t usually leave food out where she can get it, but sometimes it just...happens. And it''s not feasible to keep her out of the food areas given our house layout. The kitchen, living room, and dining room are one big room. I''ve been working on training her not to eat something unless she''s told it''s ok, and she''s got "drop it" down, so this was a step back!

Only thing is that it''ll be really hard to surprise her. She always knows when someone is coming WAY before I do. My stepson tries to sneak up on us sometimes, or listen in when we''re watching r-rated movies, and she always lets me know that he''s there! Maybe she''ll be too concentrated on the food to notice...we''ll see.

Thanks again!

 

[Haven]

Date: 9/11/2009 2:51:19 PM
Author: Maisie
I think its funny the way you say that your dog knows not to jump up. I think dogs live in the now and if there is food around they are just too tempted! I wouldn''t leave food lying around for the dog to steal. If you really don''t trust your dog not to jump up then maybe keep it out of the rooms where food is served?

You''re right that they live int he moment, Maisie, but they DO know when they''re being bad, at least mine does. How do I know this? She *never* does certain things when we''re around, but she does them when she thinks she''s alone--that tells me that she knows she''s not supposed to do those things. AND, when she hears us coming she stops the bad behavior immediately.
The little beast.

 

[packrat]

No advice, but it''s sure funny to read the naughty doggie stories!

When our 3 legged pitbull was alive, I caught her up on the kitchen table a few times. Don''t ask me how she got up there, b/c all the chairs were pushed in.

We always knew when she''d done something she wasn''t supposed to b/c she wouldn''t look at us when we came home. She''d turn her head and roll her eyes to look everywhere but at us, or raise her eyebrows and look surprised, like, who? Me?

Dogs are so funny!

 

[Maisie]

Date: 9/11/2009 6:31:13 PM
Author: Haven

Date: 9/11/2009 2:51:19 PM
Author: Maisie
I think its funny the way you say that your dog knows not to jump up. I think dogs live in the now and if there is food around they are just too tempted! I wouldn''t leave food lying around for the dog to steal. If you really don''t trust your dog not to jump up then maybe keep it out of the rooms where food is served?

You''re right that they live int he moment, Maisie, but they DO know when they''re being bad, at least mine does. How do I know this? She *never* does certain things when we''re around, but she does them when she thinks she''s alone--that tells me that she knows she''s not supposed to do those things. AND, when she hears us coming she stops the bad behavior immediately.
The little beast.

Dogs are the greatest fun. I love having Blossom! Maybe they think if you aren''t in the room then everything is fair game.

 

[lovegem]

Date: 9/11/2009 1:42:25 PM
Author: Haven

We would both leave the house together in a car, and then park about a half a mile down the street and sneak back to our house. (We left the back door open so we could get in quietly.) Then we''d wait for her to do something bad and we''d jump in and reprimand her while she was in the act. It was a bit frustrating at times, but she was being bad enough that we never had to wait long. The trick is catching them in the act so you can train them that what they are doing *right then* is bad. Of course, our little girl *knew* what she was doing was bad, because she never did it in front of us, which is why we had to outsmart her.


She doesn''t go on the table anymore, as far as we know. We scared the heck out of her whenever we did that because she always thought she was alone, but it worked!

Bad people. I laughed my a$$ off when I read this.