[CanadianVizsla]

Our Mo is 16wks and is pretty good during the day. He gets lots of exercise/play, but by dinner time he's attempting to counter surf and jumping on everyone. I have a crate in the kitchen that I usually put him in, so I can make dinner and he'd settle there no problem. But in the last week he just barks non-stop making dinner time pretty unbearable. I have tried to move the crate to the basement, but he's still barking non-stop. We have tried putting a kong in there with him, but he is not interested. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Dan_A]

What worked for us to stop counter surfing was lots of praise and random rewards for behaving well in the kitchen, such as sitting and watching or just plain keeping 4 paws on the ground. Then when Ellie tried counter surfing it was a spray bottle squirt to the face and “NO”. Then when she’s back in the floor and behaving back to praise and rewards. Now she comes in the kitchen and sits nicely watching us cook. We randomly praise her with attention and pop a random treat her way. She now knows that behaving well bears more fruit than counter surfing. As for eating we have a kennel in viewing range of our table. Ellie from day one goes in there during dinner and knows the deal. She carried on and threw tantrums in the beginning and we just had to ignore it just like any kennel training. It was tough and annoying when eating but it’s the way to do it. My suggestion is to kennel your pup in such a way that he can see you sitting eating dinner. Then just ignore the tantrums and eventually he will settle.

 

[texasred]

Just a thought.
Do you feed him before preparing dinner?
Only asking in case he is actually hungry, and that's making it harder for him to control himself.

 

[Nickbell8]

Hi, have you tried spraying some water on her nose? You approach her saying nothing, spray some water and walk away. She will feel like if daddy pee on her face and naturally stop.