Counter-Surfing

It isn’t always the younger, rogue adolescent dogs who make a habit of counter-surfing, or stealing food out of the trash.  We often will see  dogs who are getting older suddenly realize that there is nothing really stopping them from just eating that delicious thing so well within their reach.

    It’s quite possible for a well-mannered, well-trained dog to learn to counter-surf.  Many of them have spent most of their lives never considering the possibility.  But then, from their new, more elderly perspective they have a stray, unorthodox thought.  The food is so close:  they could so easily reach it.  Why not?  And then they do.

    Even though it isn’t “funny”, I do find it amusing to watch these newly criminal dogs indulge their appetites.  The proof of their true innocence is when they do it right in front of the owners – thus demonstrating that since most of them have never done it before, they really don’t know that it is wrong.  The funniest and sweetest memory involves my dog from many years ago, called “Wormy”.   He was a great big St. Bernard/German Shepherd mix, the most faithful dog you could imagine, he never caused any problems.  At the time this happened, he was around nine years old, and found himself alone in the kitchen.  We had finished dinner and put many “good” things into the trash – we were sitting in the living room when this big old dog tried to walk through with dignity; except he had the entire plastic lid of the trash can around his neck!  Who could get mad?  It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.  It wasn’t so funny a few weeks later when Wormy ate an entire meal of boneless chicken breasts off of the counter, and I mean an entire meal for the whole family that had just come off the barbeque!    So you retrain – and I’m glad, now that he’s gone, that he got to have those moments of such sheer enjoyment.

    Don’t be too surprised, shocked or angry if you find your older dog snacking inappropriately.  Manage and train, and appreciate the quirks and tribulations of living our lives alongside and among our dogs.