Puppy trouble

I love our puppy, Bentley and we have taken him to puppy classes, etc. He will sit, stay, lay down and even give you a high five.

However, he has recently taken to stealing food, putting his paws on my table and kitchen counters, and eating paper (toilet, kids homework etc).

What do I do? Aside from watching him every second (which is impossible), how do I train him to not do those behaviors. I say no. I say off, when I catch his paws on my table. I am firm but it is not stopping the behavior. Unlike the sit command, I can not practice with him. I am at a loss. Any suggestions.

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Re: Puppy trouble

shake a can of pennies when he does something you dont like, sound aversion helps a lot.

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Thank you for replying. I will try the coins.

Fingers crossed that it works because he is too sweet to be this naughty.

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the other thing i was taught is spray with water bottle but your not suppose to let them see you spray them this way they wont associate you with the water spray and will not do the behavior even when you are not around.

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The trainers we worked with also recommend using a water bottle - just said to never spray it into the dog's mouth because if he/she realizes it's just water it might not work anymore! We use it when a lot of dogs are over and start roughhousing indoors and it works great.

They recommended the Spray Master bottle (sold at Home Depot) because it has a long range/effective stream.

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coins didn't work for us, spray bottle with water helped for a while

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awww - is he a goldendoodle?? I have a goldendoodle - counter surfing and eating random items is part of their disposition. I've met a lot of doodle owners and they all say the same thing.

Message edited 4/13/2011 9:57:59 PM.

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Totally agree with spray bottle idea.

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Thanks everyone. I am going to hit Home Depot to buy that spray bottle and see what happens.

Yes, he is a Goldendoodle and he has all the wonderful doodle traits. Unfortunately, it seems as if he has a lot of the bad habits too.

We will see what the water bottle does.

Today my 3 year old busted out with "Bentley, you have got to be kidding me". He was running around the house with the dish towel. Gotta love it.

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Bella used to jump up to look for food on the counters. I read somewhere to put cookie sheets on the edge of the counter and when the dog would jump up the cookie sheet would get knocked off the counter and scare the dog. Bella knocked the sheet of once and never jumped up on the counters again!!!!