[Curls]

One thing to keep in mind is that you have a teenager. All teenagers, human and canine, test their limits. Making training fun and meaningful for the dog helps a lot at this stage.

Additionally, all dogs have trouble generalizing that rules apply across all situations. I once did a funny experiment with my young dog. He knows how to sit on command. He's done it hundreds of times. So, while he was standing at the top of the stairs, and I was standing at the bottom, I asked him to sit. Guess what? He didn't sit. He though sit was something he did when he was next to me looking up. Looking down at me from the top of the stairs? He didn't understand. After that I made a point to add lots of odd scenarios to our training practice.

Counter surfing is one of the most difficult behaviors to stop. It's an intermittently rewarded behavior, similar to gambling with a slot machine. Sometimes the dog jumps up and find an interesting snack. Sometimes she doesn't. Intermittently winning a prize like this taps deep into instinctual behavior. In the wild a dog would return to the same game trail where she once caught a rabbit, because there's a good chance other rabbits use the same trail, and eventually she'd get another meal. That's why counter surfing is so addictive for dogs. The best way to stop the behavior is to ensure there is never a prize waiting for her on the counter.

 

[Curls]

Something else I find, when a dog is being naughty, is to try asking the dog to do something that taps into the same urges. In general, I divide commands into active commands and motionless commands. An active command would be something like wave a paw, jump, or spin. A motionless command would be something like sit or lie down.

So, when my dog is jumping on me, he's being very active. It's hard to change an adolescent's mindset from active to motionless. Thus, if I simply ask the dog to sit, he may not obey. He's got a full on case of the wiggles, and sitting is just too hard for him while he is in that state. Instead, I ask him to do something else that is also active. I ask him to back up. I ask him to jump in place (not on me!) I ask him to spin. Giving him these active commands gives him an appropriate outlet for his energy without setting him up to fail.