Dog advice

[Alleya]

Ok, so, I have 2 chihuahuas. 6lbs and 9lbs, very small, about 2 years old. The smallest dog, Kit, is a real adventurer, totally fearless. When no one is looking he likes to jump up onto things, it's incredible how high this dog can leap when he wants to.

This raises a problem, because his gymnastics will lead him to jump up onto dining room chairs, onto the table, onto an overpass into the kitchen, and thus he'll get access to the kitchen counters. He'll steal pens, plastic bags, food, medicine, anything he can get his mouth around to carry back down, then proceed to chew them to death. This morning he got into a brand new package of dog medicine, ate all the pills, then puked all over a bed. We try to keep the counters clear and keep the chairs pulled out so he can't jump on to the table, but it's just not possible to do this all the time. We've only managed to catch him in the act a few times and scolded him very harshly, but he seems to think the risk is worth the reward. He won't even show interest in the chairs if someone is around, so I can't lay in wait for the behavior.

So I need some advice on how I can keep him from jumping onto chairs. I figure if he won't jump up on the chairs, he's too small to get anywhere else. Google suggests upside down mouse traps, but that advice was given with bigger dogs in mind. A mouse trap could seriously injure such a small dog if something went wrong, so I don't want to use that. If I have to spend money I'd prefer it be under $30. In the past I tried putting chili powder on the table, but he seemed to like it.

Any ideas? D:

[Lbelle]

My stepdad used the mousetrap trick on his new kitten when it was getting up on chairs that my stepdad didn't want the kitty to get on to. He said it works like a charm and he never ever goes on those chairs anymore. I'm sure that kitten could not have been much bigger than your dogs, and if it was, maybe they have smaller mouse traps available? Ask the people at the hardware store.

Another thing you can try is this sour apple spray stuff, just spray it on whatever you don't want him to get into, I'm not sure if it actually smells like sour apples to people or just to the dogs though.

Edit: Some people also suggest to use lemon juice (like real lemon) on things because dogs don't like citrus taste.

[nakedsnake09]

You could possibly find something like this, my grandmother used it for her puppy. It worked quite well http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...fm?pcatid=1471

[Chun Liroy]

While my older dog (about the same size, but she's 14 now) does it every not and then we didn't really do anything about it (Only went up there for food), but I know some friends that put rolled up tape up there on their counters and the like(like you're putting it on paper ot hang up but in looooong streaks) for their cats, maybe you could try that for your dog?

[Lyrai]

Empty soda cans around the edges of counters, etc. When they jump up and get knocked over, it startles them and they associate being startled with being on the counter. Air horns are good for bigger dogs, but shaking a jar of pennies works too.

As for the mouse trap idea, they do have a product for that! It's called the Snappy Trainer. http://www.snappytrainer.com/

[jinkazama]

jars of pennies is WIN.. did this with my corgi when he always nipped at me and shit and worked wonders.

grease the counters up a couple of times... might not stop him but should server for a couple of good laughs

[Plow]

You could possibly find something like this, my grandmother used it for her puppy. It worked quite well http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...fm?pcatid=1471

definitely this


the snappy trainer looks nice too, but the fact that the guy in the demo was really tentative and careful about how he triggered it and pulled his hand back real fast... I'm not so convinced about the safety aspect