Welcome to the third and final class in my series – “The Fine Art of Counter Surfing”. Hopefully you have been studying courses 101 and 201 and working on the homework exercises. If you missed either course, you can find them by clicking the links: Beginning Counter Surfing 101 and Intermediate Counter Surfing 201. I am really excited because today we are going to put everything we learned together, grab, enjoy the food and receive no blame! Let’s get started!
A lot of my shorter friends, especially in single pet homes, have been concerned they will never be able to reach the counter. Let me tell you, I call it counter surfing, but the surfing can take place using my techniques wherever the food is – counters, tables, coffee tables, picnic tables, picnic blankets, anywhere really.
My first grab and eat for this post could not have been more perfect. I elected to use my friend and B&B guest, Buddy, as my distraction while Mom was making her lunch. As luck would have it, my cat Sophie was sitting at the counter during my surfing adventure which made the blame game all that much easier! I started by just hanging out looking all innocent, waiting for Buddy to bring the toys to distract mom. Once mom turned to pay attention to Buddy, I made my move. A quick and quiet nose on the counter, grab food with mouth, hit the floor, and gobble it up. Return to innocent position, and blame the cat that is sitting right where the missing food was! The look on Sophie’s face is priceless! She knows she is going to take the fall even though she did nothing. Who cares, she doesn’t like dogs anyway!
For my second attempt, I used my cat bro Bert who, himself, is food crazed. I hung out in the hall by the kitchen waiting for the food. Bert stared down the food at the counter. When mom turned to wash the lettuce, he made his move! Grab, get a firm hold, jump down and run to me. Since I am smarter than he is, when he dropped it before eating I scared him away leaving the meat on the floor for me to take! Ingenious, and who gets the blame because they were front and center at the crime scene? The cat, of course!
Now for the most amazing news! I have the first graduate of my counter surfing courses and she graduated with honors as she fooled not only Mom, she fooled me, the teacher! Yes, my sister Katie, at age eleven, has secretly been studying my courses, and yesterday she sprung her knowledge on mom and I. We were going to a birthday party at the dog park. Mom brought a few pieces of red licorice out to the car to eat on the road. Katie loves red licorice, and sometimes Mom shares a bite or two with Katie, but not yesterday. I went to the back of the car. Mom helped me get into my seat belt and get strapped in (I was her distraction). Then she called Katie. Katie was in the driver’s door of the car chewing and did not come like she should. What did mom find out? Yep, Katie, the dog that never steals (she sure perfected that technique), had stolen Mom’s licorice! For such an excellent performance I awarded her my Certificate of Excellence. We have no footage of this monumental event as it caught us totally off guard! Way to go big sis!
Now friends, if my eleven year old sister can pull this off, fooling even her teacher, any of you can do it. Remember that practice makes perfect and:
The secret to successful counter surfing lies in your ability to properly portray your innocence.
Hope you have enjoyed this little series and have learned some helpful tips. Feel free to share any tips you have or counter surfing successes in the comments!
Today I’m joining in the Monday Mischief blog hop brought to you by Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, My Brown Newfies and Luna, A Dog’s Life
You have this down to a fine art Emma, such a pro, will have to try these techniques.. I am doing something wrong as I never get anything off the counter.. Have a wonderful Monday xx00xx
Mollie and Alfie
And you are not an only pet either! You better start back at course 101 and go through it all again 🙂
LOL!
🙂
that’s great advice but sadly I am not allowed in the kitchen to put any of your suggestions into practice. Barks and licks and love, Dakota
As I said, where ever food it…coffee table, picnic table…anywhere, same techniques work 🙂
You sure know your stuff, Emma! I have done my share of stealing food off of Mom or Dad’s dinner tray, but that’s about it. They won’t even put ANYTHING on the coffee table anymore because they know how quick I am.
Just be patient and study them…they will have a loophole in their system somewhere!
You are brilliant! We could all learn from you. I need to get mom to get another dog! Katie.
Or a cat because they can get up on things and really help out 🙂
Way to go Katie! And Emma, now that she’s been caught red-handed with the red licorice, you can use that to your advantage in future escapades!
Yep! I am still the top dog around here 🙂
Nice job Katie! Love the certificate.
You have inspired me, Emma! I may not be able to reach the counter, but I can definitely do some damage at a campfire!! 😀
Finn
That’s right, think outside the kitchen 😉
Good dog, Katie! GOOD DOG!
Mom and I were just shocked! She may be eleven but her mind is still fresh! Mom bought some of those lamb lungs from Jones at the store this morning…are we happy or what!
Hey Katie – Huge congrats on graduating buddy – that’s pawsome!
Emma, I gave it a try last night as Dad had put some sausage on a plate alongside the bbq that I was gonna get when they finished dinner…. I waited until they were all busy eating then put my paws up to help myself – but doh!! I got busted!! I was so embarrassed!! I sure need to practice more – luckily dad still gave me it later – phew!!
Great class buddy,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
Don’t give up, you will succeed, just be patient – glad you got some sausage anyway 🙂
Since I’m an only dog and little I can’t counter surf, but I’ve learned that I can reach and grab things off of the coffee table and the side tables next to the couches!
Way to go, that is what I am barking about! Think outside the kitchen!
You are going to be a tenured professor at Dog University in no time!
I wonder how much money I could make??? Who is hiring???
Leroy has definitely been studying up on all that you have taught him Emma, he tried stealing some corn off the counter yesterday but I was quicker than him!
It is not easy to be sneaky when you are big as a bear, but if my sister could do it practically right next to my mom yesterday, there is hope for Leroy too 🙂
Emma, I credit your excellent teaching skills for Katie’s success. Great job by both of you! My dogs have been studying, but have not put any of their new skills into action yet (not that I know of). However, they will be under the care of our pet sitter later this week, and I suspect that will be when they make their move!
Oh, that is ideal for practicing since a pet sitter is usually a pushover! Hope they have success!
First off, congrats to Katie for being such an excellent student. You’ve been a great teacher Emma…I’ve incorporated your lessons and have developed my own technique, proving even small dogs can surf for snacks…When Momz has a snack of her own in the recliner chair I hop up on the chair arm and when she’s not looking I sneak a bite right off her fork…First time I did this she laughed so hard she forgot to be mad! Pee Ess The Friday Freebie hop has been around for a while on All things Dog blog and each week anyone who has a giveaway can add their blog to it so more folks can have a chance to enter…and no, you don’t need to shave your floofy legs to use the deodorant spray 😀
Glad you are surfing the arm chair 😉 I don’t know why I never noticed that hop, I follow that blog. Maybe because I don’t have anything to give away…yet…Good to know about the shaving! Relief!
Way to go Katie!! Last night I caught Delilah on her back feet with her front paws on the counter trying to lick some aluminum foil. She hasn’t been studying.
Man, she better start from the beginning again…getting caught really sets a dog back! Katie was super slick, she really did well and if she wasn’t chewing mom would have thought she just dropped it somewhere!
I hope you don’t mind but I won’t let Honey read these tutorials. She has never counter surfed and I don’t need her to learn from an obviously talented teacher. 🙂
I did, however, have a 16 year old dog several years ago who managed to get a loaf of bread off the top of the fridge. She was arthritic, nearly blind, and deaf. To this day, I wish I had a hidden camera.
Now that is an accomplishment that you can only be proud of and not upset about! I’m starting to think the the older dogs are much better than us younger ones!
Wow, congrats Katie! Emma, even though you are a very good teacher, I think Rita just must be a terrible student! She hasn’t done any counter surfing, and I left a little cup of ice cream on the coffee table – totally in her reach – and she looked at it and walked away. I think you have to give her an F. 🙁
Oh, she may be a better student than you think. She is obviously doing a great job with the beginning course of showing the human what an innocent dog she is. She will have you leaving things around more and more and then one day – bang – she will grab and gobble 🙂 Very sly dog you have, I know it!
You’ve demonstrated you know your subject well when your student becomes proficient! 🙂
I thought I was a good teacher but she sure snuck up on me with her performance! Imagine the nerve to use your own teacher as a decoy!
Well done Katie!
She was pawsome!
Nice one Katie! You are an excellent teacher Ems!
I try my best to help out my fellow pup pals!
OH! Katie. PAWsome!!!! I gotta think of a Golden way to follow … Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar
🙂 Not bad for my old sister! She sure shocked mom and I!
Wow good job Katie. Goes to show that learning never ends…lol.
This lesson reminds me of the time our Golden was staying at my sis’s house while we were out of town. One night he just happened to get some raw chicken off the counter and gobble it up. Well the kitty who lived there was blamed for knocking it off. Our dog was only accused of eating that which fell in front of him, (although I am pretty sure it was our dog who got it down). teehee
At least the dog was spared full blame – counted as a success!
I can open a pizza box on the counter, slip out a nice big piece, close the box and voila! Yummy pizza for me and the folks don’t have a clue! “I thought we had more pieces than this?”!!
Wow! That is an amazing talent! You should post about how to do that. I would love to know!
Those are such great tips Emma! How smart of you to cover up your tracks by blaming the cats 😉 Shiner is a pretty great counter surfer too. She’s once ate nearly a whole freshly baked and iced cake off the kitchen table. As well as cupcakes, cans of chicken, and more…
Alright! Hope she didn’t get caught! Those are some achievements to be proud of!