Counter Surfer

Duke is a professional counter surfer. In the past I have tried to justify his behavior from being a pound dog, and he was just used to scavenging for his food. However, he has received a constant supply of food for the last 3 years, and I can't make excuses for him anymore. He is just bad. He has learned he is not suppose to do this, so he will wait and watch for you to move out of eyeshot and then he will go for his prize.

When we first got Duke we lived next door to my parents, and their kitchen window overlooked directly into our backyard. We would often receive phone calls from my frantic mother, saying Duke had a bag of buns, a carton of milk, or a tub of margarine etc. out in the yard as he would take his stash out the dog door. Before we were trained not to leave anything on the counter tops these calls were quite regular. He wasn't particular with food either, there were things that you wouldn't even think could fit through the 10X15 hole out in the yard. One day I came home and found I had no couch cushions. Apparently Duke wanted to lay on them outside.

The dog door dash worked both ways, and often we would come home to inappropriate items inside the house. I remember coming home to a beautiful fall day complete with brightly colored leaves scattered on the ground............ inside my living room. The best was when he decided to drag a small tree inside and proceed to use it as a chewy.

Then one day the meter man came to the front door to ask if I could let him in the back to read the meter. I locked the dogs inside and gave him the all clear through the front door. A while later I went to make sure he latched the gate properly and to my horror I saw several pairs of panties scattered throughout the yard. The poor meter man must have thought we were some kind of crazy!