The “stay out of the kitchen” game

I just wanted to share something I do with my 6 month old puppy that has been really helpful for me in teaching her not to be under my feet when I’m trying to cook. There are probably dog trainers who have come up with this idea but it’s something that I thought of and tried with my pup when I brought her home and have just done ever since because it worked.

For this to work you need to have a physical boundary in mind of where you want your dog to be when you’re cooking. For me, there is a doorway between my kitchen and dining room so it’s pretty easy. The the game goes as follows:

1. Have a handful of kibble/treats out on the counter (away from your food of course)
2. Cook as normal. Pretend the dog isn’t even there.
3. If you turn around and the dog is in the kitchen, turn back around and ignore (don’t punish or give any commands)
4. If you turn around and the dog is outside of the kitchen

, turn back around, grab a piece of kibble and throw it.

1. Ensure that the kibble is thrown so it falls outside of the boundary, so as to not encourage the dog to come towards you

. Again don’t speak or give any commands.

5.

1. Rinse and repeat

, increasing the interval between throws slowly so your pup catches on that outside the boundary while humans cooking = food.

Eventually the dog learns that being in the kitchen while you’re cooking isn’t rewarding, which is super helpful if you accidentally drop food on the floor or are dealing with hot trays etc. It’s a fun game for them to chase the kibble, tires them out a bit, teaches impulse control and also is easy to do because it’s not super interactive and you don’t need to go back and forth to your dog as you can throw from a distance.

The reason I don’t give a command to stay out of the kitchen is because I want her to be able to come in, grab a drink if she needs to or ask to go outside. So she knows she can come in the kitchen but her best bet for fun and treats is to stay outside. Now when I’m cooking she automatically just stands outside the boundary line and waits.

Hope this is helpful to someone else who has a very food oriented pup that always likes to be in the way!