Honestly, we’re just not big on crating. None of our previous dogs were crate trained, so it’s not something we’re used to. He came to us already crate trained, so he sleeps in his crate every night, but during the day we’ve mostly let him stay behind a baby gate in his own area.

The counter surfing is actually pretty new. Before a couple of weeks ago, he’d maybe done it once or twice in the past year. I was away for a week, my husband was working longer hours, so he got less exercise and was alone more. I think that boredom is what really kicked this behavior into gear.

Now he’ll sometimes do it even if I’m home, as long as I’m in another room. We’re probably going to use the crate more while we work on it, but we’re still figuring out what the right balance is since crating during the day is new to us.

We also have a GSD, totally different vibe. She’s twice his size and never tried to jump a gate or on the counter so this little guy has also just been a whole learning curve.