This pic is for our newer forum Members as I posted this a few years ago titled" Naughty Rocky"!!! Had to use the "OFF command"

I didn't realize it until I read through this thread, but after 22 years of GSPs I am long-since perfectly trained.  NOTHING is ever on the counter when I am not there.  It is probably coincidence that my current pair have never been surfers.  Sometimes its just easier to train yourself. 

Gator (2 yrs old) is a counter surfer too, but usually if something from dinner is left on the counter or stove, like meat. We have learned to put things on the back of the counter, or in a covered dish. But he has gone beyond counter surfing. He occasionally goes into the pantry. His favorites are potato chips, a bag of candy, or sleeves of saltine crackers. Once obtained, he'll run real quick through the kitchen and out the doggie door to the back yard where he will open the bag and devour the contents. So we've learned real quick to close the door behind us, or put the good stuff up on a higher shelf (leaving can-goods, etc. on the lower shelves). One time, I found a couple of butterscotch pudding cups that he gotten off the shelf, bit through and licked clean.

I second the water pistol recommendations.  It can be a lot of fun to sneak up, ninja-style, when the dog thinks he is alone.  I'm always amazed at how Buddy, who's not scared of anything and takes a pretty hefty charge on an e-collar, will shrink in fear at the sight of the dreaded water pistol.

Also, I've heared people recommend mixing vaseline and hot sauce, then smearing that on a piece of banana (or whatever) left within reach on the counter.  I've never tried this, mostly because I'm a little skeptical -- seems to me that a GSP could figure out simply to avoid things that smell like hot sauce and vaseline...