Hello everyone, I am new to this site as well as being a new GSP owner. I have a 4 1/2 month old and she has been doing really well with her training. My wife and I are currently taking her to obedience training however we can not seem to break her of jumping up on counters and sniffing around. We have been told a couple of different methods to cure this bad habit but none seem to be working. We have tried sneaking up behind her when she is doing this and grabbing her by the nape of the neck and giving her a little shake, we have also tried filling a bottle with coins and nocking it off the counter when she jumps up. None of these methods have worked though. I don't want her to be timid of loud noises since I plan on hunting her, does anyone have any suggestions on what else we could try? We were told also to use a squirt gun and hit her with that but then that makes a mess for us to clean up. I thought of using an air horn but there again I don't want to make her timid around loud noises. Any suggestions are welcome.

 My 10-month-old did it sometimes and when he was really going through his bad phase he would wear the shock collar around the house and every time I caught him in the trash or on the counter I would zap him.  Stopped the problem pretty quick.

Far too young. Shock and E collars "should" be used to reinforce what a dog already knows. That's Why I suggested strategically training not to jump on the counter. It would take time and patience, but there really is no quick fix to dog behavioral issues. Using a shock collar on a pup, IMO, would do more harm than good, and possibly cause more bad behavior and confusion. It might also ruin the effectiveness of an ecollar once you do begin hunting. Granted, I don't use them and haven't had to...but there have been many threads about appropriate age (I think I inquired once as we considered using one to reinforce yard boundaries rather than an underground fence) and the typical answer was not prior to a 10-12 months of age.

I know placing tin foil where you don't want them jumping works for cats.

I'll echo all the advice above.  We had huge issues with our boy counter surfing right from the start (we got our puppy at 4 months) - he would be up with his front paws on kitchen counters sniffing around all the time (or so it seemed).  We did two things: made sure that there is nothing edible left on the counters, and when he did counter surf, we'd tell firmly NO and nudge him off the counter every time.  A trainer suggested we try the tin foil method - layer the counter edges with tin foil- but it was no barrier for our counter surfer.  We thought the problem would never go away, but now, at 9 months, he rarely counter surfs, maybe once a week if even that, and he is allowed to come to the kitchen even when we cook (his water bowl is there).  So our experience too is that it's just patience, being consistent with the NO, and not leaving out temptations.

I might give the mouse traps a try.  I just wouldn't want them to hurt her toes or her nose.   I have a shock collar I have yet to use. I agree its best to wait til they are at least a year.  I try to be vigilant about keeping things  put up or away. Answering a land line phone or the door sets me up for my dinner to dissapear.

 As long as the dog has already been taught what to do and knows what you want, I see no issue with using a shock collar before a year.  I had Rowdy in a shock collar hunting at 7 months, responding the the "page" as well as "nick" and "continuous" immediately.  You just have to be careful about overdoing it on the shock collar.  You can definitely mess a dog up if you don't do it right, but I disagree that a dog should be 10 or 12 months before using a collar.  It all depends on the dog and their personality.

 Agree to disagree.  I still would say that it depends on the dog.  So a "licking on the butt" is somehow not as bad as a nick from a shock collar to a young dog?  Care to enlighten me?  Seems like if anything laying your hands on your dog is worse, because that can create hand shyness and other issues.