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We were snowed in once for 6 days and ran out of dog food. I cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts and rice for the dogs. The next day we were discussing what to have for dinner and I said those chicken breasts and rice I made for the dogs yesterday looked really good so maybe I'll make that again for us. The golden retriever ate the chicken breasts right out of the skillet on the stove.
Having 6 Borzoi and a greyhound, all my dogs heads at almost, at or above the counter in height LOL
Same here. I have had Great Danes for 25 years. Some of those dogs are so tall you have to hide the food in the microwave or on top of the fridge I taught them not to counter surf or they would never get Scooby Snacks for the rest of their lives. I have two tall female Danes, and I can leave anything out, and it is MOSTLY safe.
My harlequin girl has a fondness for bread, however. She ate two packages of King's Hawaiian rolls just before we sat down for Thanksgiving dinner last year. Cornbread and hot dog buns have also been known to disappear under her watchful eye. Meat and candy are safe from both of them but carbs? They're gone in a flash.
Greyhounds are known to be master counter surfers. I never know what my hound will get into. She once took an unopened can of stewed tomatoes off the counter, took it into a carpeted room, chewed through the can and what liquid she didn't slurp ended up on the carpet.
You're going to need a little more than that. Your dog is 'resource guarding' what she steals.
Mainly (imo) she doesn't do it anymore due to lack of reward. I take it from her. IF I catch her in the act I say NO. If I didn't, I can't scold her, so I just calmly take it away. It is very rare that she does this now, and this is an 8 year old dog I didn't think I'd ever be able to change some habits about.
She has slowly gotten the picture that stolen goods from the counter or table or trash end up back with me. Or rather, in the trash can that she cannot reach.
I don't know a whole lot about resource guarding but that is what your dog is doing growling at you to keep her booty. My experience with that, I offered a higher value to the puppy than what she had, getting her to 'drop it' by choice. But what is higher value than bacon?
The collie I had that just died was a surfer until one day (she was 3 yo) she accidentally pulled down a giant glass casserole dish and it scared the crap out of her when it splintered into pieces all over the floor.
After that, she never counter surfed again.
I don't know why my older collie does not do it. But she is pretty well-behaved in general.
We cannot figure out a way to stop our newest collie girl. We just keep things deeper on the island or higher on the counters.
I put a cookie sheet loaded with noisy pans hanging a bit over the counter edge and something tasty just beyond the cookie sheet. When Wyatt put his feet up, the whole cookie sheet and pans came crashing down. That stopped him for about 6 weeks. It only worked once.
My son would hide quietly beyond the doorway. I'd have Wyatt follow me into the kitchen and I'd leave something tasty on the counter. As he went for it, my son would jump out, screaming, grab the dog by the collar, and give him a good shaking and scolding. A couple of those treatments stopped him.
The scat mats work really well. That's how we stopped him from sneaking onto the furniture. They would work well in the kitchen, too.
I considered getting a game camera so we could monitor him when he went to the kitchen alone, but he finally got the message.
Mostly it is that counter surfing is not tolerated in my house and the dogs respect that. No puppy raised in my house has ever counter surfed. Wyatt was a throw away dog who already had bad habits that he was stubborn about giving up. We persisted and he finally gave in.
He's a much happier dog now. He has beautiful manners and gets to go with all the time. The clerks in the stores and gas stations give him cookies. Little Kids Pet him. He gets to go camping and fishing. Bad dogs don't get those privledges. Right now he is at mammoth lake for a week long fishing trip. He wouldn't get to go if he stole, barked, had bad car manners, or would not come when he is called.
No. None of my dogs or foster-dogs have ever counter-surfed. Because of the way I train, my dogs never learn that counter-surfing is an option. I teach them progressively difficult impulse control right from the git go.
I could throw a juicy raw (or cooked) steak down in front of them and they would sit back and look at me for permission to get it. Or not. Either way, they won't touch it until I release them to get it or remove it. Same for food anywhere in the house whether it is on the counter, on the coffee table, or wherever. Their kibble sits on a chair in the dining room and the dining room table is always chock full of food samples for clients or classes, freeze-dried raw, frozen raw that is thawing, all manner of dehydrated and/or treats. They won't touch it.
I train impulse control using only reward based training. No force, fear, or intimidation at all in any shape or form.
And yes, anybody can learn to teach their dog this. It just means making the choice to actively teach your dog to make good choices through solid foundation training.
I like Sue Garrett's Its Yer Choice and Crate Games, and Sue Ailsby's doggie zen to teach impulse control.
Crate Games- adapted from Susan Garrett's protocols; this is more easily done with a wire crate but a hardsided crate can be used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8HNO79bZMY
He has this irresistible attraction to cheap bakery frosting and I think that was the last straw that cost him his last home. Little kid birthday party with a nice big commercial birthday cake was too much for him to resist.
Pensive's head is eye level, but she won't touch anything on the counters. All of the deerhounds looked down on the counters and not one of them ever stole anything.
A friend of mine's parents had a Black Lab, named "Buckwheat", yeah you guessed it. He would eat ANYTHING. He pulled an entire, partially cooked roast out of the oven once, and at the whole thing. They had a large cake for a birthday party that they left in the middle of the dining room table which they thought was a safe spot. When they came home from church, all they found were lick marks on the tray. He ate it all.
My Dog, a large German Shorthaired Pointer, never ate anything off the counters but grabbed a sandwich my stepson left on the coffee table. I even warned him about it, but that damn dog was fast. One gulp, and that sandwich was gone. It was amazing.
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I taught them not to counter surf or they would never get Scooby Snacks for the rest of their lives. I have two tall female Danes, and I can leave anything out, and it is MOSTLY safe. 
