You are chopping. Two paws land on the worktop beside the board, a nose arrives, and you elbow your dog down for the fourth time in ten minutes.
This is worth separating from counter surfing. A dog who raids an empty kitchen has been paid by food, once, and is checking again. A dog who jumps up while you are standing right there is asking to be involved.
Why elbowing them down does not work
Your dog jumps, you turn around, you say something, you push. From your dog's side that is contact, attention and a reaction, delivered instantly. It is a reasonable outcome for a small amount of effort.
Adolescence makes it worse in two ordinary ways. Your dog is now tall enough to reach. Around this stage responsiveness to your cues drops, so the off you taught at 5 months is thinner.
Give the kitchen a paid address
Your dog is not going to leave the room while you make food, and asking them to is a losing position. Instead there should be a specific place, 8 feet from the counter, where standing still gets paid.
Put a mat or bed on the floor at the edge of the kitchen, out of the traffic and in sight of you.
Before you cook, take 20 pieces of your dog's food. Drop one on the mat every 10 seconds while your dog is on it. Say nothing.
Do that for 3 minutes on 4 separate evenings. The mat is now the part of the kitchen that pays.
After that, cook with a pot of food beside the board. Every time you notice your dog on the mat, walk over and drop a piece. Attention arrives on the mat, and only there.
What to do the moment the paws land
Say nothing and turn your back on the counter, taking the food with you if you can.
Wait for four paws on the floor, then walk to the mat and pay there. The paws going down is what buys the food, and the mat is where it happens.
If your dog goes back up twice more, the session is over. Put your dog behind a gate with a chew and finish cooking.
A baby gate or a closed door is not a failure. It is what stops your dog rehearsing the jump forty more times while you are busy with a hot pan.
Take away the reason to check
Nothing edible sits on the worktop unattended, including the loaf, the butter and the cooling tray. One success pays for a month of checking.
Feed your dog before you cook rather than after. A dog who has eaten is a much easier dog to have in a kitchen.
Give the mat a job: a chew that lasts the length of the cooking, handed over before the first jump rather than after.
Safety note
Speak to your veterinary practice if the appetite has changed sharply, or if your dog has started eating anything that is not food. Sudden behaviour change warrants a veterinary check.
Do not knee your dog, use a spray, or shout. Punishment-based approaches are associated with fear and avoidance. A dog who is worried about the kitchen still jumps at the counter when you are out.
Tonight's version, in one line: a mat 8 feet away, 20 pieces of food dropped on it, and a clear worktop.