Your PON can be trusted to have self restraint when you are out of the room. If she interacts with the table when you are out of the room and then quickly dashes away from it when she hears you approach, you are encouraging bad behavior. You are not encouraging her to leave the coffee table alone. Management options include baby gates, crates or putting her on leash or bringing her with you when you leave the room.  These are some tips:

  * Be sure you have identified a special area for your PON

  * Be sure you have a solid "leave it". If you think your PON is moving towards the off-limits area,    you can use "leave it" as a warning  and a "timeout" if she crosses the line. 

Once you have established  basics, keep in mind that if your PON gets something that is off-limits just one time, you will need a lot of re-training. Remember you will get to the final goal much faster if you avoid making a mistake and put your PON in a situation that is too advanced. If you are not sure of your PON's skill level, use a long leash as a safety precaution. Keep food far away from the counter edge, and only leave your PON for very short periods of time.

Have your PON on a loose leash so you can gently grab her and redirect her, if necessary or use a timeout as needed.  You should now focus on duration of time that your PON can leave a location alone and the distance that you are away from the your dog.
 

*    Start by keeping the food far away from the edge of the table to make it more difficult and less enticing for your PON. Give your PON a lot of encouragement for leaving it alone. Occasionally give treats for not interacting with the table. Make sure you reward for behavior that is appropriate such as looking at you, sitting next to the table, lying down, etc. 

*  Use a timeout for each infraction. Say, "timeout" and gently put your dog in another room or a crate for 5-30 seconds. Only take your PON out of the timeout if she is calm.Once your PON can easily leave the food item alone for 5 minutes with you right next to her, you can now add some distance.
 

1. Assuming you are sitting on the couch next to your PON and the coffee table, stand up and take one step away.
    
2. Say, "yes" and give your PON a treat.
    
3. Start again from the couch each time and add more steps.

Continuing with this session:

1. Stand up and take two steps away. During the first step, give verbal praise. After the second step, give your approval (yes) and treat.
    
2. Continue this process until you are almost out of the room. It is important to stay at one distance for a period of time and occasionally give verbal praise while working on duration and distance. You don't want your PON to just leave food alone for 5 seconds, you want her to be able to leave it alone for extended periods of time.
    
3. When working on distance, you can occasionally come back, give a treat and move away again. This is one more way to reward a specific behavior.
    
4. If your PON ever starts to move towards the location, say, "Leave It". "Good girl" if she leaves it, "Timeout" if she continues and makes a wrong decision.
    

Problems:

1. If your PON immediately makes a mistake when you add distance, start at a shorter distance and practice until she can leave the object alone for at least 5 minutes. If you can't add distance at all, work at adding more duration while you are right next to your PON.

2.   Don't forget about using a leash, if necessary, to ensure that your PON doesn't quickly grab an object.  

 

Out of the room:

Don't advance on to this step until you have a lot of duration at each distance while you are still in the room. Don't forget it is really important  that your PON never gets an item that you don't want her to get hold of during these sessions. 

1. Leave for one second, come back and offer a treat.
    
2. Leave for two seconds, come back and offer a treat.
    
3. If you need a bit more control, use a long leash while you are leaving the room. The leash should be kept loose, but you should be prepared to tighten it gently and move your PON away from the location, if necessary.
    
4. Stand out of the room and "peek" around the corner occasionally as you increase time. This is not a true measure of your PON's ability, because she is most likely aware you are there. However, she is still controlling her natural instinct to grab the food. This is the long-term lesson you are teaching.
    
5. Next you can leave and come back multiple times, providing verbal praise for many of the returns and reward with treats occasionally. 

Avoid advancing too quickly. This exercise could take a long time depending on how often you practice and how consistent you are. "Leave it" is an important communication tool. It is a warning that your PON is about to make a mistake. Practice "leave it" a lot with a variety of objects and locations. After a few sessions, use timeouts immediately for each infraction Make sure you are using a lot of verbal praise and treats for the correct decisions your PON makes during your sessions.