Dog's on furniture

My dogs are allowed on the furniture and bed, camper and home. I just cover the furniture and no big deal. Misty loves laying on top of the couch in the camper and looking around.

Lantley wrote:


Yes but did you discipline the smart dog when he disobeyed and broke the furniture rule?

Ike, my late Aussie (and complete genius) might have understood "Aha! I see dog hair on the daybed - I KNOW you've been sleeping there and I want you to cease and desist immediately"

Jack the Cattle Dog - not so much. LOL! I did the next logical thing and put a baby gate across the door. I'm a "don't discipline if you didn't catch them in the act" sort of person.

Sort of made me chuckle... when doing rescue, my surrender form asked if the dog was accustomed to being allowed on the furniture. Adoption app asked if you allow the dog on the furniture. No right or wrong answer. I just never put a dog who was allowed on the furniture previously, into a home where it would be forbidden. I didn't think it was fair to the dog or the new adopters. To each his own.... In my home, the sofa is theirs and if I behave, they will make space for me.

Deb and Ed M wrote:

Lantley wrote:
If you enforce the rules when you see them breaking a rule they will learn.
If you fail to enforce the rule at all times don't fault the dog.

LOL! A SMART dog will not let you see them do it ;-) If Jack the Cattle Dog didn't shed so bad, I'd have never known of his affection for the daybed in the guest bedroom....

Yes but did you discipline the smart dog when he disobeyed and broke the furniture rule?

X2 on crating the dog or otherwise keeping the dog away from the furniture when you're gone. Can you contain the dogs in your kitchen or other room with baby gates?

My uncle put a mouse trap on beds to keep the dog of of them when they went away. After a few days the mouse trap did not have to be set. Just laid on the bed.
This was a big dog.

The issue is that most experts believe that dogs don't generalize. They're very specific in their thought process, and they aren't usually capable of making the logical leaps in thinking that people are and that we expect of other people. A dog understands he's not supposed to get on the furniture in the presence of his human(s). He doesn't necessarily extend that thought to "I'm never supposed to get on the furniture." Extending the thought requires a much higher level of thinking.

Not to derail by bringing up another issue, but that's exactly why so many people sincerely believe their dogs don't bark when they're gone. They've trained the dog well to not bark in their presence, so (thinking as people do) they assume the dog knows not to bark when they're gone. But to the dog's way of thinking those are two totally different things.

Deb and Ed M wrote:

Lantley wrote:
If you enforce the rules when you see them breaking a rule they will learn.
If you fail to enforce the rule at all times don't fault the dog.

LOL! A SMART dog will not let you see them do it ;-) If Jack the Cattle Dog didn't shed so bad, I'd have never known of his affection for the daybed in the guest bedroom....

Our dogs aren't allowed upstairs. The boxer would get busted because she was loud. She learned to walk up the stairs quietly. The looks on her face were priceless when she walked in to the master bedroom and I was standing there and she knew she was busted.

As a kid I had hunting dogs. One beagle kept getting out of the pen and I couldn't figure out where. I would walk backwards and she'd stair at me but as soon as I turned around, she was by my side almost instantly. I had to back away staring at her and hide behind a tree to find her escape route. That's the day I realized how smart dogs are.

Lantley wrote:
If you enforce the rules when you see them breaking a rule they will learn.
If you fail to enforce the rule at all times don't fault the dog.

LOL! A SMART dog will not let you see them do it ;-) If Jack the Cattle Dog didn't shed so bad, I'd have never known of his affection for the daybed in the guest bedroom....

It was an easy fix for our dog. We had a dog that never got on furniture until we bought a new couch. One day our mailman told us that the dog was always sleeping on the couch when he walked up to our mail slot. We fixed it real easy. Buy a few old fashioned mouse traps. We set the trap once and tossed it on the floor in front of the dog. It jumped and snapped and scared her to death. After that we just left a mouse trap on each cushion, and she never went near the couch. We didn't ever set the traps again cause we also had a cat and I was scared she would step on them. Easy to pickup the traps when you have company, much easier than removing a blanket or something.