Should I let my puppy on my couch?

One thing I am always likely to hear from new dog training clients is...

"I let me dogs on the couch, I'm not sure if that's right..."

Then they look at me nervously.

I quickly say " I don't care what you do, it's your home. but if it's a problem, it's a problem..."

Usually they then say something along the lines of...

"It's not a problem, BUT, not all of our guests appreciate the dog in their lap, licking their face..."

So, maybe it is a problem?

Only you can say for yourself. Here are my thoughts and experiences that will hopefully help you decide if you want to allow dogs on the couch.

First let's outline the options.

A. Dogs can be on the couch whenever they like

B. Dogs can come up on the couch when invited by a person

C. Dogs can never be on the couch

A and C are easiest to teach, B requires some nuance, and usually a few months of C before we open up B as an option.

What I do:

My dogs can be wherever they want. If I ask them to get down, of course they must comply. I have large dogs, they have good manners, listen well, and have learned that furniture is a place to relax, so that is how they use it. My dogs don't jump up on the furniture when they are excited, and I wouldn't allow them to do so.

My General Recommendation:

I love couch snuggles, so I recommend people let their dogs on furniture, with rules. and it's pretty simple. Just like I do in my house, furniture is for relaxing time, not play time.

When dogs start feeling playful, they have to get down and play on the floor.

Absolutely no running around excitedly and jumping on the couch, jumping off the couch and zooming around the house.

When it's a problem:

If your puppy is acting crazy on the couch, walking all over people, licking faces, jumping on their backs etc. I consider that a problem, up to you though.

If your pup/dog growls at people who approach them when they are on furniture ( we would say they are "resource guarding" the furniture) that's a problem. And should probably be addressed by revoking couch privileges for a while until we get to the bottom of the issue.

Option B:

I see people do this successfully fairly regularly, so if this is your dream, you can have it!Start with not letting your pup get on the couch when it is their own idea. After probably about a month of them not trying to get up on their own, invite them up with a gesture like patting the cushion. When they get up, pet and praise them. At this point you will have to watch them a bit more closely to make sure they don't get up uninvited, since behavior that gets rewarded gets repeated (even when you don't invite). After a few months your pup should get it.

I hope this helps you to decide IF you want dogs on your furniture and HOW to teach your pups to avoid or behave on furniture.

I completely left out the discussion on if it's gross or not to let dogs sit where you sit, because that's totally a personal preference and has nothing to do with my area of expertise, dog behavior.

So if you feel like you don't want a dirty dog on your nice things, girl I get it. I just can't actually help it :)

Talk soon

xx

Rowan

P.S. If there is a topic you want me to write about send a message to [email protected] with the subject blog topic and I'll add it to my list :)