How can I get my dog to stop laying on the non-dog furniture?

Mouse traps work – -

Set them up and . . . SNAP !

Long detailed discussions tend to bore the dog.

Punch him every time he does it.

There is also an electronic static mat or pad you can place on the furniture. Plug it in the outlet and when touched it gives off a noxious ( non harming ) shock.

I usually yell at mine and make him get down, and it hasn’t been a problem in years with that method.

We barricade everything, foot stools go on the seats. The dogs have their own beds and if they are aimlessly wandering around I tell them to go lay down and point to their bed. it only took about a month but now if I accidentally leave the foot stool down they don’t touch the couch. Good luck!

I had a dog that did this once upon a time. He was always sneaking up on my daughters bed when we weren’t around. He was huge and took up the whole bed. lol
I think that all you can do is be consistent in your vigil. Maybe try one of the repellent products or yes, a mousetrap under a blanket. It should only take a few associations to work, but, again, it is all about consistency.

@ragingloli Why do you even bother injecting your smart ass replies into certain Q.s. We are not amused and it makes you look like an ass.

You are the owner. You are the master. In the dog’s world, one is either the leader or the follower. You are not asserting YOUR power to be the lead dog.

This one is on you – YOUR behavior must change. YOU must say NO, and mean it, and enforce it. Eventually he will get the idea that you are the person with power.

My sister used long pieces of wood that she lay over the arms all of her nice upholstered furniture. Had her dogs had been smarter, they could have knocked them off but they weren’t and so they didn’t.

I am guessing, but they looked about 2” x 2” by any length.

She never caught any of her three dogs lying on the furniture.

If you can’t physically prevent her from getting on the couch, she will probably always do it when you’re away. You might have some success if she were a puppy, but if she’s learned that she likes the couch, I don’t think you’re going to win that space back.

Why not just accept that your furniture is dog-friendly? Are you trying to save it for a future in which you don’t have a dog?

edit: “that she laid…”

We used newspapers on top of the furniture that we didn’t want our big boy on, it works because the crinkles and rustling freaked him out.

@Coloma
That is how you train dogs. It does something wrong, you punish it. That is how it works.

^^^**Your* dog might consider that you are training him to sink his teeth into your thigh. It often works that way.

No reputable trainer ever uses physical punishment.

The newspaper idea sounds like a great idea. Do you live with anyone else who maybe encourages your dog its ok to jump on the furniture? If you do then you may want to train them as well. Dogs don’t understand the sometimes rule. They either, never can or can whenever. If your dog is anything like mine, he may like to have his back to a wall and perched up higher off the ground. I know when we are home he generally is ok with being on the floor but always in a corner with his back being covered. When we leave to go out, he jumps up on the corner or the sofa and curls up there. I don’t know if they do it for warmth or security or both, but maybe try putting your dogs bed in a corner where he won’t feel someone could sneak up on him when resting. Also don’t put it out in a big wide open space near an entrance. When my sister put her dogs bed between between two arm chairs on either side and a wall behind, she started using her bed more.

@glacial I will answer your question, but only for myself, I can’t speak for anyone else. I want my dog to stay off of my furniture because I have to wear dress clothes to work and don’t want them covered in dog hair. I also don’t want my guests clothes covered in dog hair.
@Nullo I had a couple baby gates that I laid on the couch and chair. It deterred my dog after a short time and stopped using them. On a few occasions I watched her from a distance walk up to the couch, appeared to think about getting on it, but then didn’t.

@ragingloli Really? You consider punching a dog to be training?

I know dozens of reputable and reliable dog trainers who use physical punishment. Most military, police and shutzhund trainers use physical punishment when it is called for. Because they need the dog to be 100% reliable, there is no room for disobedience on the dogs part when human life is at risk.There is no one size fits all methods of dog training.

I would train the dog so that I don’t have to set traps, lay boards, barricade, etc. furniture. IF that means a swat on the butt with a newspaper when I catch him, so be it. Yelling and letting the dog know it is doing something not acceptable is also good. Praise him when he goes to his own bed and punish (not abuse) in the way that is most meaningful to your particular dog) when he misbehaves. A harsh word is sufficient for some dogs, a 2×4 is barely enough for others. It has worked for thousands of years and millions of dogs who lived long and happy lives with happy owners because they learned quickly and well. And didn’t end up in the pound because they never learned their place in the family!

Blocking the space really works. I never yell at my dogs, for one my lab is super sensitive and is actually like a therapy dog. If I get worked up she sits right t my feet ears back, panting, shaking and will lick my hand every once in awhile. most ppl would say she is submissive, I say she is trying to calm me down. She does this if I get any kind of excited, happy, sad, angry. I believe if it gets really out of hand or anyone punishes her she will go into convulsion. So somehow without yelling or screaming and just blocking the space I’ve reinforced that they are not allowed on the furniture. it really does work. Just put your dining room chairs on the couch if you have to. if there is nowhere to lay the dog doesn’t have the option. Yes it doesn’t look pretty for a few days, but trust me before my husband passed he had very diff views of dogs on my leather furniture..it was their bed, now they don’t even touch it.

My dogs do the same thing. They know very well they aren’t allowed on the furniture and also have beds. I have a baby gate across the passage into one room and a hidden fence device (they wear collars to keep them in the yard) across the entry to the other lounge. One of my dogs is very clever though. She can jump quickly through the hidden fence (must remember to turn her collar up) and I have come back to find her sitting on the back of the sofa. No idea why she likes to sit on the back of the sofa or… on the arm! She is a little different. She can also open the baby gate. She doesn’t do it when we go out, but if we are home and in our bedroom and they are locked out (with the baby gate) she can open it.

So, my answer is… gates and obstacles to stop them getting to the furniture when you can’t supervise. You can see how well that’s working for me!

LOL my dogs don’t jump, I never took that into consideration. I have a gate which is about 12 inches high, literally im not joking, I have a Shepard and a Labrador, they could walk over the gate in fact they have watched anyone who comes in contact with the gate walk over it. They do not, they stand and look over the gate, it’s quite comical actually. So I never took jumping dogs into consideration, and maybe that’s a problem, so if it is, im not sure what to suggest :/

Making a show of being angry has been the method so far. I’ll be trying some of these others.

@Tropical_Willie But I used PowerPoint! With all of the sound effects and fly-ins and all!
@gailcalled Alright, you’ve made your point. Now lay off. :P
@glacial The thing is that dogs shed, and people sit on couches. A dog on the couch sheds on the couch, and the hair transfers readily to the shirt or pants of whoever sits there next.
@Pandora We do let the dog sit on a person’s lap while the person is in the chair. Too confusing?

Have you tried rewarding your dog when she voluntarily goes to her own bed? If you can build up some positive associations with her own furniture rather than yours then this is part way to teaching her what gets something good for her. When you catch her on your furniture direct her off and then ask/direct her to her own bed, once on her own bed, reward her (a tasty treat or lots of fuss and attention depending on your dogs preference). Repeat this over and over, consistency is key here. We have to train our dogs to behave in certain ways and this often involves showing them what is in it for them if they act in the way we need them to. “Explaining” in the human sense will not work with an animal that doesn’t understand a large amount of the words we say.

Until you are confident that she will not go on your furniture when you are not there are you able to keep her out of those rooms when you are out?

@Nullo: I am lying down here, filled with remorse and with my head between my paws. (Not true, actually. I am lying.)

@Leanne1986 I tell her that she’s being a good dog, and I scratch her behind her ears and all that. Setting up an actual procedure ought to help a bit.
I didn’t sit the dog down over coffee to tell her about the furniture situation. :D

@Nullo I have known people that do explain things to their dogs in the way you would to a human and then wonder why the dog doesn’t behave in the required way. It’s hilarious!

Our dog prefers the rug except when he hides socks under the couch cushions. We don’t know why he does that; it’s just his thing.