Dogs and Couches

[mjkacmom]

I voted no. In terms of training a puppy, it’s best if you can make it very clear that you are the alpha dog in her pack. Letting the dog sit on the couch literally raises her place in the pack. The couch is for you, the alpha. Her place is close by, on the floor. These small things shift the power balance and you may get a dog that thinks she can try and be the alpha. Makes for a dog that does not obey and takes liberties in other areas.

My dog is so not an alpha dog, she loves the couches, and will take my spot when I get up, but it only takes a look from me to get her up. She sleeps with dd18, but knows she is not to enter our bedroom. And yet I’m still her favorite.

 

[cinnaminny]

We let Dobbie on the couch. lol They are old and leather and I wipe them down. Not the beds though. Although I did come home one time to find her on my bed! We also walked into our hotel room and she was laying on the bed pillows...seriously lol

 

[cinnaminny]

My golden is allowed on the couch, the armchair, and the bed. We actually beg her to come up to snuggle with us and half the time, she's like no thanks...you guys are way clingy lol. People who come over know to expect to sit next to my dog.

My dog (Boston Terrier) is not overly clingy too. I actually love that. She cracks me up.

 

[dclpluto]

Yes family is allowed on the couch

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

My dog is not allowed on the couch. He used to be, but as he ages the climbing up and down is bad for his joints. We have nice, comfy resting places for him throughout the house though and he does sleep with our son every night (always has).

The cats go where they please. We use couch covers so when company come over we remove them and the couches are as good as new.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Growing up dogs were allowed on furniture.

At the moment in our house we have just 1 cat. He has been trained to not go up on counters and tables (though I'm sure every now and then when we are not home he's up there but in general he follows that 'rule' to a T; he is allowed to sit in the chairs under the tables though).

He is allowed on pretty much everything else. The tables next to the couch he can walk on because they are at his level right next to the couches.

When we have guests over I do try to spruce up the furniture in terms of cat hair. It's possible to get it all but I can get quite a bit.

I think for some the difference can be how they take care of their furniture. Furniture has a way of trapping smells. If you're cleaning even somewhat regularly it shouldn't be as much of an issue.

 

[lovin'fl]

Yes, but he is a cairn (small) and old (13) and half blind and cannot get on sofa anymore.

 

[sjberg79]

We have leather furniture so smell or their fur sticking to it isn't a problem. You can see from my profile picture that Yes, I do allow my cocker spaniels to get on our furniture. Our older spaniel is allowed in our bed but I crate trained our 9 month old spaniel to sleep in his crate at night because of my allergies, I'm hoping that someday I won't need to take 3 different allergy medicines a day just to live with my dogs. But they are my family so they can get on the couch, sure. Honestly, I've had family members that stink way worse than any of my dogs ever have and I'd be tempted to tell them they can't get on my furniture before I'd tell my dogs that. And if anyone didn't want to come over because of my dogs I'm an introvert anyhow so it would save me the trouble of entertaining. If that was the case I'd probably get another

 

[scrhsa]

My dog is allowed on the couch. Though, I wish we hadn't started that habit. She is naturally a smelly dog and I can't stand getting up from the couch smelling like her. She has a weird corn chip kind of smell). Plus she is old so she had old dog smell too. We keep her clean but she just stinks. I would try to retrain her but being an old girl I'll let her find comfort where she can. Same goes for the bed. It would be nice to have some pretty bed linens but she just tears them up gets them dirty. Now, cats on the other hand, I'll let them go and sleep where ever But, seriously, can you really stop a cat from going where it wants

 

[TipsyTraveler]

In my house it’s cats yes, dogs no.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hubby and I are having a debate over letting our puppy on the couch. He says yes, I say no. I feel like it grosses out guests when they come over. Opinions?

We've always had small dogs, so they were allowed on the furniture. If we had had big dogs, no.

Either way is fine, it's your house, your call. You and your husband are going to have to figure it out. How big will the puppy be when grown? If it's going to be a big dog, I'd start training it as a puppy not to get on the furniture.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We do, but they are also the reason why we have leather furniture. Easy to clean and no smell issue.

 

[maxiesmom]

Hubby and I are having a debate over letting our puppy on the couch. He says yes, I say no. I feel like it grosses out guests when they come over. Opinions?

My guests don't live in my house, my dogs do.

I do have covers on my furniture, so when I do have guests I can wash them and the guests can sit without getting furry.

 

[kidshop]

I need an ‘other’. I have a puppy, almost a year old and he is our first dog ever. The first few months it was no furniture ever, but he is quite good, he doesn’t smell (I give him coconut oil everyday, I read that helps with smell) and is about 29 pounds so then it was you can get up on furniture when invited. I don’t like him on our new furniture, but I have 2 old chairs in the kitchen sitting area, and one in the living room and one in the bedroom he is allowed to get on anytime time now. He seems to understand where he can be, and when I have caught him on the couch I just say ‘off’ and he gets down. I do not allow him on the bed, but others do so it’s when invited and he seems fine with that. I am starting to let him free and alone a bit more now, and lately he has been in the right spots and he gets a treat. I don’t think it is confusing for him and it doesn’t feel right to me for him to be on my stuff at will. He has lots of nice spots to lay on and I have mine. He is a good dog!

 

[maxiesmom]

I voted no. In terms of training a puppy, it’s best if you can make it very clear that you are the alpha dog in her pack. Letting the dog sit on the couch literally raises her place in the pack. The couch is for you, the alpha. Her place is close by, on the floor. These small things shift the power balance and you may get a dog that thinks she can try and be the alpha. Makes for a dog that does not obey and takes liberties in other areas.

Sorry, but that makes me My dogs are allowed on all furniture, and I have never had a problem with a dog not knowing their place. That sounds like me to be an excuse for poor leadership by the humans.

 

[quandrea]

Sorry, but that makes me My dogs are allowed on all furniture, and I have never had a problem with a dog not knowing their place. That sounds like me to be an excuse for poor leadership by the humans.

This is pretty nasty. Okay if you don’t agree, but really... Most dog behaviour experts will attest to the importance of having a dog know its place. Our leadership of our dogs is just fine.

 

[maxiesmom]

This is pretty nasty. Okay if you don’t agree, but really... Most dog behaviour experts will attest to the importance of having a dog know its place. Our leadership of our dogs is just fine.

I'm sorry, didn't mean it nasty at all! I wasn't meaning to say you were being a poor leader, it was a general comment.

And yeah, experts often disagree and/or change their minds. Dogs can know their place and still be allowed on the furniture.

 

[design_mom]

Our dogs are not "allowed" on the furniture, but one of them in particular knows exactly what she can get away with!

I grew up with small, non-shedding dogs and they were allowed on the furniture and we didn't think anything of it. My husband grew up with large dogs (and that's what we have now -- a Labrador Retriever and a Standard Poodle), who were not allowed on the furniture. He insisted that they shouldn't be allowed, so they have not been. (One of DH's aunts has several Golden Retrievers. They sit all over her furniture and she does not make them move, so there's never any place to sit at her house -- because the dogs get first choice, I guess. I tried to tell DH that it doesn't HAVE to be that way, but he was adamant.)

Anyway -- so the dogs aren't allowed on the furniture, but our Lab is too smart for her own good and is always looking for "an angle." I have never, ever caught her on the furniture but I have evidence that she gets onto it anyway. Sometimes when I walk in the room she'll be sitting in the middle of the room looking like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth: "What? Me? I've just been sitting here minding my own business." And I'll find dog fur on my chair. She's apparently smart enough to get down if she hears me coming. On the other hand, she apparently knows the kids won't kick her off so she doesn't bother to get down for them. They've sent me photos of her snoozing on the couch when I'm not home.

 

[wgeo]

My dog is allowed on the couch, and I feel bad because a friend and I swap dog sitting and I didn't even think about it and allowed her dog on the couches when he was here and now of course he wants to sit on them at home, and she doesn't allow it. She said she's about to cave and just let him on the couch because he tries to push his way on so much. It never occured to me to ask her when we were giving "instructions", wish I would have though so I didn't mess it up for her.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Our dog is very clean. (And no, it's not an oxymoron!) He's non-shedding, and we keep a towel and mat by the door and he often gets cleaned off when he comes in from outside, especially his paws, and especially if he's wet. If he gets a little funky (which he will if he rolls in something), one of us gives him a bath right away so he's almost always very snuggle-able (and his bath water is barely dirty). He is the best couch buddy. I also figure he lives here, as opposed to the amount of time visitors are here, there's no comparison. It's like keeping plastic on the furniture or something, lol.

When we first bought our house, and along with it a beautiful new sofa, we tried to keep our German Shepherd off of it, but he'd always be on it when we came home. I took to putting the vacuum cleaner on the couch as that was about the only thing that would keep him off. But I got tired pretty quickly of looking at the vacuum cleaner on my sofa all the time, so I just put a small blanket in his favorite spot and let him enjoy it. When guests came over I vacuumed. But people who know us know we are dog people, and don't seem to mind much.

My sister isn't a dog person and even she welcomes my dog to sit with her, it's kind of a funny sight.