What’s The Best Way To Deter A Dog From Getting On The Sofa?

Whether you are dealing with a pup or a long-term canine, there are ways you can ensure that he stays off your sofa permanently. Training a dog to get on your couch only when invited–but not other times–can cause confusion in your dogs mind.

Teaching your dog what it means to leave the couch and get into bed helps when training your dog to stay off furniture. Be consistent with your training, and your dog will learn to stay off of your furniture. If you recently moved in or got new furniture, teaching your dog to stay off of new furniture is easier than keeping them off of a couch in a room where they spent time in the past.

If your dog is older, or has been allowed to use a couch in the past, you will have to be more aggressive in training them to stay off a couch now. If you are teaching your dog to get on the couch only when invited, then you may want to use a sofa for that training. If the dogs love of the couch seems to outweigh any of your efforts, there are some disincentives that you can use to train your dog to avoid the couch entirely.

In the initial stages of teaching your dog that the couch and furniture are no-go zones, you will have to implement a good management strategy that makes your furniture as unreachable as possible to your pup. Making furniture unavailable to your dog may help to keep him from Couch Surfing when you are unable to supervise. If you are explicit from day one about couch and all other furniture being off limits, your dog will not know the difference.

If a dog is not allowed on a couch, bed, or any other furniture, then a dog cannot be on the couch, bed, or any other piece of furniture at all. Odds are, if you have any furniture, the dog will want to jump on it. Maybe you tried all the above tips (and more), and yet still, your large dog is pushing for your furniture. If you allow your dog to sit on your family room sofa, but not in the formal living room, it may get confusing.

If you and the family are sitting on the couch or bed and do not want the dog joining in, one thing you can do is teach a “go to bed” or “go your place” command. If you are the type of family that does not want dogs up on the couch (whether because you are wearing all black or you have some really nice furniture), there are definitely ways you can get dogs to stay off of the couch — and bed, too, if that is where you want them, too. One of the best ways to keep dogs off your furniture when you are not around is by having lots of appropriate therapy beds for them to use instead.

You can also use pet repellents to keep your dogs away from your sofa. For a couch, while you are out, foil wrapped in several pans with a cover placed strategically over the cushions will discourage most dogs from getting on it. Some dog owners choose to cover a couch with a plastic carpeted runners turned over, with the firm points facing upwards, making the couch look less inviting, or you could prop up a couch up against the wall, or just leave the dogs in an isolated area (in another room, behind a baby gate).

If blocking access to the couch is not an option, or if you want to let your dog access the room, using obstacles in the couch may be an effective way of keeping your dog away. If your dog is reacting by looking outside your windows and wants to climb onto your couch to protect your house, you will want to block access as you work on training. If your dog is a resource guarder, keeping him or her off of the couch may help to control that behavior while working on training.

Ideally, a dog that is not allowed on furniture would not be climbing up in the first place, but realistically, there are going to be times where your sneaky pooch ends up on the couch. Being on the couch may be a particular treat for your dog, but you might want to get some covers on the couch and limit your dog to only one piece of furniture (e.g., a sofa is fine, but an antique grandmas chair is not). If your dog has an awesome area all his or her own, a couch would feel like a downgrade.

If you have got a vintage couch in your living room where nobody goes, you might want to prevent your dog from making that its nap space, too, but if your entire family is packed onto the couch watching Disney+, you may want to allow your dog to join in. It may help if you refrain from tucking the puppy into the couch, and instead, just sit down on the floor when you want him on your lap. You could also provide your dog with another area to rest in, just outside of the dog bed, just to break up the monotony, and avoid having him napping on the couch. If you have tried keeping your dog away from the couch or other furniture before with no luck, here are a few tips for teaching your dog to sit and rest somewhere else.

The same tips that work with puppies work to train older dogs to stay off the couch, too. A few minutes each day over the coming weeks is all it takes to train your dog to actually leave the couch. Many dog owners stop their dogs from jumping onto the couch by making being on the couch uncomfortable, and using methods that may be counterproductive in the long term.

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