Why do dogs like sleeping on the sofa?

[AlphaBravoHenryFoxtons]

Just wondering?

My Dpup likes to sit close but not to close....chooses the sofa that we are sitting on but likes to keep his distance most of the time, he's not so keen on sitting on the sofa with no people on it - he's a bit weirdy.

My dogs do it because it is step one in their plan for world domination, mwah ha ha! (That was their evil laugh.)

Fortunately step one is so comfy it seems to have distracted them and the world is once more safe.

True fact.

(SlideIn I hope you don't take offence at my gentle ribbing, dominance theory has been completely discredited, but that doesn't discount that some dog's will take a mile if you give them an inch so keeping them off furniture can be a element in that. I tried it, along with the doorway and eating first thing with my bossy bitch but it made no difference for her.)

Punter lab is a small gun dog size, so how does he manage to take up the WHOLE of a 3 seater sofa?

oops oh well wrong pic - just imagine his back legs stretched out

She loves a cuddle on the sofa.

No offence taken Mothership, on the contrary, interested. Wasn't aware it had been discredited, got any links? It is a definite thing with our dog (anecdotally of course) but willing to admit potentially that's confirmation bias if the theory has been conclusively debunked in studies, as opposed to one school of canine psychologist thought vs another iyswim .

The man that first came up with the dominance theory has discredited it himself! Iirc the study was originally done on a pack of captive wolves, i.e. not even close to domestic dogs. But (I'm sure I've read this somewhere) even wild wolves have been closely studied and found to be more like families rather than a stereotypical pack.

There are many sites on the internet that talk about how it's been disproven, I guess you just have to look for them.

Positive reinforcement all the way!

www.apbc.org.uk/articles/why-wont-dominance-die

Slide I googled "dominance dog theory" and on the first page is the above piece, similar from the RSPCA and a Dr Lin link that explains it all really well.

Basically science has moved on, as Cunny says the original study was based on captive wolves and further studies have shown that wolves just don't behave the same in captivity and further more you can't generalise wolf behaviours to dogs as 10,000 odd years of domestication has also had a big impact.

If you are interested in further reading Jean Donaldson's "Culture Clash" is excellent.

MuttDog isn't allowed on the sofa. You can't see her, right?

Awww!!!!

@ Muttdog

My puppy is now quite shouty about not being helped up onto the sofa. So we've all relented. But only on one sofa in the family sitting room. I love the way she snuggles up to me in the evenings. I've become quite ridiculous.

We don't mind the dogs on the sofa in the family room but that's them piled on one of the sofas in our 'good sitting room'.

Here's the silly Cavalier pretending to be a cat up on the breakfast table.
I can understand dogs getting on a comfy soft sofa but on a table?

Thanks Mothership - having an op tomorrow, DP moving our house Friday & have a 16wk son (hence apparent laziness in asking for links) so will save for my blessed convalescence at my mothers.

Good luck for tomorrow Slide - and as far as I'm concerned a 16wk old baby gives you a free pass on pretty much anything you want it to!

I carried this chair into the room and before I even straightened up there was a dog on it!

Just popping in to post how lovely it is to see everybody saying "because it's comfy".

slide - if you fancy a good read try "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson. Essential Dog Reading IMO.

My ddog loves the sofa too; our puppy trainer said that dogs like to be up high so they can see what's going on, watch out for predators etc.... Given that the dog is practically in a coma when she's on the sofa I am not sure that's true . I do love a cuddle on the sofa though....

Her latest favourite place is a rather hard bench squeezed between my dcs' school bags, maybe she likes the smell

Dogs n your bed
dogs in your bed when you are not in bed
dog under your duvet when YOU are in bed
Dog licking your face at 7:23 every morning to get fed

looks totally NOT guilty when spoken to

This trurly more disturbing than your husband thread

I spend a long time thinking i was normal ha ka

My dog doesnt like sleeping on the sofa as its not as comfy as my bed :) where he sleeps each night under the covers

My dog has a special way of talking when she wants to get up and she likes to lie in a certain place. Once when i let her up i was in "her" corner so she wiped her nose on my back then when i didnt move she just climbed in the gap between me and sofa and fidgeted there till it was comfier for me to sit on the floor

This just popped up on my FB page, so apt!

lol VeryVeryDarkGrey's post reminded me of ddog's sofa/person preference. He likes to lie behind your curled up legs with his head on your knees facing toward the room. If you aren't sitting quite right he will wait until him spot is prepared, sitting very nicely and with an occasional whimper. When he does jump up and get comfy he then has a way of being excessively heavy - he's a relatively small dog, but somehow very dense!

My dog finally made his way up on to the sofa... then on an illicit foray upstairs discovered that we sleep in fantastic crates!

my lurcher gets very upset if the children are still on the sofa next to me at 8.30pm. By 9pm he is almost beside himself. As far as he is concerned, that is HIS place, next to HIS mummy, and HE is the only one allowed on there at night.

he also gets up on the bed. Usually half way through the night and usually requiring a light to help him locate the best spot. Unfortunately he's massive so no-one ever gets much sleep. Except him.