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The doghouse

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Original poster

Dogs around the house

77 replies

roundtable · 16/11/2017 16:27

Just wondered how much range of the house posters on MN let their dogs have and how well does your dog behave? Grin

At the moment she's only allowed upstairs/ on sofa when invited. On the sofa invited I don't think will ever change but the upstairs thing I'm not so sure about.

Our dogs were allowed upstairs growing up but my parent's current dog isn't.

I think I've picked up notions of what is right on wrong that isn't based on any fact but just what I'm used to!

What do you all do? I'm nosey

OP posts:
Original poster
roundtable · 16/11/2017 18:31

It seems very varied. I'm no closer to knowing what to do.

She's quite a nervy dog. I'm actually not sure how well she'd cope out of her crate with us gone. After she's neutered we'll see what happens with her building up the time again and with a doggy cam.

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averylongtimeago · 16/11/2017 18:32

My two goldies have free run of the whole house, but they are not allowed on any furniture at all ever.
It does help that all the floors are tiled or wood!

minsmum · 16/11/2017 18:34

Our rescue has free range now apart from upstairs and the conservatory. Upstairs because he is so big if he got on the bed Dh and I would never fit and the conservatory because it is the cats space away from him if they want it

fourpawswhite · 16/11/2017 18:34

Sorry OP. It makes it worse because she's made it this far and been THE best friend ever that I can't bring myself to be cross with her. At least a puppy you are training. But she knows all the rules. She's obeyed them always. She just is now meh. And she looks at me with her almost blind eyes and wags her tail. Breaks your heart.

IratusCats · 16/11/2017 18:35

Mdog isn’t allowed upstairs and isn’t allowed on the furniture. At night he gets shut out of the living room and gets to roam between the utility room, kitchen & dining room.

Original poster
roundtable · 16/11/2017 18:35

She's just sneaked upstairs to the spare room to lay in the corner of the sofa there! I sent her back down but now I feel guilty. If she's just sleeping, does it matter?

I honestly think I sometimes angst more over this dog than my kids at the moment!

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Original poster
roundtable · 16/11/2017 18:39

She sounds lovely fourpaws.

If dh is here, she follows him around mooning after him so it's not an issue but he travels a lot.

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NotMeNoNo · 16/11/2017 18:44

Dog is only allowed on sofas or upstairs by invitation. He didn't used to be allowed on beds but now DS has school anxiety and starts the day much better if the dog wakes him up than me. (delegation)

mustbemad17 · 16/11/2017 18:47

All of my dogs (i fostered) were allowed anywhere except the kitchen & DD's room unsupervised. All my dogs have been allowed on the sofa - but know to shift if a person wants to sit down - and all bar two have slept with me at night (two were destructive at night so crated in my room). I was single tho! Once my OH came along my last dog was still allowed in the same places but at night she slept on the floor next to me. Never had any problems. They're part of the family here so sofa/bed is the norm 😂

Crumbs1 · 16/11/2017 18:50

The beast is restricted to older part of house to contain dog smells and hair. He isn’t allowed upstairs or on sofas but does have a daybed in the snug. He goes in a crate with a nice thick mattress overnight. He’s allowed in most of the garden. He doesn’t really like being far from his known humans except when chasing deer or pheasants.

We never leave him at home as we wouldn’t trust him and he’s big enough to do some damage. If we’re both working away either one of the children comes to be with him or he goes to daycare.

ItsBouquetBUCKET · 16/11/2017 19:13

Dogs allowed anywhere but the bedroom and kitchen, as they're both hair shedding monsters! (St Bernard and golds. retriever), they have full roam of the rest regardless of whether we're here or not and not allowed on any furniture. As young puppies though they were pretty much restricted to the hallway to begin with (wipeable floors) until toilet trained.

imaddictedtomn · 16/11/2017 19:23

Yes dogs in this house aren’t allowed on the sofa or the beds or on people’s laps! 😁

Dogs around the house
Dogs around the house
Dogs around the house
Greyhorses · 16/11/2017 19:46

Ours are allowed anywhere when invited but only if I tell them. For example they can go upstairs when I say it's okay but can't choose to do so as I can't trust them not to eat things when I'm not there Grin

They are locked in the kitchen/utility if I'm out.

They are not allowed on beds or sofas as they stink!

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 16/11/2017 19:50

They are allowed everywhere, they don't really like the sofas though.

They do, however, like the beds.

averylongtimeago · 16/11/2017 19:53

Would you have this on your sofa or bed?

Dogs around the house
Justbookedasummmerholiday · 16/11/2017 19:53

Ours are def not allowed on the furniture.....

SuperBeagle · 16/11/2017 19:54

Ours have the whole house to roam in, but they aren't allowed on any of the furniture.

When we are out, this means closing the bedroom doors and flipping the seat cushions up on the sofa to deter them from jumping on.

I love my dogs to the end of the Earth, but I could not stand dog hair on my bed or sofas. It'd send me mad. The dogs have three beds between them (two dogs), with clean blankets in every week, and a dog door to go in and out as they please. No need for them to be on the furniture.

elQuintoConyo · 16/11/2017 19:57

Alice is allowed everywhere.

She likes laying on ds' bed while i read him a bedtime story.

She'll lie on the bottom of the bed or on a comfy rug in the bedroom at night.

She comes on the sofa, but not super often. A quick click if the fingers and she gets off bed/sofa.

She is super furry and spreads her furry love everywhere, doesn't bother us in the slightest.

Hoppinggreen · 16/11/2017 20:05

Not allowed upstairs or in the furniture
If we go out he's shut in his room ( and at night) . He usually just follows me around downstairs most of the day but takes himself off to bed about 10 anyway

Oops4 · 16/11/2017 20:17

I think you just have to go with what suits you and your dog. Before we got dd1 I intended that he wouldn't be allowed on sofa or to sleep in the bedrooms. I put a stair gate across the kitchen so he could have run of the kitchen at night and when we were out and didn't plan on using a crate. Lasted about two weeks. Turns out border terriers really don't like being left alone......even if you're just upstairs! He got progressively more destructive when we were out/upstairs and the final straw was when he tore wall paper off the wall and started digging though the plaster 🤦‍♀️ He is now crated whenever we are out and he really is much happier that way (as are my walls). We still have the stair gate so we can keep him and dc/visitors seperate if need be. He has also chilled a lot now he's past the worst of the puppy stage. When we are in he gets free run but he really likes to be where we are. He does also wait to be invited up into the sofa.

First couple of nights he cried so much I ended up putting a crate in our room and he sleeps very happily in there all night. But he would t be allowed to sleep on beds.

We recently added a second border terrier and she is currently very contained . In kitchen behind the gate unless she has my full attention.

rightsaidfrederickII · 16/11/2017 20:27

@swizzle God no! It's just an illustration that he will chase small furry animals (and magpies... He loves magpies...)

DramaAlpaca · 16/11/2017 20:30

Our two are allowed everywhere. One is currently fast asleep beside me on the sofa with his head on my lap.

confusedandemployed · 16/11/2017 20:33

Fred goes wherever he likes, as did his dear departed, much loved sister Wilma. In fact I quite often sleep in a draft as he's lying on top of the duvet and I don't want to disturb him by pulling it from under him.
I absolutely love having doggy cwtches at bedtime. No way could I banish him downstairs.

Giraffey1 · 16/11/2017 20:33

We have two dogs and they downstairs dogs. The kitchen has no wall at one end and feeds into the hallway and up to the dining room, and this is basically free to roam for them.

The dining room we’ve turned into an old sofa and tv room, and we spend most of our time there / in the kitchen. They’re allowed on the sofas and sleep on these at night.

We don’t allow them upstairs (that’s the cats’ territory!).

ownedbySWD · 16/11/2017 20:41

We have a baby so I use gates to keep ds and the puppy separated as much as possible. Puppy is healing from her spay, so has the cone of shame; whenever she walks past the baby she likes to give him a little slurp on the head which he doesn't appreciate at the best of times but with the cone it sends him flying. It's only happened once or twice but I have to keep diligent. Generally in the day she's in the kitchen or garden. She has a dog house and free reign out there, and the kitchen has a little corner gated off with her cushion and toys so if she wants to rest I can keep the baby away from her. I let her out of the kitchen into the rest of downstairs when baby is asleep. She can climb over the kitchen gate, but doesn't do it when I'm around.

I've only just started to leave her alone for longer stretches of time, and will shut the doors to the other rooms and shut the stair gate so she can wander around the hallway as well as the kitchen while we're out. She recently took a chunk out of the floorboard though so I'm not impressed!

Before her spay op, she was sleeping in a crate in ds's room. She's been happily sleeping downstairs lately so I think we will stick to that arrangement. For the sake of the cats, I think it's better all around for downstairs to be dog territory and upstairs for the cats to hide/snooze.