Introducing dog to lounge

[Retrievemysanity]

So, finding it really hard without puppy classes. I’m a first time puppy owner and feeling really out of my depth. This is probably a really stupid question but... we have a 5 month old golden retriever. She’s been in the kitchen/diner with a baby gate across the lounge (open plan house) whilst we cracked toilet training and then the Christmas tree was up so decided to keep her out of the lounge until that was gone.

For the past few days I’ve been letting her in the lounge for short periods. There’s a bed in there and I throw treats on, she’ll eat the treats and lie down but won’t stay for any length of time really. She goes back when I say ‘go to bed’ and throw a treat in but then comes out. Because of her joints she’s not supposed to jump on and off the sofas but obviously she does and she starts chewing the throws etc. Am I doing the right thing regarding the bed, how long before the novelty of the lounge should wear off and any other tips?! I’d love to be able to sit and watch tv in the lounge with DH like the old days!

We kept our pup out of the lounge until he was about 7 months old. He was very excited by it at first but quickly settled. We tended to take him in there when he was tired. I think it took a couple of weeks. He's 17 months now and its so nice to all sit together as a family with him curled up on his bed.

Are you only letting her in there to go to her bed?

@raspberrysundaes at the moment I take her in there to do training to go to the bed and settle. I do that in the day. All her meals and other training and play I tend to do in the kitchen/diner. We walk through the lounge to go out the front door for walks.

Does she know stay, lie down, down? I'd focus on those but she's naturally going to be interested in new things. Can you move the throws etc for now and work on reinforcing the good behaviour in the lounge? Perhaps include her favourite toy? Something she can spend a while chewing on her bed?

I understand you wanting to train her to lie on her bed but she's a young puppy and suddenly has access to a brand new room - of course she doesn't want to just lie down on her bed.

Can you not just let her hang out in there with you? Remove anything dangerous/puppy-proof to an extent but not everything has to be about a training exercise. Just let her sniff and explore and play if that's what you're doing, you'll find she'll settle once she's explored everything!

@Runkle she knows lie down and she will go to the bed and lie down when I ask her. Stay, she knows when in a sit position, doesn’t do it for much time in a lie. The throws are on because she chews the sofa if they’re not on!

@raspberrysundaes I guess that was my question really-how long will it take to settle?! We’ve had big problems with biting and by the end of the day I’ve had enough to be honest and would just like to be able to sit and watch tv in the lounge!

The more you have her in there, the quicker it should take! Ours had access from day one so I'm not an expert in that sense lol.

If you let her in after a walk and let her settle on her bed with a chew, I suspect she'll wander and sleep of her own accord though :)

@raspberrysundaes thanks, hope so

I have a 7 month retriever who goes completely mental in the living room. I think she get's sensory overload; the tv, us, big comfy rug, big comfy sofas to leap on, me telling her to get off, nerf pellets in secret places etc. She's ok for a bit but gets really high energy and tries to jump on me on the sofa which I really dislike, especially as I'm usually shattered by that time of night.

When she was tiny she was allowed in there but she wee'd on the rug so I restricted access to the kitchen and dining room where the floors are easy to clean and no rugs.

I've been having her in there with me in the mornings for an hour or so with the tv off and she's better. I'm also teaching her to settle on a mat but I'm not sure we'll ever get to the point where she hangs out with us in the evening. She has her last walk around 9pm then into the kitchen with dimmed lights and she seems content with that. Maybe she will mellow with age ...

@TheOriginalMrsMoss sounds similar. Ours will settle in the kitchen but because it’s open plan if we then go into the lounge to watch tv, she gets up and wants to be with us but then won’t settle in the lounge! If we leave her in the kitchen and go upstairs then she goes to sleep nicely but feels ridiculous that we essentially are trapped upstairs all evening! Was yours bitey too?

What does she do it you let her sit on the sofa with you? Is she constantly jumping on and off and chewing even if you leave her to it, or is it cos she's being told to get off and go on her bed and she doesn't want to? What happens if someone sits on/next to her bed to keep her company? Has she got enough chew toys and boredom busters in the lounge? Our spaniel is almost 5 months and has always had access to the lounge (small house) but until recently we restricted her access to the sofa and coffee table using a room divider cos she was a total pest. She'd get zoomies on the sofa and would nip and refuse to get down. I don't know what changed but she just got calmer over Christmas and we've now got rid of the divider and she's allowed on the sofa for cuddles. When we were really struggling with her giving her a cow ear to chew got us through. We got peace to watch TV. Sometimes one of us did have to go and sit on the bed with her but that was fine, and it passed.

No idea how you stop them jumping on and off furniture though, I'm happy for her to come on the sofa but I have the same concerns about joints. I'd like her to ask permission to come up and down but it's not happening so far.

@ashmts well at the mo i have just been opening the babygate to the lounge to do the training so she’s not in there very long. She’s massive so there’s not much room for her on the sofa if we are both on there but when Ive tried it with my youngest DD watching tv and me sat by her bed giving her food, if she’s gone onto the sofa she’s started biting DD’s ponytail and clothing. Because it’s open plan it is essentially one massive room so all her toys etc are easily accessible in the kitchen diner part. She’s not a massive fan of chew toys, she much prefers edible ones so she has yak chews and ears etc

We let our golden retriever puppy into the lounge straight away but for short periods of time when we were supervising (it is the only downstairs room with a carpet). We had to keep a close eye on her until she was toilet trained but the novelty of being in there did wear off after a few days/weeks and the annoying excited zooming around stopped. It felt like she’d done all of her investigating and got to the point of just wanting to settle down with us. We used to give her a yaks cheese chew in the evening to buy us some peace and she didn’t have these at any other time as it helped keep her interested in it when we wanted to be able to sit down! It a also stopped her biting us or our clothes while she was sitting next to us. Like you, I was determined that we would get back to our relaxed evenings as soon as possible and it didn’t take as long as I thought it might. Although we haven’t been strict on the “not on the furniture” rule and she comes and goes on the sofa as she pleases. We just had to pick our battles!!

@Retrievemysanity When we got our puppy, he was only allowed in the kitchen through the day and then the lounge on an evening. We had a baby gate between both kitchen and lounge.

On an evening, he was VERY hyped up in the lounge and he would never settle. We understood this though as the lounge was new for him and he wanted to explore etc.

However, since giving him access to both for the majority of the day, he's become much calmer and actually sleeps for a lot of the day! He's now 5 months old :)

Oooh, this is an interesting thread, I thought I was the only one! DPup has been in the lounge a bit, but is mainly kept out because a) I'm waiting for more confidence in his toilet training and b) he goes nuts in there and always ends up scrabbling at my sofa. It's good for the DC's to not have a puppy free space during the day too. He's getting there with toilet training though now, no accidents for a week, so I'm going to steal TheOriginal 's idea though, and give him some time in there in the morning. 👍

As others have said, it’s just familiarity and exposure. Ours has had access to all of the downstairs from day one. She grew out of the chewing as yours will do too. She’s very much part of the family group - I hate the idea of her being stuck in a room on her own.

Thanks all. We had a relatively successful hour in the lounge last night with a bully braid for her to keep her occupied! I’d let her in there all the time if it wasn’t for the biting as I need the DD’s to feel safe and at the moment, the eldest is terrified of her.

@Retrievemysanity

Thanks all. We had a relatively successful hour in the lounge last night with a bully braid for her to keep her occupied! I’d let her in there all the time if it wasn’t for the biting as I need the DD’s to feel safe and at the moment, the eldest is terrified of her.

Unfortunately I think the more you isolate her, the longer it will take for the biting/mouthing to subside. A lot of it will be excitement and if you don't familiarise her with the room, she'll always be excited when you try and let her in there.

Can you not have her in the living room on a house line or training lead? So she has the socialisation and exposure but you ultimately have control over her. We did this a lot with ours as a teenager and it worked out well. The lead isn't a punishment - it allows them to explore and play but it means you have a quick and easy way to move them out of the situation if it's becoming too much.

@raspberrysundaes sorry if it’s not clear-she’s not isolated, it’s all open plan and she’s in the kitchen/diner part which is where we all are for meals and where I am when she’s awake. The biting happens wherever she is, it’s not limited to the lounge.

During the day, we aren’t usually in the lounge as DH is wfh upstairs, and DD doing school work and eldest is at school so she’s not missing out on anything! DD will sometimes pop in the lounge to do yoga or a Joe wicks but I don’t think pup being in there with that would work and tbh pup is usually sleeping then. So it’s mainly evenings when we would be in there but I’ve been staying in the diner part with her because of toileting and Christmas tree etc but now wanting to introduce her to it more if that makes sense.

I meant if you continue to keep her out of the lounge while you're in there, her excitement levels in that particular room will never get the chance to come down, if that makes sense?

By all means tackle the biting but I don't think that means you need to continue to restrict her access. Just pop her on a house line so you can move her away safely if she's getting silly, or get a tether point and tie her there.

@raspberrysundaes aah I see what you mean. She’s currently in there eating a pig snout after eating the child

@Retrievemysanity You'll probably find the more you let your pup in though, the biting will reduce dramatically as he won't be as excited Also, we found that when ours got 'bitey', he needed a nap

[quote Retrievemysanity]@raspberrysundaes aah I see what you mean. She’s currently in there eating a pig snout after eating the child [/quote]
Spoilt!

Sounds like good progress though :) just have her in there with you and use a lead if she's getting too excited. We encouraged ours to settle with chews etc. and now he happily sleeps there on his own while I get on with things elsewhere.

@retrievemysanity

We're having some success with letting her in during the day when I hardly sit down and for short periods in the evening. If nobody is using the sofa I'm barricading it which she is most disgusted with!

If I get up from the sofa she leaps into my spot and stares at me defiantly so now I just ignore her (rather than the hoopla and picking her up we were doing before) and tempt her over to her bed. It's a work in progress.

Other than when she was very young, she is not at all bitey. She has the sweetest disposition and is so gentle, to the point she gets mugged by other dogs. However, I was very firm with her - no mouthing or teeth on skin. DH and DS did allow her to mouth their hands which I really dislike but she's got good bite inhibition and takes treats and toys gently from us now. The only time we get the head snaps and open mouth now is total over-excitement in the living room. As soon as I see her energy ramping up I take her straight back into the kitchen. She'd much rather be with us all the time but I find it too stressful when trying to relax. Until she gradually learns calm = living room then she goes back to the kitchen when it's all a bit much.