4 year old dog-train to stay off the sofa

[MitchellMum]

Hi we have rescued a 4 y old cocker. She's our second cocker so we feel like we know what we are doing and know the quirks & needs of the breed.

The dog has clearly been allowed on sofas previously and we have allowed it whilst she settled in which I am glad to say she has. Now I want to tackle her being on the sofa...I really don't want her up there (as she is moulting rather a lot and is leaving dried mud dustiness) but I'm not sure about how to go about reversing this annoying habit. I'm happy to allow her on one chair only but it might be that it is more sensible to go "cold turkey" and forbid her from all furniture.

Anyone got any advice?!

We did it with our cockapoo at about 2 years old. Just repetative telling her to get off and she learnt quite quick. She knows shes allowed on my mums couch, but not ours... (except at night - but I don't tell my husband and sort the cushions before he gets up 😂)

Just teach her off, remove her and reward her when she lies on the floor - ours has a boundary so a rug or blanket or bed he goes to when asked to settle we used to feed the boundary to make it somewhere he wanted to be. He now gets his ball on it which makes him happy 😃 so basically just make someWhere else as attractive as the couch

Give her her own bed on the floor and reward like crazy whenever she's on it. Teach a go to bed command as well. Drip feeding to the bed. Do it gradually dont just end her entitlement to the couch - put a throw on it for now. Build up value in her own bed

We're currently doing this with a three year old dog. We were told by a trainer to block the sofas so he can't get up... So we've had dining chairs lying across the sofas for weeks now. He still tries to get up if we don't block them off so not sure how long it'll take!

Thats a really bad trainer 😬

We also taught our cooker an 'off' command. We used to allow her up if 'her' blanket was on next to someone and she quickly didn't bother unless the blanket came out.
We made sure she had a bed in the living room as well as kitchen so she could sit with us in her own space.
Use something high reward to train. Cheese was ours favourite high reward!

I mean, we do have further instructions but blocking them is a quick fix in the meantime. Only he's still trying to get on the sofas if we take the chairs down 😂

The problem with blocking the sofa is that it doesn't actually teach the dog not to jump up - and if the dog does try, then you could just end up with broken furniture and a frightened or injured dog.

If you don't want the dog on the sofa then while you're training, you can't let him in the room with the sofa unless he's supervised so that he doesn't get the chance to practise the behaviour.

You need to teach a solid "off" command as well as teaching him that the floor is the absolute best ever place to be. Lots of encouragement, treats and positive association with not being on the sofa.

Personally we just put loads of cheap throws down and wash them

You want to teach her a cue for up on the sofa as first stage,so that she's only allowed on the sofa on command.teach her up on to her blanket on the sofa,with an 'up',and she goes up and reward,make it all fun.then you move the blanket to where you actually want it and make that the up,once it's learnt solid.

We lost the battle. Our Bob now has his own chair 🤣

It may take forever...we have had our dog since she was a puppy, and she's NEVER been allowed on the sofa. Doesn't stop her trying to get up there when we're out or at night...we always put something on it now so she can't get up. Occasionally we forget, and while she meets us at the door with her usual innocent face, there will be a warm spot on the sofa. 😆 She's 10...

Cover the sofa with a throw and let it up.

I agree, put a cover on the sofa and let the dog up! Poor thing, has already ‘lost’ its previous home. Our Spaniel has her corner of the sofa where there is a throw.

They will think they’ve done something wrong to have their privileges taken away abruptly! Nothing like a snuggle on the sofa with my baby girl ❤️

Oh no 😂

I can’t understand people that want to reduce an animals already small world even further. It’s like not allowing animals upstairs or worse, like an exs family did with one of their dogs, inside! Get a throw you can wash once a week or when required and teach the dog they can go on the throw. My parents 8 year old dog picked that up very quickly so even an old dog can be taught.

@FreeSpirit7 our rescue girl loves getting up on the sofa. We've just opted to use big throws and blankets on the sofa and remove them when they need washing or we have visitors.

She had a lot of other issues, so we decided to work on the important areas, such as walking nicely and recall so that there was a bit less stress for everyone

@SchnauzerLady Bob looks like he is sat on a throne! I am too soft and wouldn't be able to hook that sweet face out of the chair