Pets and Furniture

Some pet parents allow their pets on furniture. Some do not for various reasons. One of those reasons should not be "dominance".  Pet guardians do not have to worry about pets taking over the household if they are allowed beds or sofas.

If the decision is made to not allow pets on furniture, we should analyze why our pets want to be on furniture and try to accomodate them.

Is the human sofa or bed more comfortable?  Experiment with different type of bedding for the pets. Find something as comfortable as human furniture.

Maybe the pets like to be on human furniture because it smells like humans.
Place human bedding or human clothing on the pets' bedding.

Maybe pets like to be elevated.  If it's safe to do so, provide pets with something elevated.

Maybe our pets just want to be close to us. If you are physically able, hang out on the pet beds with the pets.

Whatever we set up for our pets, we should be sure to reward them often for being there. Make their bedding more rewarding than the human sofas and beds.




While were are working on ways to accomodate our pets, we will need to block their access to furniture. We can close doors, put up baby gates, or surround furniture with exercise pens. We can place bloxes on furniture when we aren't using it. Or prop up sofa cushions to discourage our pets from jumping on.

Pet parents should never pull pets off of furniture (not by collar, nor leash, nor by grabbing the dog's body).
And please never use booby traps or shocking devices. See some of the problem with starte methods here: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/latrenda/tag/startle-methods/

If our pets happen to get on the furniture, we can simply wait for them to leave. Or we can teach them how to safely jump off. For detailed information on teaching a dog on and off of furniture, see Jean Donaldons, book, "Culture Clash"

See the below video for a safe way to ask pets to get off furniture



More on asking dogs to get off furniture here: http://www.stubbypuddin.com/2015/04/pets-and-furniture-part-ii-asking-our.html

Are your pets allowed on furniture? Tell us about it in the comments section below

Email general questions or comments to education@stubbypuddin.com

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