Do you let your dog on the sofa with you?

suki1964

Mine has his own sofas and sleeps with me on the bed

elsien

Mutt is never allowed on the sofa. She is theoretically allowed to come part on my chair (bum on the footstool, front end draped up the front of me) if invited.
However I made the fatal mistake of letting her come right on my lap once when I was feeling in need of comfort, and after 10 years of only coming up when asked, she is now continually pushing her luck and trying to leap on me every time I sit down.
Whatever you do, just bear in mind that you can try to teach them something you want them to do for years and it won't sink in. Let them get away with something you don't want to do just once, and the little beggars learn it immediately and the bad habit is there for evermore!
Mutt has now started getting on the chair when I'm out or upstairs which she has never done before, so I've had to resort to putting a foot stool on it when I leave the room. She knows she shouldn't as she slinks off looking guilty if she hears me coming.

vikingvampireparrot

No, for several reasons:
- there would be no room for us
- I'm allergic to dog hair so don't want it all over the sofa
- our Dobe is quite exciteable so would be no stopping him when wet/muddy if was allowed other times
- they scrap over beds sometimes, don't want them doing that on the sofa!

Don't really buy in to the whole alpha thing where dogs can't be allowed to do anything, just personal preference. They come upstairs and have the spare room as their bedroom!

ymakesmile

We let all three of our dogs sleep on the sofas however there would be no room for me and my oh if we didn't chuck them off in the evening. Two of them will normally snuggle up on the armchairs at this point while one of our dogs normally prefers the floor anyway. They do understand being told to get off though, so I'm happy with that. It's part of having dogs for me that they snuggle with us, so I wouldn't ban them from the sofa.

peachyprice

Yes, definitely, but he's only a Yorkie, albeit a large one, so there's no moulting and it's a leather sofa.

He knows not to jump up when it's raining outside and he has wet paws, he sits by my feet waiting for them to dry.

And he's never allowed to sleep on our bed at night, he would stomp all over me trying to get as close as possible. Although he has been know to sneak upstairs during the day for a quiet nap on the end of the bed, especially when the children are at home

welshmoneylover

Mine have their own 2 seater chocolate brown leather settee covered with throws. Cost me about £650 but well worth it, they may occassionally allow us to sit there with them!

zaksmum

Mine always go on the sofa...and why not? They certainly make less mess than the grandkids! And they don't mutter at us if I ask them to get down.

elsien

zaksmum wrote: »

And they don't mutter at us if I ask them to get down.

Mine does - she doesn't half grumble when I turf her off. :rotfl:
(Not a growl btw, just a dischuffed snorty sort of noise.)

pollyanna24

Goodness, never thought there could be so much discussion about such a topic. Heehee.

Our staffie is allowed on the sofa, but only in one section. We have a corner sofa and she has the corner (incidentally the best bit - not sure how that worked out!) and she has a kind of fleecy blanket thing on it. It's the only part of the sofa that she is allowed on and we generally don't sit on it.

If we have guests, we take the fleecy thing off and the dog knows she is not allowed on the sofa.

Paparika

mine does, he destroyed the first sofa, hasn't bothered with the replacement, but then again i am always home so he can't get bored.

he has brindle colours so luckily they don't show on the sofa and boy does he malt.

But by allowing the dog on the sofa, you are allowing him to feel equal to you in the pack, that is the unfortunate thing