How to Keep a Dog Off the Couch and Furniture the Easy Way

Dogs are social creatures and often want to enjoy the same luxuries that people do, including sprawling out on the couch or relaxing in a favorite chair. But not all dog owners want to share their furniture with their pet. If you prefer that your furniture stays a fur-free zone, the dog should be trained to stay off the furniture at a young age, or when it is first brought into the home. If you find your dog is trying to sneak up on the couch, there are a few ways to discourage it from making itself at home there.

Things You'll Need

  • Dog bed
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Instructions

    • 1

      Provide the dog with its own spot for sleeping and relaxing. Put a cushioned dog bed down on the floor where the dog can feel a part of the action, not hidden away in a corner where it cannot see or interact with anyone. Place the dog's toys and chews on the bed to encourage the dog to use the bed and view it as its own personal space, and not view the furniture as somewhere to relax.

    • 2

      Make the furniture less inviting to the dog so that it loses the desire to jump up on the furniture. Spread aluminum foil across the couch cushions so that it is noisy and crunches when stepped on. The furniture will lose its plush feel, leaving the dog bed as the more attractive alternative to the canine. You can also place unloaded, upside down snap-style mouse traps on the furniture so that they snap and startle the dog whenever it jumps on the furniture, making the couch or chair a less relaxing environment than the dog anticipated.

    • 3

      Place empty, upside down cardboard boxes on the chair or couch that the dog likes to get up on when there is no one to supervise the animal in the room with the furniture. This will prevent the dog from getting in the habit of getting on the furniture when alone. Make sure that the dog has its own bed available as an alternative for somewhere soft to lie down. Eventually the dog will get in the habit of using only its bed and not think about jumping on the furniture.

    • 4

      Keep the dog off the furniture at all times. Letting the dog jump up onto the furniture once or twice, even on special occasions, will make the dog think it is all right. If it is allowed to jump up one day, and then not the next, the dog will get confused and training will take longer than it should, and may not work at all.