Do Leather Couches and Large Doodles Go Together? It's Just a Couch, Right??

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Last year around this time, I fell in love with a cranberry leather sofa and since our living room couch was almost twenty years old, worn, and faded by the sun, we decided to place the order for our new couch.  My kids will tell you that when we bought that sofa in 1992, I guarded that sofa like a mama bear does her bear cubs.  Up until that point, most of our furniture was hand me downs and that sofa represented our first major, expensive purchase.  I knew there was not going to be another sofa purchase for a long time, so I tried to protect it from the sloppy ways of young kids and a husband not known for his meticulous eating, drinking, and lying about habits.  I was fine with them waving to the couch from another location or saving, “hi, pretty blue couch,” as they walked by, but other than that, I preferred they kept their distance.  Once in awhile, the girls would come home from somewhere and say, “Guess what? Their mom was normal and let us sit on the couch,” and I always thought to myself, “Those crazy, hippie moms ruin it for the rest of us.”  Our dog, Hershey, was not allowed on any furniture except the beds and the few times I caught her on that blue couch one look was all it took and she got sheepishly off and would give me a look like, “you can’t blame a dog for trying.”

 

When we moved to our new house and began to use our living room more, we all took turns reacquainting ourselves with that couch. The older I got the harder it became to keep saying, “wouldn’t you prefer to sit on the floor?” and hear my mom say back,  “I am old.  I can’t get up off the floor once I get down there.”  Every time she came for a visit, she insisted on sitting on that couch and would play that old trump card.   The worst would be when I would see her making her way over there holding a cup of coffee filled too full.  It almost seemed like the excitement of trying to reach the couch before I yelled, “not a chance, old lady!” gave her hand tremors, because I was always mopping up her coffee spillage along her route.  She would get so mad and yell, “I can’t sit by and watch while that couch is ruining your life,” to which I would always answer, “I am so glad we are on the same page now, and you don’t mind standing.”

 

I don’t think I was being too cautious, either, when I asked women of a certain age if they were prone to sneezing before they sat down on my couch. I have watched enough medical shows to know what could happen, and I wasn’t taking any chances with my blue sofa.   Sure, some of them got mad and told me it was none of my business what they did in their own pants, and I guess I can respect that, but it didn’t stop me from saying, “Since you are being so evasive, could you hold on while I go get a waterproof pad for you to sit on?”  Believe me when I tell you, I have weeded out many “Sprinklers” with just a few timely questions about sneezing and giggling and I’m better off without those wet blankets, who got mad as a wet hen, over a few innocuous questions.

 

Sadly, with the purchase of our new sofa, the blue couch has been relegated to our sunroom and although, I keep a cover on it to protect it from the harsh sun anyone who wants to sit on it, is allowed to do so, including Vern.  So, all this brings me back to my leather sofa.  When I first showed it to my husband at the furniture store, the first thing he said was, “what about the dogs?”  Well, I knew this was a make or break question, so of course, I said, “the dogs will not be allowed on this couch.”  Even the salesman piped in that the leather was supposed to wear like a leather motorcycle jacket and whatever marks the dogs made would only add to the character.  I would have pointed out that the same theory did not seem to apply to our yard or my smelly van, but I didn’t want to hurt my case about how wonderful leather would be with two large Doodles. We ordered the couch and waited.  The first clue that maybe a leather couch was not for our family happened when they delivered the couch, not once, but twice, in the wrong color.  After sending it back for the second time, we made the drive to the furniture store where I was prepared to get a full refund and leave the store with my head held high and all my principles intact. Unfortunately, that cagey store manager sensed my one weakness…A SALE….and said, “how about you give us one more chance to get you the right sofa and I give you a refund for this amount?”  It took me all of 30 seconds to throw my righteous anger and indignation out the window and answer, “how about if I take that in check form and go home and wait for my sofa.”

 

We finally got the right sofa in the right color and despite the fact that it had the ripple effect of forcing me to buy new rugs because the old ones did not match; we all loved the sofa, including the dogs.  I think I tried twice to keep them off the couch and then I found myself saying out loud to my family, “I am not going to spend the rest of my life worrying about another sofa.  We will just put a cover on the couch.”  Boy oh boy, did I get some backlash for that decision and accusations went flying that Fudge and Vern are the chosen ones in this house.  My daughters could not believe that this was their mother telling them to move over and make room for two Doodles next to them on the sofa or better yet, could they move to a chair, so the dogs had more room to stretch out.  My mom goes on and on each time she is here that she never thought she would live to see the day that dogs are allowed on my furniture and usually I pretend like Fudge or Vern are talking and we tell her, “Grandma, put a sock in it.” 

 

I have evolved I guess, because Fudge and Vern sometimes use that couch as a launching pad for a sneak attack on each other and I have yet to have a heart attack or fall to the ground crying.  In fact, I just said to my husband the other day that there will always be another couch, but Fudge and Vern are irreplaceable, and he agreed, but he did say he was hoping to retire someday.  Meanwhile, the couch stays covered with blankets and quilts and it makes me wonder why I spent so much time making sure it came in the correct color.

Who Says I Can't Sit Nicely on this Sofa?

Maintenance time...

Saying, "YAY...I am allowed on this pretty sofa."

Look ma, we are having fun!

I'm telling you, Vern, it is my turn to stretch out on the sofa:

Victory is mine:

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Oh, you were a Couch Grouch  :(

Well Sneeze on you

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We just bought new leather sofas also.  Our old leather sofa was claw/scratch proof, so I assumed the new ones would be also. The old leather sofa was from an outlet store and cheap. The new leather sofas were on sale but were not cheap. The sales person insisted that we were buying the 'correct' leather finish for pets.  NOT.  I have the sofas covered but Clancy and Ned just roll around and flip the covers off.  Ned keeps getting on to back of the couch and squishing the pillow back down - it shows already!  Ned did this on the old couch and it never showed squishing.  I am not a happy camper about it.  I loved that old couch.  Now I know that just because the frame finally collapsed, did not mean that it was dead.

[Jeanne, Tura and Dolly]

When I first married my DH 10 years ago, I had a golden and a husky.  He brought a very nice and evidently expensive cranberry couch to the marriage.  Not only were my dogs not allowed on the couch, they were not allowed into the room where the couch was.  He would check it for scratches.  I had trained them not to get onto the furniture, but my DH was allergic and he wanted someplace where there was no dog hair.  Fast forward to Doodle time.  He loves the doods and is not allergic.  He feeds them popcorn while sitting on his couch.  They jump up there and he thinks its cute.  No towels or quilts or blankets come between them and his "don't you know how much that couch cost" couch!  Times have changed.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Love this blog and the new couch looks  gorgeous especially with the boys in situ.  We are still at the stage of getting by with an old one.  We keep saying that in a few months time we will finally invest in a new distressed Leather one.  That raspberry colour does look good (from what I can see)... hmmm I'm having a serious think right now that maybe we will take the plunge sooner.

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

I'll tell ya one thing...there are probably lots of wet couches if DKers read your blogs while sitting on them cuz I'm fairly young & I still can laugh so hard while reading your blogs, I may have an accident!  Once again a hilarious blog.  I do love the couch (well...what I can see of it from under the blankets).  It's funny how we want nice things & then to protect them we don't even use or enjoy them.  So, I'm glad you are loosening your rules.  The dogs look like they love the couch!  I love the pictures, especially when Fudge finally gets the couch to herself.  How cute.  She should just keep the big red ball on it & it'll keep Vern off!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I love the new couch....cranberry is one of my favorite colors!  G & M are not allowed on our couches.  DH said if I let them up on the couch I'd also have to let him and DS on the couches too....and they are way too messy.  LOL

[Donna K & Quincy]

 Laurie, I am so glad you have lightened up about the furniture, I love your cranberry couch. We just got a new one for our family room, I tried to talk DH into a cranberry leather but no luck. We settled on a couch that was half and half, the seat and back are microfiber and the bottom, arms and sides are leather and it's brown. My two must haves when we went shopping was that it must be dog friendly and you must not be able to roll a tennis ball under there. We got both, and it seats two adults and a doodle quite comfortably. Funny thing is we had to send back the first set they delivered because it has glue spots on it, we went with a different set. Here is DH and Quincy enjoying the new couch, the family room is still a work in progress. The towel is there because Quincy just came in from playing in the snow. We had not planned on a rug but Quincy really needed a napkin and the sound of the antlers hitting the floor while he was chewing was too much.

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Once again, a great blog!  Right now my living room is blocked with a doggie fence, which serves to keep us all out!  My DH calls it "the museum".  Maybe I should throw caution to the wind and take down the fence.  Well, maybe not!!

Regarding the sneezing/sprinkling tendency - several years ago my classroom aide was sick so the district sent me a substitute.  When she arrived, she was coughing quite a bit and she told me it was because she was trying to quit smoking.  For the first two periods of the day, she sat at my aide's desk in the back of the room, coughing almost non-stop.  As second period ended, she told me that she was going to "run home" during our 10 minute break.  I went back to my aide's desk, expecting to see the lung she'd been coughing up.  No lung, but the cloth office chair was DRENCHED!!  Fortunately, she never returned and the custodian was able to use some industrial-strength detergent on the chair!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Sharon, Your old friend was on to something, I think :) Thank you!

[Sharon & Monty]

Excellent post!  This reminds me of a dear old friend.  She was up in years and one day took out the crystal. best dishes and silver utensils and put then in the kitchen cupboards.  She decided there was no sense keeping them from being used any longer.  From that day on we ate in style!  You cant take it with you. :)