Do you let your doodle on your furniture?

[Karen P]

Chewie was very dominant as a puppy and it took a lot of training for him to realize that HE was NOT the boss of the house.  He is 9 months now and he knows his place in the family.  I really want to start letting him up on the furniture with me, but my DH does not think it is a good idea.  Do you allow your doodle on your furniture?  If so, did you wait until a certain age?  Thanks

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

Once you let them on the furniture it is a very hard habit to break them of once you get that new couch-LOL. I do not let my Sasha (8 mo. old) on my furniture even though I am dying to snuggle with her on the couch or sleep with me I come to my senses and do not let her.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Ours have always been allowed on the furniture. When it is winter time and snowing outside or muddy I keep throws over the sofa and love seat.

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

Our dogs are allowed on our old corner couch, but not on other pieces of furniture. As a result, they both love the couch and typically take up one end each, or come up to snuggle with us when we watch tv. They've been allowed on this couch from the time they were old enough to jump up on their own. I did kick Rocky off several times when he was younger because he tried to dominate my son by growling at him. He knows better now and has learned that if he growls, he gets to spend some quality time on the floor by himself.

[Amanda and Quinn]

We had a bossy puppy too and our trainer advised us to wait until Quinn turned 2 before allowing him on furniture. He turned 2 in May - and is no longer bossy - but I'd just as soon keep him on the floor now that we're all used to it. My husband is pushing for it though.

I think if you're considering it, it's probably going to happen. :) So just think about whether you want him to have boundaries - if he can go up at all times but only with permission, on couch but not beds, etc. We did start letting Quinn up briefly when he was Chewie's age and he immediately had a backslide in his behavior. So I do think there's some connection, at least when they are young.

[Holly Doodle]

We don't let Holly on the furniture for a couple of reasons.
1. Most of our guests would not appreciate her on their lap like we would :).
2. We will probably get new furniture some day and will not want her on it.
3. Holly is the type of dog, where you give her an inch and she takes a mile. Once we give her more freedom with things, she starts to act out in other areas. It's almost like she feels more dominant or powerful and tries to take us over.

We were considering letting her up on one specific piece of furniture and not the rest, but we haven't done that yet. I think as long as you give him boundaries you'll be ok. And I do think you can try it and if it doesn't work you can take the privilege away!

[Christine & Shelby]

I do not let Shelby up on the furniture... however, I have provided her with comfy areas for her to rest/relax and she has taken to them nicely. :o)

[shelly]

We DO let Tori on the den couch and our beds with the comforter on- only during the day- she does NOT sleep with us... NOW if you knew me, you would think this very odd, as I am a total germ freak and won't even let my kids sit on their beds with their school clothes on, or get INTO bed without taking a shower.. I just think of the beds as being a place that should be clean.
She is not allowed on the living room couch, and funny 'cause she KNOWS it! At times when she tries to sneak up on it, all she has to do is look at me and she jumps off herself..,. she's so smart! We actually did this right from the start.

[Camilla and Darwin]

We let Darwin up on the furniture, and it hasn't affected his dominance/submissiveness at all. He is very submissive by nature though, so I guess it isn't exactly the same situation. I think if you trained him to only come up when invited, you would still be showing him he is not above you, because he could only come up with your permission.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

We have had two fosters that you could tell were not allowed on the furniture in their previous life. It took a while to convince them that it was ok. Our girls will run and jump up on the sofa whenever they hear a noise outside (as it sits in front of a big picture window). You could tell that this bothered both of the foster boys, but in the beginning they would not even think about jumping up. Then you would notice them end up there because they were following Lucy and Sophie's lead and they would jump back off as soon as they realized what they did. Our last little Foster boy would put his entire body onto your lap if you were sitting on the sofa but his two back feet would remain on the floor. It took me almost the whole two weeks to get him to come up and lay with me. I know I've shown this pic before, but it is my favorite pic of him because it was his last night here and he came up on the sofa and laid with me ....,, There is no way that I would have wanted to miss this moment! It will remain in my heart forever.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I haven't seen this picture before. What a story it tells.

[Karen P]

What a sweet picture!!!

[Adina P]

I think restricting freedom and choices is a GOOD idea for any puppy that has a hard time with obedience or pushes the limits.

But I also think whether you allow your dog on the furniture or not is a personal choice and just what you're comfortable doing.

We don't allow dogs on furniture except on rare occasions. But I wouldn't let any human sit on my couch either if he/she wasn't wearing underwear...*shrugs*...it's a dingleberry thing. Ask long time DK'ers...they know my fear of dingleberries well! Maybe someday when I have leather couches..but microfiber is sticky.