Staying off furniture

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Riley was definitely a kangaroo in a previous life and loves jumping.  Unfortunately that includes jumping on our furniture at every opportunity...often when running at full tilt when we are playing which is causing her claws to scratch the couches...not good.  

She responds to "off" and gets down right away and then I praise her but I'm not quite sure how else I can discourage her.  

Just today she discovered that she can get onto the couch where she is tethered when DD is playing with stuff Riley is likely to try to steal (like Lego and puzzles or stuffed toys). 

Ideally in the future we would like it onto be "invite only" but for now she is just not allowed to keep things simple.  

Any suggestions?

Here is a pic of her looking mighty guilty before I kicked her off (again). You can see the tether leading off to the right, it's attached to the couch frame.  She used to be tethered to the dining table but she pulls it too easily...solid wood table that seats 8 lol.  Darn horsey.

[Samina, Snickers and Duke]

We have a designated "dog couch" in our family room.  The dogs are allowed up on that couch & on no other furniture.  They know that & don't even try to get on any other furniture.  The Hubby or I usually sit on that couch with the dogs, so they get lots of snuggles & smoochies there.  It's a happy place for them. 

I've got a mom-shriek that's amazingly effective for getting dogs, kids (& spouses!) to suddenly stop what they're doing & the dogs learned quickly that other furniture was off-limits.  It's not a really a shriek, but I can't figure out how else to describe my sound!

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

She gets down as soon as I even look at her most of the time.. little stinker KNOWS she isn't allowed and does it anyway! 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I am happy to report that I figured out an exercise solution until we get a fence.  I got a 25 ft tie out, put the stake in the middle of the back yard so we have about 40 ft of length to play fetch on nice days.  

We've also started taking Riley on weekends to the off leash dog trail again (we had stopped because all she was doing was eating sticks) and she is leaving the sticks alone, looks like she grew out of it!

Still not much to do on rainy days but that is true for pretty much everyone:p  I usually bring out the tricky treat ball and that keeps her busy a while.

[Stacy]

I'm glad you found something that works! I wish I could Saran Wrap Willow every time it rains. I've never had a dog get so muddy. That's probably not true. I've probably just forgotten how dirty Katie used to get. It's amazing how the big girls go out and do their thing, they might get rained on, but they just come in wet. Willow comes inside and she's just gross. Then she wants to jump on the bed and the couch to dry off! She makes me laugh. She's the sweetest thing. Soon we'll forget the hard parts.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Ugh there were a few muddy puddles at the trail this weekend.  Riley of course beelined for one, jumped in, DH yelled "OUT!" so she got out...looked at him and ran back in lol.  She is such a little menace.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Oh and any magic tricks for getting sand/mud out of long doodle fur?  It's nearly impossible lol.  We've been bathing her with the hose in the kiddie pool and lots of puppy shampoo...

[Barbara, Zoey and Zeke]

When Zoey was younger she would find the muddiest puddle and lay down in it.  Even when it wasn't terribly hot. Nothing but mud on her underside and legs.  I would put her on a leash and take her to the back yard and hose her down.  She hated that.  After awhile she quit doing it.  lol  Guess she finally understood cause and effect!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Letting the mud dry first if you are where you can do that- often the bulk of it falls off when dry, then hosing down.   One of mine loves to belly crawl in mud and he's 11. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I'm not sure we can do that :(  She freaks out when she is tied alone outside (and is likely to get into mischief) and inside she'd probably make an even bigger mess.

It does sound like it would work well though.

I think we may just be stuck with the hose, baby pool and lots of shampoo/scrubbing :p

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Notice, I said where you can do that.  :-}   When you can't you just hose.  Whenever we are going to the beach, I spray them with a silicone based detangler BEFORE we go. It makes stuff slide off easier....