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.

[Joani, Skadi & Elli]

Unfortunately, God created these creatures so cute to steal our hearts...and at times our better sense!  I tethered Skadi when she was little to a weight in the middle of the room to prevent her lunging at me or getting on any type of furniture.  I don't allow my girls to get on the furniture so there is no invite which I would think could cause confusion.  I also only allow 'rough' play down in the basement or outside where they can do no harm with escalated excitement.   Speaking of escalated excitement, when the pups are young, my trainer advised me to avoid this state.   Running at full tilt is not an option in our house.  Being left to roam the house without supervision was earned by Skadi in her early years.  However, even though I have had Elli who is 10 now for over 4 years, I cannot leave her unattended so she is either put in the garage or a crate...she doesn't mind the crate which leads me to believe she was crate trained years before she came to live with me.  I love my dogs, but I love also to have the control.  I have been viewing some of Zak Georges videos...he seems to be great at training.  Sounds like you are on the right track nipping these unacceptable behaviors in the bud...have fun...take more and more cute pictures!  

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

We are limited in our choices for burning her energy because our back yard can't be fenced until next spring (new construction rules) and our basement isn't finished yet, probably not for a few years.  That leaves us with the main floor or upstairs for hard running/fetch.  Upstairs is a little better control wise because we can shut all the bedroom doors but there is a longer "alley" for running on the main floor.  Walks  do nothing for her energy wise and there are no off leash dog areas within walking distance.

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Have you considered an inground fence? Or, is that  not allowed either?  With the right  collar,  corrections  and good training they are great.  Haley won't cross the fence for anything including deer and his favorite person.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

We can't do any digging in the yard until we've been here a year but one of our neighbors hasn't moved in yet so it's really a year after they move in if we want to share costs (I'm guessing they are moving in within 2 months).  There is also a lot of heavy equipment and construction workers everywhere and Riley is super stubborn, I don't think I would be comfortable without a physical barrier.  She has a tie out in the yard for potty breaks but of course she can't really play like that.  Can't wait until they are done building houses on our street in about a year...

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

I can't even imagine living with those kind of restrictions.  (The wire for an inground fence can be installed in the slot made by a garden edger.)  

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Yep new builds come with their fair share of headaches.  Worth the 1.5 years or so of grief for getting exactly the house we wanted at a decent price though.  Getting a lot out of the way at once - new puppy followed by a new house then a new baby lol.  It's been a crazy time that's for sure.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

J. might you be allowed to put up a simple temporary fence?  Just some stakes and fencing like chicken wire or deer fencing?  It would be very temporary and wouldn't contain Riley if she really wanted out, but might contain her enough so that you could watch her run around a bit off leash?    We have a hill area that we don't want the dogs on and a planter that shares a fence with our neighbor's dog who barks 24/7 and fence fights with our boys, so we purchased several ex-pens and some metal stakes.  We pounded the stakes into the ground, dug a narrow trench a few inches deep, and ziptied the ex-pens to the stakes.  Could our dogs actually knock it down?  Yup, but shhhhhh..... they don't know that! :-}

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I'm not sure I could get something high enough that I'd be comfortable with without spending a ton.  We might have some chicken wire already but we may have thrown it out when we moved.  She can jump really high, she did a standing jump onto a 4 ft snowbank earlier in the winter... :/  will have to investigate but I think last time we looked into fencing for around our garden it would have been something like $300for a small area to make a tall one.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Also I wouldn't want to potentially void our warranty because they said "no fences"... :/ 

She does get to to run around on weekends at grandma's or the dog park.  Can't really go by myself to the dog park with baby though during the week.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

It was just a thought, but it’d be dumb to mess with your warranty. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Neither of our dogs are allowed on the furniture, and because we never started it they don't even think it's a possibility.  If you calmly, but sternly remove her whenever she jumps on the furniture she'll eventually figure out that it's not allowed.  Once she is trained not to get up on her own, you can teach her the "by invitation" option.  Both of my dogs are allowed on my bed to snuggle only when I ask them to come up.  As for burning energy, have you tried Daycare one or two days a week?  We live in a condo, so that has really helped with our guys.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I've thought about daycare, the nearest one is pretty far though.  I'd also have to pack up baby and take him there and back, DH leaves for work before it opens.  

I figure she will probably get the idea eventually, she is just so darn stubborn that she may keep trying lol.