How to Keep a Dog off the Couch?

How to Keep a Dog off the Couch? – Why Should Dogs Be Kept off the Couch?

According to the studies, most dog owners don’t want to keep their dogs close to their furniture or on the couch.

This is to protect their furniture from their pets as dogs have a nature to chew the furniture and scratch the beds and sofa. Also, spending more time with dogs can even pose pet dander and can cause respiratory symptoms.

Is it Safe to Let Your Dog onto the Couch?

While talking about letting your dog onto the couch, it depends from person to person. If a dog owner wants to keep their dog on the couch, then yeah, absolutely he can.

Sometimes it can be risky for your dog because dogs have a habit of scratching and chewing the corners of furniture and soft surfaces. While chewing the furniture, if a piece of heavy furniture or something from it accidentally falls on the pet, it can hurt the pet to a large extent.

Similarly, sometimes your dog’s nails also get stuck on a soft surface they were scratching, which can cause severe pain to them. Hence it is not safe to let your dog onto the couch.

Why Do Dogs Get Onto the Couch?

When a dog owner doesn’t give a comfortable place for their dog to rest and for all other cooldowns, the dogs prefer to jump and get into the furniture and couches.

The most probable reason for your dog getting into the couch is closeness to their master. Dogs always want to stay close to their owner as much as possible, so they prefer to get into the couch.

Steps to Follow for Keeping Your Dog off the Couch

If you feel bad while keeping your dog off the couch, you don’t have to because most dog owners prefer to keep their dog away from the furniture and couch.

Here are the steps you can follow to keep your dog off the couch.

Create a Boundary

To protect your couch from your dog, all you have to do is just put some clothes on the sofa or cover it with any other material to make your dog realize that it’s something from which he has to stay away.

Provide an Alternative to the Couch

If your dog continuously gets on the couch after several tries, you must understand that the pet is looking for a comfortable place. So if you provide an alternative of your couch to the pet, they will stay away from the couch.

Provide Appropriate Training

The unpleasant behavior of your pet of getting into the couch repeatedly can be due to a lack of training. So the owner can also go for the option of giving proper training to their dog to behave well in the house.

Introduce a Cue Word

If your dog is not listening to your command, introduce a cue word like “get on to your bed “and use it every time you want your dog off the couch. It will make your dog understand what you want from them.

Using Aversive

If you’re not getting success in keeping your dog off the couch, you can make use of the aversive. You have to put something in front of your dog that it found scary while he was on the couch. It will work wonders for you to keep your dog off the couch.

Eliminating the Pet’s Access to the Room

If you are not able to control your dog from getting onto the couch after putting in all your efforts, then it will be preferable to stop your dog from entering that room.

Remove the Cushions

The dogs were getting into the couches for the soft and comfy feeling, all because of the cushions at the top of the couches. So, if you remove the cushions from the couch, it will no longer be soft and comfortable. Hence it can probably be the best way to go with.

How Can Spray Be Effective to Keep Your Dog Off the Couch?

Spraying a substance that your dog hates is one of the best options to go with when it comes to keeping your dog off the couch. Just like we use mosquito repellents to keep mosquitoes away, we can use some dog repellents, too, to keep our dog away from the couch.

The repellents should consist of the extracts of citrus, vinegar, and hot pepper as these things are the ones that most dogs don’t even prefer to smell, so it can be very effective for keeping your dog off the couch furniture.

Ingredients That You Can Use to Make Dog Repellents

Homemade dog repellents can be helpful for keeping your dog off the couch or for other things you want them to stay away from. But the ingredients to be used in the repellents should be chosen very carefully as a bit of mistake can harm your dog.

The ingredients that can be used for homemade dog repellents are discussed below.

Citric Acid

All the dog species find the smell of citric acid extremely unpleasant, so you can just take a bottle and mix water and lemon juice in it and spread it on your couches and furniture. Your dog will not even pass near the couch and furniture due to the unpleasant smell of citric acid.

Cayenne Pepper

Just like the smell of citric acid, the smell of cayenne pepper is also very unpleasant for dogs. But the owner should think before using this as pepper can make your dog’s eyes burn a couple of times but will not harm it in any way.

You can just sprinkle a mixture of cayenne pepper on your couch to keep the pet off the couch.

Vinegar

The smell of vinegar extract is also one of the substances that the dogs were fond of and strictly used to avoid. If you want to keep your dog away from something, just spray a little bit of vinegar extract and see the best results.

How to Prevent Your Dog from Getting onto the Couch When You are Not at Home?

It’s pretty difficult for a dog owner to protect their couches and furniture from their dog while not at home. In this situation, the only option left is to cover all the things you want to save from your dog with aluminum foils or newspapers.

The owner has to collect newspapers and aluminum foil from a store in large amounts so that they can cover all the furniture and the needy things. The dog will not get into the covered area even if you are not at home, as the covered things will startle the dog if it jumps into it.

Things to Avoid While You are Trying to Keep Your Dog Off the Couch

We all know that our dog is the one we love to spend time with or the closest to our heart. All of us will not prefer to make a distance while trying to keep our dog off the couch.

Here are the things that we should avoid while trying to keep our dogs off the couch.

Avoid Scaring the Dog

We should always avoid scaring the dog while trying to make them learn manners, as it can make the dog mentally depressed and can make them shiver their whole body.

Avoid Using Sticks

Don’t ever use sticks to shoo them away from the place by getting frustrated. This can weaken the bond with your dog, as the dog will get scared.

Avoid Scolding the Dog

The owner should strictly avoid scolding the dog while the pet is not listening to the commands. Instead of scolding, always use love and care to make them understand the fact.

The dog owner should strictly avoid the points mentioned above as it can affect the bond with the pet and make the dog extremely upset.