How to Train Your Dog to Not Jump on Furniture

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Dog Training
How to Train Your Dog to Not Jump on Furniture

Medium

4-6 Weeks

Behavior

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Introduction

Your furniture is soft and comfortable. In fact, you probably purchased it because of its beauty and comfort. If you have ever come home to your dog napping on your couch, then know he appreciates your taste in furniture as well. However, you may not want your dog to be quite so comfortable on your beautiful, soft furnishings. Dog hair can be difficult to clean up off some fabrics and dirty paws can leave stains on your beautiful furniture. Moreover, sharp little claws can poke holes in fabrics such as leather. If you have furniture you do not want your dog on, you will need to train him to stay off it.

Defining Tasks

These training methods can be used for your fine furniture, your bed, and your everyday furniture. Maybe your household is run in such a way the pets should not be allowed on furniture at all. Or maybe you only have a few pieces you do not want your dog to ruin, but you may allow him on a family room couch while you are watching TV.

Teaching your dog to know the differences between the furniture he can get on, if any, and the furniture you do not want him on will be imperative to this training. If you are dedicated to keeping your furniture safe from your dog, this should only take a few weeks and lots of repetition and rewarding great behavior from your dog instead of becoming frustrated and angry when your dog forgets the rules.

Getting Started

To begin training your dog to stay off your furniture, you should start with an alternative for your dog. Invest in a thick and comfortable dog bed for your dog and place it in an area where he can still be part of social time and family entertainment. If your dog would prefer to sleep in your bedroom with you or even in one of the bedrooms belonging to your children, you can buy a bed for that space as well, so your dog knows he is welcome in the bedroom during sleeping time but not in your bed. You will also want some tasty treats to reward your dog for good behavior. Bring lots of love and patience to these training exercises because it can be quite frustrating if you have a dog destroying furniture with pet hair or claw marks.

The Personal Bed Method

Effective

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Step

Special place

Give your dog a place that belongs to him within the social areas and sleeping areas of your house. Make a big deal with your dog out of purchasing a new bed. If you are able, take your dog to the pet store with you to shop for beds. Get him excited while in the store and have him lie on beds, testing each one out until you have found the perfect fit.

Step

Back home

When you and your dog arrive back home, place the bed in an area in your family room or your bedroom, or both if you can buy two beds, and sit on the floor next to the bed encouraging your dog to lie on the bed. Providing lots of love and attention and affection while your dog is lying on the bed will help encourage him to stay there.

Step

Sit on furniture

Once he is comfortable, get up and sit on your furniture. If your dog follows, point to the bed and use the keyword such as “bed”, redirecting him back to his new soft and comfortable space.

Step

Treat and return

Once he is comfortably back on his bed, give him a treat. Return to your furniture and sit down.

Step

Redirect

If your dog gets up again and comes to your furniture behind you, redirect again and treat when he goes back to his own bed. You may need to repeat this process several times before he understands that his space is just for him and the furniture is for you.

Step

Command

As he gets used to his new bed in the social areas of your house, every time you come into a room point to his bed use the keyword such as “bed” and treat him when he lies down. From here on, your dog should be able to enjoy social time from his soft, comfortable space in the family room.

Step

Night

Use the same method to keep your dog off your bed at night. Only put his special bed in your bedroom so he knows he can still sleep in your room with you but does not have to be in the bed with you.

Step

Rewards

Be sure to treat your dog and reward him with praise for good behavior. Don't punish him when he forgets and makes a mistake, however. Redirect him, rewarding when he remembers the rules.

The 'Off' Command Method

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Step

Command

When your dog jumps on the furniture or puts his paws on the furniture, say the command “off.”

Step

Lure

Using a treat, lure the dog off the furniture.

Step

Entice

If he is not interested, back away from the furniture and show him the treat.

Step

"Off"

Say the word “off” again. As soon as his forepaws touch the floor, give him the treat.

Step

Consistency

Repeat these steps every time you see your dog getting ready to jump on the furniture or already on the furniture. Be consistent with your training and correct your dog's behavior every time you see him getting ready to get on your furniture. If you do not want your dog on the furniture when you are away from the house, use a crate or a room where he has plenty of space to roam and no furniture to climb on.

The Click and Treat Method

Effective

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Step

Jumping

If your dog jumps on the couch, encourage him off and click your training clicker when his paws touch the ground.

Step

On the ground

As soon as his paws are on the ground, offer him a treat. Every time you see your dog on the couch, call him away from the couch. As soon as his paws touch the ground, click and treat.

Step

Practice

This method will take a few weeks to complete. Every time you see your dog on the furniture, encourage him off, click, and treat for positive behavior.

Step

Rewards

When you catch your dog making positive choices and staying off the furniture, offer him a treat and verbal praise.

Step

Association

Eventually, your dog will begin to associate four paws on the ground and not on the furniture with positive rewards

Success Stories and Training Questions

Training Questions and Answers

Question

Schatzi

Havanese/Tibetan terrier

2 Years

1 found helpful

Question

1 found helpful

Schatzi

Havanese/Tibetan terrier

2 Years

Just want to THANK Caitlin Crittenden for 'spot on' reply to our situation with 'zoomies'! Our girl is definitely the 'circus dog' type...I just have to figure out how to maximize her talent into structured FUN! Dancing and hula hoop jumping definitely on her horizon!

3 months, 2 weeks ago

Schatzi's Owner

Caitlin Crittenden

Dog Trainer

494 Dog owners recommended

Hello Alice, Thank you so much for you kind reply! It is always so nice to hear that my advice was helpful! I am excited for you guys and your fun with training ahead. Also, check out Kikopup and Zach George on YouTube for some fun how-to-videos to teach tricks and get ideas. Thanks! Caitlin Crittenden

3 months, 2 weeks ago

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Question

Schatzi

Havanese/Tibetan ???

2 Years

1 found helpful

Question

1 found helpful

Schatzi

Havanese/Tibetan ???

2 Years

This dog loves to walk...up to 5 miles at a time. Despite walk, returns to house and races at mach speed through house. Over chairs, tables, couches, like a canine tornado... responds to ‘off’ command long enough to hit floor and receive a treat before tearing off through the house again.
She is a rescue, 16 lbs, was found wandering so no history available. She is mostly adapting very well to our household except this uncontrollable charging at such a speed it is hard to take any evasive action! She is certainly a candidate for a circus dog!

3 months, 2 weeks ago

Schatzi's Owner

Caitlin Crittenden

Dog Trainer

494 Dog owners recommended

Hello Alice, What you described is called the "Zoomies!". Puppies commonly do it and some adults will continue doing it also. It's great that you walk him so much but I suspect he would also benefit a lot from mental exercise. Physical exercise is very good for a dog but some dogs with wonderful endurance will actually return even more excited from it. It you can make the walk more mentally challenging dogs tend to feel more relaxed and tired. I suggest teaching pup a structured heel for walks. Train pup to walk slightly behind you and focus on you during the walk. Practice things like "Doggie pushups" - which is Sit, Down, and Stand all together - changing the order of the commands and repeating a few times so that pup really has to listen and work. You can also walk pup on a long curled up leash, so that the leash is 6 feet in busy area, but you can let out another 15 or so feet in more deserted areas and practice Down-Stay, Sit-Stay, and Come on the leash periodically. Incorporating a lot of obedience into the walk, making it hard enough to be a bit challenging mentally and require a lot of self-control and focus from pup can really help wear him out, teach better obedience, build respect and trust in your relationship, and make pup feel more satisfied. I also suggest shortening some of the walks and using that time to have training sessions with pup, where you teach pup new commands, harder versions of current commands, or fun tricks - to keep his brain busy. Good mental stimulation has been proven to be twice as tiring than physical exercise alone for a dog. My previous dog (now past away after 12 years) was a Border Collie, bred to run all day in the field. While he was young, no amount of physical exercise I could give would completely wear him out (he just got in better shape and could walk further!). In addition to normal length walks I spent 30 minutes every day teaching him new tricks or harder versions of current commands, such as going from basic obedience to off-leash obedience commands, tricks like: how to pick up toys, how to dance on his hind legs, take a sock off my foot, bring me a tissue when I sneezed, play dead, roll over, close doors, ect...He eventually learned over 90 different commands. I didn't have a goal of teaching him that many words but it was just a nice side effect of stimulating him mentally through training for 30 minutes each day - overtime the commands added up as he got better and better at training. The training kept him out of trouble by helping him feel calmer while he was young and energetic, and he loved it! Perhaps your pup would be great at something similar. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

3 months, 2 weeks ago

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