Why do your dogs get on your furniture?

happy-dogowner-connection-dogsI have a confession to make for/ about my clients.

And this probably occurs all around the world, on every single day.

On occasions I take certain dogs to clinics and training sessions or for walks. I am very embedded in the dog services industry.

But the confession is all about letting dogs on the furniture. I find this client’s dog in many different rooms on many different types of human furniture. Its an old small dog but malts hair a lot.  Its  a lovely dog, but loved much more by one owner than the other.

There are many reasons why a dog wants to be on furniture and why owners do or don’t want the dog on furniture. Where do you fit on the dog allowed on furniture spectrum?

Understanding dog behaviour and dog psychology is important to knowing why your dog wants to be on furniture in the first place and why you want them off the furniture.

My partner regularly gets upset when they see the dog on furniture. This is because they find it is not good for a trained dog to be on furniture, they want to sit on the furniture themselves or they are concerned that the dog will ruin the furniture with their claws or at least get it very dirty.

They are right on man counts, but being jealous of a dog is poor form.

I have read some information about dogs liking to communicate at face level and that is why they jump up on you and why they want to be higher in the room.  This is pretty much ‘hog wash’.

Dogs are creatures of comfort as much as any of us are.  And dogs see humans enjoy some of the best padded seating devices in the known dog universe, so why shouldn’t they avail themselves of being comfortable ?

Its true if you have more than one dog, the best sitting position can be fought over as the best territory for the alpha dog.  You don’t want to be setting this fighting zone up in the house by allowing both dogs on it or either dog, so that one gets to be superior to the other or you.

More often the dogs in our house sit on these places for comfort AND for the best view of a hallway and the things that approach, and to keep off the ground where in days of old, vermin might approach and attack.  For the same reason elephants don’t like mice around their feet, dogs prefer to sleep in relative safely elevated from the ground.