Hi, I have a 14 week old puppy and we are trying to keep him off the furniture, I know a lot of people like to have their dogs in the sofa but for us we'd rather not as labs get so big and he'd take up a lot of seat! The thing is I'm trying with luring him off with treats telling him 'off', giving treats when he's down, he has his own bed in the living room but once he's got down and had his treat he gets straight back on again! I'm just so fed up with it all and finding it very upsetting, I have been dealing with the 'puppy blues' since getting him so really finding it hard. We have tried pushing him off, or lifting him off the settee but he growls and snaps, so now I don't do that. But people keep telling me I need to show him I'm the alpha so I'm worried I'm teaching him that he's the boss, by backing off. I know positive reinforcement is the way you should train but he just gets straight back on again! Hopefully someone can provide some help or reassurance Thanks
I suggest keeping your puppy on a leash while working on this so that he cannot get onto furniture. Work daily on settling on his own bed, with lots of treats - try a kong. Every time he settles on his bed, good things happen. Also make your "off" cue lots of fun. We practice standing on items (stool, raised bed, curbs etc) and cueing 'off' - so it doesn't just mean get off something comfy next to humans, but a fun game for treats. Good luck!
Hi, I had a big case of the ‘What have I dones?!’ and horrible puppy blues so I know how you feel. Neville is now 6 months and life feels SO much more relaxing and like I’m not in a hyper-vigilant state at all times. I am by no means an expert, but something that worked for us was to take a big handful of his meal ration of kibble and come into the lounge and sit on the sofa and ask him to ‘sit’ and then ‘down’ and then to drop a little piece of kibble between his front paws every 2 seconds and then keep them coming, but gradually longer gaps. Lying on the floor became really rewarding for him and we noticed that he didn’t try to get on the sofa. If he was being giddy (favourite option was to bite the sofa/chase his tail/try to chew the wall!), we would pop him in his kitchen pen for a sleep. Now at 6 months he will settle down and snooze on the lounge floor (after some moderate tail chasing) and doesn’t try to get on the sofa at all. We plan to invite him up on the sofa when he is a predictable, fully trained adult. Good luck! Hope the puppy blues ease soon. I was convinced they never would and felt really quite low, but now I feel so differently.
Thank you so much for your replies. And particularly for the reassurance about the puppy blues. I still have my down days with that but it's not quite as intense all the time, it's good to know that others have had it and come out the other side! He is getting a little better, he understands off now and I'm managing longer between treats for sitting on his bed. He also understands "bed" so will go there when I say, he still keeps trying it though now and then and will occasionally completely og ore me! But it's usually when he's overexcited or overtired, when he's calm he tends to be more likely to do it.
