[daveangie]

Hi all i have recently brought a male bassett Hector he is now 5months.

He is perfect in "nearly" everyway except, how do i stop him from jumping up on the sofa. He has his own bed in the kitchen which he sleeps in at night and when iam in the kitchen.

But when we are in the living room he will lay on his a large cushion but he will only stay on it if we are with him.

The other day he was fast asleep on his cushion, i got up he followed me around the sofa watched me go upstairs, i swear he had the biggest grin on his face as he romped back to the sofa and jumped up.

I tell him 'no' firmly and get him straight down, but still he does it, someone suggested a squirty water bottle but he loves that.

He knows his not allowed up there because if he is up there and hears us coming he will jump down unless he has got too comfortable.

We have quite a high sofa so i worry about his legs.

Any suggestions would be helpful thanks in advance.

 

[Soundtrack]

From a dog's perspective, he is only "not allowed" on the sofa when you are there - after all, when you are not there he is perfectly able to be on the sofa it is only when you retun that he can't be there. This is "dog logic". In order for him to be "not allowed" on the sofa in your absence you need a way to physically stop or deter him. For example, a barricade, placing large objects on the sofa, scat mats, removing him from the room etc. Every time he is successful at getting on the sofa he is rewarded and reinforces the behavior.

 

[oscar's_mom]

Here we are scared of cats jumping up in to cots, as they like to snuggle up to warm babies and this has caused suffocation.
I've never had a cat, but I've heard that you should line the cot with tin foil when you bring it home. The cat will jump in the cot, and get such a fright at the noise and texture that he will never set paws in there again.

Can you think of something your pup absolutely hates? Keep it on the sofa.
I find the more you trick and distract and fool them, the easier it is. I do this with my toddler to distract him from bad things and let him form negative associations with certain objects, eg hot stove plate. It's a helluva lot easier than trying to convince or train them.

Maybe try the tinfoil on the sofa, or a sheet of plastic or anything unappealing to make him form a bad association with it.. Eg he has no desire to jump in the bathtub, does he?

 

[LuciaB]

LOL, I just have to laught because when I bought new furniture a year ago I went looking specifically for something that would be easy to keep dog hair off. I ended up with leather with is perfect. I never would have considered not letting the dogs on the couch

 

[SophieB]

Haha Hector is just doing what a Basset likes doing!!! How high can a sofa be? As long as it's not much higher than Hector he shouldn't do any harm but how to keep him down.... just keep saying NO to him until he learns!!

We had a gorgeous rehome Basset called Hector and it's my favourite name for a Basset boy!!!!! He was called Hudson when we got him but he looked more like a Hector so I changed it as soon as we got him and he never knew the difference!!!!

 

[jmwolff]

Tinfoil kept our basset off the sofa....most of the time

 

[Danish]

We started with a No puppy on the couch rule. And it was working fine. Unitl one day Squishy and I were taking a nap (me on the sofa, her on the floor on her pillow). She woke up; but I wasn't ready to so I pulled her up next to me and we slept and snuggled for another 30 minutes or so. Too too cute.

That was the end of the No puppy on the couch rule. Can we say I'm a sucker for pouty eyes?

BUT we don't let her "play" on the couch. She can hop up and nap or sleep or just sit there with us. If she starts running back and forth or chewing, back on the floor she goes.