Sofa Surfing!

Why should I stop my puppy from jumping on the sofa?

Coming up onto the sofa for a cuddle is a lovely thing to do with your puppy, but it’s good manners for them to wait to be invited up.

You might be going to someone else’s house where dogs aren’t allowed on the furniture, or you may have a guest sitting on your sofa with a hot cup of tea!

From a safety point of view, not all dogs should be jumping on and off things, Dachshunds and other long-backed and short-legged breeds can hurt themselves and do long term damage by jumping on and off the sofa.

Puppies in particular should not be jumping on and off the sofa, a simple slip or fall could result in a nasty sprain or break. And it's imperative that we protect their joints whilst they're growing. Continual jumping (and landing) can cause stress on their immature muscular-skeletal structure.

If you would like your puppy on or off the sofa, it’s a better idea to lift them. Puppies should also be discouraged from jumping up and down from cars, stairs etc so we help protect their joints whilst they're growing.

Don’t tell your puppy off!

If you react in a confrontational way towards your puppy, it can make them frightened and act defensively. Plus, it can damage your relationship with your puppy and make them fearful of you. If you’re struggling to get your puppy off of the sofa as the behaviour has been going on for a while then you could consider using a house line (a lightweight lead you can use in the house) to make sure you can get your puppy off the sofa safely, without confrontation.

Manage the environment so your puppy can’t get on the sofa!

This is particularly true when you're out of the house or busy and your puppy has 'access to all areas'. Instead, give them their own safe space, somewhere quiet, away from the hussel and bussel of a busy house. A covered crate or pen area where they have treats, stuffed chew toys etc reinforces this as being the 'go to' area and will help encourage your puppy to choose that for nap time rather than your sofa!

Don't let your puppy practice anything you don't want them to get good at!! If you can reduce the opportunity to practice jumping up on the sofa when they feel like it, the less habit forming it will become.

Using playpens or baby gates to set up safe confinement zones means your puppy won’t get access to your sofa and practice unwanted behaviour. And let's face it, snuggling up on a sofa is rather lovely and will be self-reinforcing!!

Make the floor a better place to be

From your puppy’s perspective, being up on the sofa with you is their favourite place to be as they want to be where ever you are!! So let's make the floor a better option.

With a pot of treats (or some of their food if on dry kibble), sit on the floor with your puppy, especially in the evenings. Feed them whilst they remain calm and gently fuss them as you feed them.

You could even use this opportunity to get in some of that all-important body handling (gently touch a body part and feed). This will not only teach your puppy that the floor is a great place to be, they're learning that human touch is to be liked, not feared.

Or interact with your puppy and play with them with their favourite toy! Floor time is FUN time!

Teach 'settle' on a mat or bed next to the sofa

Having a mat or bed next to your feet and giving them a stuffed chew toy, or randomly dropping a treat to reward calm settling will help them realise they can still be close to you, but they don’t need to be up on the sofa.

You can teach your puppy to go into their mat or bed by throwing a treat onto it, as your puppy gets on the item (bed or mat), say MAT or BED and mark it with a 'yessss'. This will teach them the name of the place they're getting onto.

Once there, lure them into a 'settle' and then keeping dropping treats down to them or give them a stuffed chew toy as a reward and to occupy them.

If it's your attention they're after, once they're settled onto their mat or bed, calmly reach down and give them a gentle fuss as a reward for not jumping up.

Be consistent

If you have a puppy that is 'sofa surfing' and using your sofa as a spring board whilst they're doing the 'death wall around the lounge' moment during their zoomies or jumping up without being invited, you are best setting some boundaries first.

Your puppy isn't choosing to be 'naughty', they are trying to negotiate around our human world and work out what's considered 'right' or 'wrong' or how I like to put it 'wanted or appropriate ' versus 'unwanted or inappropriate' behaviours.

We need to be showing our puppies everything they're getting right, not telling them constantly what they're getting wrong!! If you're only interacting with your puppy once they've jumped on the sofa, you're giving them the attention at the wrong time, so inadvertently reinforcing the wrong behaviour!

Praise, mark and reinforce your puppy when they're sitting or lying down quietly and for not jumping on the sofa. You're now interacting with your puppy when they're doing the right behaviour and reinforcing the behaviour you want them to repeat!!

So consistency is key.

If your puppy jumps up uninvited, don't allow them to stay on the sofa. You really need to set consistent boundaries, otherwise it will be more confusing to your puppy and because jumping onto the sofa unannounced 'might' work, they'll be more likely to keep trying.

Use the cue 'off' when all of their four paws are back on terra ferma and this will teach them that 'off' means they need to be on the floor, not jumping on a sofa (or you for that matter!)

When they are back on the floor after the 'off' cue, time for your marker word 'yessssss'. And redirect them onto their mat or bed!!

Once they understand the boundaries and are being consistent in waiting to be 'asked' before getting onto the sofa, then you can use the cue 'up' as you allow them up on the sofa for that extra special snuggle!!