How Do You Get The Puppy Off The Couch!

[Huntia]

Hi. I have an 18 week old Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy who has in the past 2 week decided to jump on the couch all the time. I have tried to get him using positive reinforcement saying"off" and when he hops off giving him a treat . than telling him to go to his mat, and when he does giving him a treat praising him for being on the mat. but no sooner does my attention go off him than he jumps straight back on the couch and we go through the process again. Very frustrating as this can happen up to 10 times before I give up and just put him outside for a while.

It feels like we are having a game and I am rewarding him for it!!

Does any one have any suggestions?

Edited September 24, 2010 by dwyerdog

[charli73]

Can you pull him off and tell him "No!" or a firm "Ahh Ah" then tell him "bed" and reward him for goint to his bed?

Zoe used to do this at night once we went to bed (cheeky) so I put cushions and bean bags on the couch at night and she stop trying to bother getting up there now...

Edited September 24, 2010 by charli73

[zoozoo]

I know its hard to watch him 24/7 but can you stop him from getting up there in the first place? Make a loud noise or distract him when he looks like he's heading toward the couch?

[poodlefan]

Buy a crate. Teach him that the crate is his place.

[sheena]

If it is a REAL problem & nothing else works, you can buy a electronic mat which I think is probably battery operated called ScatMat. Put that on the couch & when he jumps on it he gets a couple of seconds of small unpleasant static. Handy for lots of things especially when your not around 24/7 to keep an eye on him. Good for stopping cats jumping up on kitchen benches etc. I havn't personally used one but I have found the ultrasonic hand held devises very handy.

http://www.bullwrinkle.com/scatmat/scatmat.htm

[Staranais]

Hi. I have an 18 week old Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy who has in the past 2 week decided to jump on the couch all the time. I have tried to get him using positive reinforcement saying"off" and when he hops off giving him a treat . than telling him to go to his mat, and when he does giving him a treat praising him for being on the mat. but no sooner does my attention go off him than he jumps straight back on the couch and we go through the process again. Very frustrating as this can happen up to 10 times before I give up and just put him outside for a while.

It feels like we are having a game and I am rewarding him for it!!

Does any one have any suggestions?

I would keep jumping on the couch, too, if that was what started the process of getting treats and attention from my owner.

I would personally be telling him "off" then gently but firmly pushing him off the sofa, with no treat and no attention, when he got on the sofa. And making sure he got lots of treats & attention at short random intervals whenever he was on his mat or in his crate.

When you can't supervise, I'd crate or tether if possible to stop him jumping up on the sofa.

[dancinbcs]

If it is a REAL problem & nothing else works, you can buy a electronic mat which I think is probably battery operated called ScatMat. Put that on the couch & when he jumps on it he gets a couple of seconds of small unpleasant static. Handy for lots of things especially when your not around 24/7 to keep an eye on him. Good for stopping cats jumping up on kitchen benches etc. I havn't personally used one but I have found the ultrasonic hand held devises very handy.

http://www.bullwrinkle.com/scatmat/scatmat.htm

Have never heard of these but what a brilliant idea, especially for cats. Dogs I can train but cats are another matter altogether.

With dogs I find growling at them and pushing them off the furniture works. You then need to sit on the lounge to claim it as yours. The message needs to be that the human owns the lounge and will not share with the dog.

[Huntia]

Thanks everyone for some great ideas!! i am definitely going to try some of them out to see what works for us.

[sas]

Telling 'Off' isn't positive reinforcement.

I would take the dogs collar and remove it from the couch using the amount of force it takes to remove the dog from the sofda and do it everytime it does it, it's simply testing you to see how many times it takes for you to give up.