Keeping Labrador Off The Couch?

[persephone]

it sounds as if the Lab is having FUN .. people move and make noise and push at him as he gallumphs onto the couch ... he enjoys it very much, perhaps ;)

SO >>>>>

get him his own chair/beanbag/raised bed ..and when he's on it , that is where he gets cuddles ..where he gets his denta bone or treat dispenser :) make his bed FUN ..not punishment , so he gets into the habit :)

[suziwong66]

i have two labs and they have their places in the sitting room where they are to sit but they are also allowed on the lounge when invited. Yes, labs have a shocking time settling down when they're first allowed up but if you train and heavily reward they do learn to sit down. We have the same rules with the beds; i don't allow either dog up on my bed unless it's sheet changing day and then they will be invited up...again, lots of rewarding as soon as they sit/laydown. Miss23 allows our bitch up to sleep each night until i go to bed and then i put our bitch in her crate for the night. Again, Laikey has to invited up on to the bed every single time. She is trained to sit & wait nicely until miss23 is comfortable in bed and then she'll be invited up. If she mucks around, she loses her privileges and comes back into the sitting room until crate bed time. Her sleeping with mis23 is only a recent thing as she had not earned that and we still had to train her to be calm when up there. Sometimes she forgets and gets all silly but we're always on the ready, to reward to good behaviour.

We tether them to my lounge chair when they are young so they don't wander. They are rewarded for good behaviours. They have to earn their freedom and we train toward that goal. Our 4yo boy Wilbur has full freedom but Laikey, at 17 months old is still sometimes tethered to my chair eg when she's in season or not settling quickly. I also mat train my dogs very early as I like to take them to cafe's etc and I believe they need something to do eg. sit on their mat, rather than just take them and expect them to know how to behave as i want. There is a mat beside my lounge chair where a pup first learns to be in our sitting room. I make sure to move the mat about so the dogs know that no matter where the mat is, they are expected to sit on it. I also have another mat in the kitchen; they are expected to sit on that mat and wait for instruction - when i'm getting their dinner ready, if they move from the mat, i turn into a statue; i don't move unless two brown bums are on the mat. I do so much mat training, they auto sit on the bathroom mat when i go into the bathroom

If you don't want your pup on the lounge at all, you'll still need to train it to sit nicely where you designate and tethering can help you achieve that. I believe you can have the best of both worlds like we do but again, you'll have to train for the outcome you want.

Life with crazy labs is crazy but it's crazy wonderful

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I would definitely do what blink blink says - dog won't settle, stay in place, dog goes on lead and is put where I want the dog. If dog can behave, I take the lead off.

If I was really peeved - dog would go in crate so dog can't get joy from undesirable behaviour.

[karen15]

Suzi, my little westie puppy was mat trained. Every time I went for a shower I'd look out to see the bath mat disappearing behind a little white puppy blur LOL he thought it was a great game. The mat was perfectly safe any other time.

I keep reading comments westies are hard to train. He's different to a staffy but is learning very nicely. He's a sensitive little soul, which he covers very convincingly with a lot of front. I'm besotted with him. I did a lot of research before choosing my next dog, and could not be happier.

[Erny]

Using a leash, or using a crate (to which a dog should be crate trained first) is merely an aid to teaching your dog what you want. It does not have to be considered as a life-long measure (as that would not equate with "training") but simply as a benign way of teaching your dog what you do want whilst also preventing the habit of his history of learnt behaviour.

[Blackdog10]

Thank you. I've persisted with the tethering when he goes crazy and jumping all over me. I've also blocked off part of the couch so only one part is accessible for us to sit on. He generally lays down on his mat when he's tethered but every couple of times he barks so loudly at us it's scary. We ignore it, sometimes one minute sonstimes 5 and then he lays down and after a few minutes of that I untie him and he stays there and goes to sleep the rest of the night until we go to bed then he's racing to the door to go outside & in his crate.

And yeah he loves it outside to the point he now sleeps out there despite me trying to make a really comfy place for him inside so you're probably right about me rewarding the wrong behaviour.

Oh and he gets two walks a day or a walk & dog park, plus games of frisbee and soccer or fetch incorporate a bit of training with treats in there for stimulation.

Still haven't mastered the no craziness on the couch but persisting with this and hopefully one day he'll sort himself out.

[persephone]

:) to me it seems the proportions of fun /training are lopsided ;)

learning/training ...when you are out & about - do several 5 -10 minute sessions , with frisbee etc as a REWARD ;)