# On/Off/On/



## serena (Apr 22, 2012)

Hi all, our new Viszla Ruby is 14 weeks. We are house training her and its going ok.
But she will not, and I mean WILL not stop trying to get onto the couch. I know they call these Velcro Dogs but this is ridiculous. She can spend hours getting on it, only for us to remove her with the command 'OFF', only to repeat the process over and over - we are shattered and she has won tonight.
She sleeps not only on my bed but as near to me as she can get - usually on my head if poss..
;D
Should we persevere with the off the couch training or just give in to this aspect of her personality and let her be near us...


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

That is very cute and they have a so called "puppy license" until 16 weeks. She just wants to be with you guys.
What we ended with a compromise... We moved down to his (we have a boy) level and did not allow him on the couch until he was fully house trained at about 10 months old.

We put a mattress pad (just happened to be a heated mattress pad) on floor in front of the couch. We and the dog spent hours watching TV and movies propped like that.


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Hi Serena,

I can tell you how to stop this as I do not allow my dogs on the furniture or bed. My new puppy was always jumping on the sofa or up at me. Get an empty coke can, put some pennys or little gravel stones in it and tape over the hole. When she goes to jump on the furniture give one good shake of the can and say off or whatever word you want to use.....then lots of treats.

This really works, and my puppy no longer trys to adorne my sofa, and seldom jumps up at me. However, I have tried to use the "nasty can" for something else more recently - he is standing on his hind legs trying to retrieve object from the kitchen work surfaces - when I use the nasty can for this he now wags his tail and tells me to .... off :-\ :-\ :-\ I might try an air horn or some other loud device!!

Do give the nasty can a go.


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

If you truly don't want her on the lounge, then persevere with the training. i personally like them laying on the lounge with me, so for me it's ok. 

consistency and persistence will get you there.....


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

DOG RULES

- The dog is not allowed in the house.
- Okay, the dog is allowed in the house, but only in certain rooms.
- The dog is allowed in all rooms, but has to stay off the furniture
- The dog can get on the old furniture only.
- Fine, the dog is allowed on all the furniture, but is not allowed to sleep with the humans on the bed.
- Okay, the dog is allowed on the bed, but only by invitation.
- The dog can sleep on the bed whenever he wants, but not under the covers.
- The dog can sleep under the covers by invitation only
- The dog can sleep under the covers every night.
- Humans must ask permission to sleep under the covers with the dog.

From "My Dog is the World's Best Dog" by Suzy Becker.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

threefsh, those DOG RULES are hilarious! Thanks for sharing. ;D


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## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

Oso is not allowed on the sofa. We were having the off/on/off/on saga until we started using time outs. A lot of people don't like time outs and don't recommend using the crate as the time out place. 

If we had a better timeout place, I would have used it. For us crate the worked fine. 

Initially, Oso knew the word "off" and after he jumped off, we would say good boy, but then find he'd be right back up there in a few minutes. We were actually rewarding him for jumping on and THEN jumping off, the only way he could get the reward was to first jump on. 

When we started time outs, we just pretending like him jumping on the sofa meant he wanted to go in the crate for a minute or two (just like bell means outside). When he put his feet on the sofa, we would say, "Crate!!" in a happy voice and and put him in the crate for a minute or two of no whining. At first, he cried and cried and it was probably 30 seconds of quiet before we let him out again because we didn't want to wait a minute and risk him crying some more. He probably had 4 time outs and then it was never again on the sofa.


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## serena (Apr 22, 2012)

Some great ideas there thanks! I like the nasty can idea, and as we dont have a crate I think ill try that first.
NB, I personally dont mind her on the couch, but when visitors come its not nice for them to have a dog leaping up beside them, especially if they have a hot cuppa in their hand and dont like dogs either...So its prob best that the couch is a no go zone.


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## Looney (Sep 28, 2011)

i'm not sure on this as i'd be heartbroken if my buddy wasn't next to me on the couch. i don't even sit in my pimp chair anymore just so i can be there IF he wants to hang out! He sleeps right thru the night with us, last night after a bad experience at the dog park,,, he slept right between us both! he usually sleeps at the foot of the bed all sprawled out but not this night. i love waking up to a face full of Laszlo!!! as long as it's his face not his rump!!

i don't understand why you want a dog to just keep him down or off of things. I mean i get it i just dont' "get" it. Would be like having your kid sit on the ground while you are comfy???? 

do you blame him? they just want to be in our lives and i mean IN our lives.....i personally love that. That is why i got this breed to be velcroe'd to me.


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## serena (Apr 22, 2012)

Its not that I really dont want her beside me, she does get to sleep with me, but I dont really agree with humanising a dog too much - its place is below me as far as i'm concerned, and she needs to know certain things and places are off limits to her and to see me/husband as pack leaders. A dog is a dog and shouldnt be treated as human and allowed do everything humans do, but thats my personal opinion on the matter.
My mother in law has a dog that gets full couch access, and will take over the whole thing, not very nice as I said when you sit down to have a cuppa and it gets knocked out of your hand..or other scenario is that wet dog comes in from garden..etc..you see the scenario..


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## RubyRoo (Feb 1, 2011)

Yeah...another V named Ruby on the forum. I think that makes 3 of us now naming our pup this great name 

We went back and forth on allowing our Ruby on the couch. I didn't want her on and my husband did. We compromised and gave her a spot on the couch. We have a blanket for her and she is supposed to only lay there. She does move around closer to us sometimes to but pretty good about it. When company is over we make sure she is not allowed on it and still working on that. We had our 10 month old niece on the couch yesterday and Ruby got jealous since my husband was giving the baby attention. Ruby jumped up on the couch to give my husband kisses and almost stepped on the baby....yikes.


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## Looney (Sep 28, 2011)

I can see it i just don't agree with it that's all. I think Laszlo is my little furry son *(since i HATE KIDS!!!)* and he gets to do ALMOST whatever he wants, unless i deem it not what i want.
He doesn't push his limits with me too much. I can sit on the couch and eat whatever and he'll sit about 4 feet away laying there kinda, moaning at the worst if not he just doens't care i'm eating on the couch. i taught him that i can eat there and he can't beg/or mess with me.
As far as the outside thing....if you know he's wet dry him/her off prior to entering...i mean muddy couch or muddy carpets? same thing right? We have mostly tile thank god cuz that gets dirty enuff!
i know he's a dog and he's below me but i'd put my safety aside to protect him so i guess he's more than a dog to me, he's my BEST friend and i want him to have the bestest life i can provide and that includes my comfy couch and temperpedic bed!


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## kristen (Oct 18, 2011)

We are currently teaching Odin that he needs to sit and ask to be welcomed onto the sofas and beds. If we don't want him up, he doesn't get to. We make him sit, and then invite him up (hup hup command). Alternately, if we don't want him up, he sits, then we tell him "go to your bed". It's a hard and long process. We were doing the same thing for him wanting to go in and out of doors to rooms and outside (making him sit and stay untill welcomed in). That he has grasped much quicker. 
He will still try to sneak on the sofa if we're not looking. We make him get off, then start all over. 
It's been the hardest thing for us to teach him. A puppy jumping up on your lap is cute, a 55lbs dog, not so much.


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## Suliko (Sep 17, 2011)

*threefsh*, that was us with Sophie starting with the second rule! ;D 

*serena*, just continue with the "off" training. Ruby is only 14 weeks old and has still lots of learning to do. Before my oldest V. Sophie was allowed on the couch, we actually sat there on the floor with her. She tried a few times to get on it, but since we were not on it, she didn't stay there. She just wanted to be where we are. That couch is our V-couch now haha  They are not allowed to play on it or chew bones on it.


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## Suliko (Sep 17, 2011)

*kristen*, we too taught our Sophie to wait until invited to get on the bed. She is almost two now and never jumps on the bed without an invitation. I am sure Odin will get much better as time goes on. It's a different story with our little one... Still learning!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

If you stay consistent it will happen over time.

My dogs take a nap with me on the bed during the day. We go for a run then have lunch. I then announce its nap time, They run to the bedroom and wait for me to tell them its okay to get on the bed.
Yesterday we went for a longer than normal run. Came home, had lunch, them I got side tracked with a few things. That's when I heard a moaning whimpering sound coming from the bedroom. I found sweet Lucy sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed. She was letting me know, she was tired and its nap time.


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Elza is allowed on the sofa but only if one of us is already sitting on it. She has a blanket on it but she also has a pillow in front of the sofa where she can lay and still be close to us. She only comes up if she sits before and nice and calm. No play time up there, only if she sleeps. If ever she was getting excited or playful on it we would put her down on the floor again. She barely ever jumps up herself ( she can cos I've seen it ) but if she really wants to come up sometimes just puts her front paws up and her head between them and looking at us rather cutely!!! But even then we tell her the off first, then if she sits down she can come up. 
One thing though she's not allowed on is our bed. She hasn't even been in our bedroom so she doesn't no what's in there. 

It's so nice to have your dog next to you on a cold night while you watching tv. :

I could only say the same as others. Keep pushing her off the sofa and send her to her own spot. Give her something to chew to get her distracted.


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## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

I think the blanket idea is a really good one! Therefore if company is there, you just put the blanket on the floor or remove it.

Our kitties are a bit scared of Oso and they came first.  This way, we can have a kitty in our lap and a doggy at our feet. Hubby and I like it that way. The couch is people and human territory. If a cat gets scared, it just jumps on the couch. Plus, we often snack on our sofa and having the dog there would be difficult. 

We also want Oso to be able to come with us to my mother's house and other family members' houses. If he was jumping on the sofa, that would be it. They wouldn't welcome him back. We've let Oso on the sofa 2x. Each after baths. He then crawls under the blanket with us and sleeps. Otherwise, we go on the floor or on the bed (where he is allowed) with him and cuddle. I think most people who have a no sofa rule also have some sort of comfy dog bed on the floor. The mattress in our crate is probably more comfortable than our bed - memory foam, thick and soft.


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## serena (Apr 22, 2012)

Its so easy to confuse a puppy that we want to get it right and not cause her any undue anxiety by not knowing what she is allowed and not allowed to do.. Im considering buying a crate now, even tho I dont like the idea of them, but have seen from various posts that they can be used to teach them other more things than one.
The 'sit'command was established within the first 3 days of us having her, she has only been with us under a week.
Trying really hard with the 'leave it' one though, she aint getting the hang of it..
???


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## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

Youtube has some excellent tutorials on teaching the basic commands. I used crate training for potty training. I followed Ian Dunbar's plan in After You Get Your Puppy. It's available as a free pdf and has a lot of valuable information in it. 

http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/AFTER You Get Your Puppy.pdf


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## Racer (Apr 23, 2012)

I agree with TexasRed that consistency is key. If you don't want her up there, then you need to stop her when she's starting to attempt to climb up.

Racer knows both "off" and "leave it". They mean the same thing, but each was taught differently. I'd focus on teaching either command. Then when she tries to get up, then use the command. But you need to do it the second it looks like she's about to try. And be sure to praise/reinforce when she backs off.

V's are smart, so she'll get it!


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## Linescreamer (Sep 28, 2010)

You need to train 4 times a day for 10 minutes maximum. I pesonally don't get how the dog is allowed on the bed and not on the couch.  Maybe he can't differentiate between the two. I'm sure he can be trained to do it, if you want him too. Remember, do not give a command that you will not enforce. All dogs want to be near your face - it tastes good, and they want to smell and hear your breath.


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## serena (Apr 22, 2012)

She is allowed on the bed for now..
As you say, they like your breath and smell, but every time I turn over, so does she, and tends to almost sleep right on top of me.. When she is a bit larger and older unless I can train her to stay down the bottom of it then its off im afraid.
I borrowed a crate today and we have it in the kitchen, and she went in it whilst we ate - not for discipline yet but to teach her that sometimes we are off limits.
Poor babby cried and cried but second time round she was a little better but only just.
I think 5-8 mins for now is about ok isnt it?


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