Paw Pals Pet Sitting

Dog Walking & Pet Sitting in Northern VA

(703) 345-1695
Schedule Our Services
  • About Us
    • Client Reviews
    • Common Questions
    • Team Bios
    • Join Our Team
    • Who We Support
  • Pricing
    • Dog Walking
    • Dog Sitting
    • Cat Sitting
    • Pet Sitting
    • Additional Services
    • Holiday Fee Service Schedule
  • Policies
  • Dog Sitting
    • Areas Served
      • Centreville, VA
      • Chantilly, VA
      • Clifton, VA
      • Fairfax Lakes, VA
      • Fairfax Oaks, VA
      • Fairfax Station, VA
      • Fairfax, VA
      • Manassas ,VA
      • Oakton, VA
      • Reston, VA
      • Vienna, VA
  • Dog Walking
  • Cat Sitting
    • Areas Served
      • Centreville, VA
      • Chantilly, VA
      • Clifton, VA
      • Fair Lakes, VA
      • Fairfax Station, VA
      • Fairfax, VA
      • Manassas, VA
      • Oakton, VA
      • Reston, VA
      • Vienna, VA
  • Pet Sitting
    • Areas Served
      • Centreville, VA
      • Chantilly, VA
      • Clifton, VA
      • Fair Lakes, VA
      • Fair Oaks, VA
      • Fairfax Station, VA
      • Fairfax, VA
      • Manassas, VA
      • Oakton, VA
      • Reston, VA
      • Vienna, VA
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

How to Train Your Dog to Stay off the Furniture

September 8, 2017 by Mary Telesz

pets on furnitureYou’ve been away at work all day. Your partner works full time too. You arrive home first to a livingroom adorned with piles of fluff or foam. You look over in the corner and examine what’s left of a couch. The misshapen thing that remains is lumpy and chewed all over.

Taking a deep breath, you go and look for the culprit, who looks up at you with those puppy dog eyes then looks down miserably. You try to stop the smile from appearing on the corners of your mouth and point your finger sternly with your eyebrows in super angry mode. Your dog looks down and blinks. They look as if they’re about to cry.

As cute as this scenario is, replacing furniture is costly and stressful; particularly if you have to do it every other week! Unless you’re a millionaire, chances are that you don’t have thousands of dollars to spare every month just to cater for your dog’s furniture chewing whims. Even if your dog is well-behaved and eating microfiber isn’t their thing, you still have to deal with vacuuming the couch six times a week to remove the stubborn hairs from the twill pattern.

Life is too short for having to obsessively clean or browse furniture stores every weekend. All of this stress can be avoided by simply learning how to train your dog to stay off the furniture:

Train Your Dog to Stay off the Furniture

If you’ve owned a dog for years and have simply given up on disciplining him or her when they jump up on the couch, you won’t want to hear this first tip:

Never Allow Them on the Furniture as Puppies

pets on furnitureI’m sure you’re slapping your forehead at this insightful piece of advice. Unfortunately, the best way of training your dog to stay off the furniture is to never let them on it to begin with! It can be extremely difficult to reprimand an adorable puppy just for trying to be near you on the couch, but early behavior quickly develops into lifelong habits. Training them out of bad behavior is much more difficult than teaching them good behavior, and the foundations are laid during your pup’s first few months in the house. If the time for puppy training has passed, don’t fear! All is not lost. You can still train them out of their furniture-mounting antics by simply following these next easy tips:

Obstruction

If you and your partner are out of the house regularly and don’t expect to be around during the day to discipline your dog every time they jump on the furniture, there is still a genius way to train them out of it. Obstruction is the key. Simply block the furniture in some way so they can’t get on it!

Now, it’s not realistic to expect you to have to rearrange your living room every morning before you go to work. Luckily, there’s a much easier way. All you have to do is select an object that is light enough for you to put on the furniture easily every day. A great example is a laundry basket, especially the lightweight plastic ones. When you obstruct their path to comfort, they’ll soon learn it’s not a feasible option and will give up on trying to get onto the furniture.

Caught in the Act

Any opportunity you get to actually catch your dog in the act is a thousand times more effective at training your dog than simply arriving after the fact. So, even though it’s a Saturday evening and you’re curled up on the couch, don’t let the dog up. When you’re lounging around on the weekends and want to snuggle with your furry friend, you can’t expect them to suddenly want to lie down on the floor when you’re at work. With regards to any type of dog training, consistency is key.

Be a Good Dog Owner

pets on furnitureIf you want to know how to be a good dog owner, remember these three words: care, affection, and discipline. Any good dog owner has a well-rounded balance of these three things with regards to how they look after their dog. The care aspect has everything to do with the dog’s overall health and comfort: taking them to the vets for a check-up, getting their nails clipped, grooming them, and dosing appropriate medication correctly.

Affection represents how much you show your dog you love them. A good dog owner will shower them with love and treat them like a family member. A neglectful dog owner will do things like leave them on a chain outside all day, or leave them to get cold and wet out in the rain even if they don’t have a kennel. It’s funny, because we’re discussing how to train your dog to stay off the furniture, but some pet owners are so obsessed with keeping their house immaculate their dog suffers.

If you’re so consumed with trying to keep your dog off the furniture that you never let them in the house, for example, you need to work on the affection aspect of your dog ownership.

Discipline is often the most difficult aspect of training, but is also the most rewarding. If you don’t discipline your dog they never learn to heed your commands and will not learn acceptable behavior. As long as discipline is balanced with the other two aspects, you will have a happy and obedient canine. If you exercise discipline but neglect care or affection, you will own a very skittish and nervous dog who does not have a good quality of life.

So remember: training your dog to stay off the furniture might be important to you, but don’t neglect the other aspects of being a good dog owner.

Other Easy Tricks and Skills to Teach

You know the saying ‘a one trick pony’? No one wants a one trick pony, and you sure don’t want a one trick dog either. Here are some other tricks and skills you can teach your dog:

Crate Train a Puppy

Crate training a puppy is where it all begins. Crating should never be used as a punishment, however. Here at Pawpals we believe in positive reinforcement training techniques. Making a crate comfortable and filled with their favorite toys and blankets will guide you on your way to crate training a puppy.

Walking on a Leash

Learning how to walk your dog on a leash can be a challenge for many dog owners. This is particularly true if you own an energetic breed that loves to rush ahead and pull you along with them. Rewarding your dog when they obey your command and using the same walking gear consistently will make walks a pleasure.

Stay

Teaching your dog to stay is one of the trickier commands, because one-on-one time makes them really happy and playful and it can be difficult to stay in serious mode. Have you ever tried to teach your dog to stay and just want to explode in laughter when you see their tail wagging furiously? Emotional resilience and consistent rewards for good behavior will help you teach your dog this command.

Heel

Teaching a dog to heel is useful in a number of situations. For example, if you’re out walking your dog and it becomes necessary to cross a busy road, telling them to heel while you assess the traffic will make crossing much safer. The heel command also comes in handy when you encounter other dogs or people on your walk and you are not sure how your dog will react. Your dog reads your vibes, so if you’re a nervous person your anxiety can rub off on them in social situations. The best way to teach a dog to heel is to be confident and authoritative. Your dog wants to obey you, but they learn best from an owner who isn’t a bundle of nerves.

Filed Under: Pet Training

Contact Paw Pals for More Information

Paw Pals specializes in professional dog walking, dog sitting, and pet sitting services. One of our reliable, adult staff members will keep your pet safe, while providing your pet the love and care they need when you are away. Contact us to learn more!

Have a question?

Send us a message and we'll get back to you in a timely manner.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Certifications & Associations

PetTech-logo

PUPS-logo

KennelPro

Northern Virginia Magazine - Best Pet Care 2019 Award

 2020 Best Pet Care Award

Powered By

Pet Sitter Plus logo

Office Location

Paw Pals Pet Sitting, LLC
14001-C Saint Germain Drive #213
Centreville, VA 20121
(703) 345-1695

professional dog walking software

Office Hours

Monday
9am - 5pm
Tuesday
9am - 5pm
Wednesday
9am - 5pm
Thursday
9am - 5pm
Friday
9am - 5pm
Saturday
Closed
Sunday
Closed

Areas Served

Centreville – 20120, 20121
Chantilly – 22151
Clifton – 20124
Fairfax – 22030, 22033
Fairfax Station – 22039
Manassas – 20109, 20110, 20111
Reston – 20191, 20190

Google Rating
5.0
Paw Pals Pet Sitting
Paw Pals Pet Sitting
5.0
Andrea Hall
Andrea Hall
22:45 03 Oct 20
I wasn't sure about hiring a new doggie walker service... after all they are our kiddos... my babies were in great hands and I felt relaxed having them in their care. Thank you for everything!
Phillip Evans
Phillip Evans
14:38 11 Jul 20
When we adopted our new dog in January, Paw Pals agreed to walk her and give her some outside time so she wasn't in the crate all day. She loved her dog walker and you could see her excitement every time the walker showed up. We moved out of the area but would recommend Paw Pals to anyone needing someone to care for their pets.
Katie Russell
Katie Russell
15:01 17 May 20
Paw Pals is fantastic! I have had a great experience with Mary! Compassionate, professional, responsive, and prompt! Thank you!
Kristin Conrad
Kristin Conrad
16:00 16 Nov 19
We are so grateful we found Mary and her team at Paw Pals. They are exceptionally responsive, amazingly organized and detail-oriented.We have such peace of mind when we travel knowing our home and pets are so well cared for. Paw Pals is the best pet sitting service we’ve used, and we’re so happy we found them.
Dr Tammy Cashion
Dr Tammy Cashion
21:11 12 Mar 19
We have used Paw pals pet sitting on multiple occasions for our bunnies while we are away. Many pet sitters are not interested in small pets however; Mary and her team, are amazing and we trust her implicitly! We are very happy with the outstanding service we have received from her team including texts and photos of our pets when we are out of town. They always go the extra mile and we highly recommend them!
Cindy Welgoss
Cindy Welgoss
13:12 27 Nov 20
We have been using Paw Pals for several years, and through a variety of pets that we have loved. Mary and her team have always been *exceptional* in every way. They are professional, courteous, and truly love our fur family! Mary herself is an organized and stellar administrator of her pet care business, keeping detailed records of our pet’s needs, scheduled pet visits, payments, and balance due easy to keep track of as the pet owner. The pet caretaking team is reliable and trustworthy. When our dogs see any of their Paw Pal friends, they get SO excited to see them! Follow up comments are left via text to keep the pet owner informed of the visit and how the pets are faring. Paw Pals has allowed our family the peace of mind to leave our pets at home, for work, weekend getaways and longer times away when necessary, where they are the most comfortable and familiar. We are grateful to Mary and her team for giving us the ability to enjoy pet ownership without feeling tied down. The responsibility of having pets comes with the need to keep them safe and comfortable at all times, and Mary and her team affords us this when our family has to be away.
See All Reviews Write a review
powered by Google

© 2021 · Paw Pals Pet Sitters, LLC · Website Design by 321 Web Marketing