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I've always been of the opinion that if you're going to have a dog it should be allowed on the furniture. yes, there was hair and issues and whatever... but I just like having my pup up there with me and I'm not that concerned about keeping a perfect house.
but.
FI and I just moved (yay!! our first house!!) and bought a brand new (pretty expensive) sectional for our living room. We really hope to entertain more and we're scared that if we let the dog on the furniture it'll be impossible to get the hair off and when ppl come over they'll be hairy. So for the last few days we've not let the dog on the couch. But I feel SO guilty!! I get down on the floor and play with him but its not really the same. We are still letting him on the bed because we can just wash sheets and such... although I actually feel bad about that too because he's a corgi and he really shouldn't be jumping off of something so high (I have tried pet steps and he refuses to use them.) So basically I'm a mess. I feel guilty for not letting him on the couch and I feel guilty for allowing him on the bed.
So I put it to the hive. Do you let your dog on the couch? On the bed? Both?
Charlie (our Newfoundland dog) is 140 lbs, so he takes up a large chunk of space - he is not allowed on the couches (there just wouldn't be room along with us for his to share the space, so it is just no all the time) ... but he is allowed on the bed when INVITED (usually just on the weekends, for a bit in the morning before we get moving, or when one of us gets up before the other, he will snuggle with whoever is left in bed).
He is not allowed to "invite himself" up on the bed - one of us has to direct him.
We plan to let him on the family room couch but not the super nice one! I'm not sure how we're going to acheive this though...
If it is a small dog, I would allow it on both. If it is medium dog, I would allow it on the couch only, and if it is a big dog, I would not allow it on either. However, when you are gone, any size dog is probably going to go where they want. If you allow your dog on the furniture, I suggest laying down a blanket. It will protect your furniture and be easier to wash. You can also vacuumn the area or use a lint brush.
We had two Shi-tzu's and they had total access to all the furniture in the house. We don't have them anymore because they got old and passed away.
We let our dog on both. He sheds A LOT, and to be honest, our bedspread is always coated in hair and it drives me nuts. But we love letting him cuddle with us in bed, so we don't have the heart to kick him off.
We also let him on our (white) couch all the time, and we actually never even notice any hair on it!!! I don't know why, but the hair just doesn't stick to our couch at all!
We have 2 dogs that dont shed that are allowed on the couch and bed. The other dog sheds like crazy and Im allergic to his hair, so no couch or bed for him lol
@ms mini - does that actually work? the invited thing?? We were thinking of letting him on the couch when invited bc then we could just lay a blanket down and hang with him. but i worried about mixed signals.
Melvin, my mini poodle, is allowed on the couch and bed. Luckily poodles don't shed so that's not an issue. :) He's also 12 lbs, so he doesn't take up much room at all.
My friend's dog, Jackson, is only allowed up when invited. It seems to work pretty well for him, and he learned quickly that he's not allowed to just jump up on the furniture whenever he wants. :)
We have a lhasa apso, so no shedding. Also our cat, rarely jumps on the couch or bed. If I had a dog that shed.. IDK.. I'd probably still allow but they'd have a blanket or something.
I was just thinking about this question last night. We used to let our dog on our bed but now we don't. As for our couch, it's not an expensive couch, actually it's a really cheap couch that was a hand me down, so we don't care if she goes on it. But once we get rid of that one and get a new couch, she won't be able to go on the couch either.
I also, got two dog beds for her. One near the couch and one near our bed. Maybe you won't feel guilty if she has her own little spot.
Our dog sheds a LOT. So, we don't let her on the couch. It's bad enough with 2 cats :) She has her own bed though, and she never tried to jump up on the couch unless you invite her. (although in the picture, she is on the couch, so i contradict myself lol).
She's part corgi, so she's not able to jump up on our bed with her lil legs! She's more than welcome on our guest room bed though, it's much lower to the ground :)
Luke, our 60 lb Catahoula dog isn't allowed on our bed or the couch. So we got him his own comfy bed and he loves that. He always puts his paws up on our bed and makes us feel guilty, but that's about as far as he goes with that.
Does he have his own bed? Maybe you could try that and put it right next to the couch so he doesn't feel left out and he has his own comfy space.
<3
Our Golden sleeps at night on our bed but goes on NONE of the other furniture. Given his breed/temperment, this was a really easy thing to teach him - but I can imagine for others it might be difficult to teach one without the other.
I only began letting him on the bed because my FI is gone a lot for hunting and he keeps me warm and comfy next to me when I sleep alone. So I did it out of my own selfish reasons.
Lots of people don't care for dogs in beds - to each their own. We jsut wash our coverlet weekly and don't have much issue since he sleeps by our feet.
@Miss Chocolate - My parents have a Catahoula :)
I have bought two different beds for him and he refuses to use them!! I tried different tricks like putting them where he already lays, me laying on it for a few hours while watching tv so it smells like me, covering it in a sheet... he knows its for DOGS and wants no part of it. lol
My dog really likes to lay on our bed pillows on the ground. Have you tried that? It's not technically for a dog... so maybe he'd like it??
@christalynn11- He is the BEST dog I have ever had... he's such a sweet spirited dog. I just love him to pieces!!! :]
@Corgitales
At first, my dog would not go on her dog beds. I was so pissed that I found those beds for her and she wouldn't use them.
I don't know when she started using them but here it is a year later, and she's using them. Maybe you need to get the "new car smell" off them. lol
lol. Corgi, we got our girl a doggie bed, but she'd only use it if we put it on the couch. lol.
That being sai, we let the dog on both. She's only 10ish pounds, though. A bigger dog would be a no on the couch, but I like to sleep with the animals because FI works at night.
@ Corgi - it does work to only let him up when invited. He tried a couple times to get up uninvited and we tossed him off (which as you can imagine is a feat to toss a 140 lb dog off the bed) ... He just knows the rules.
Hm... we might have to try this invited only thing and see how it works for us. I hate to be inconsistent with him but I just love having him on the couch with me!
Honestly we did the same thing when we got new furniture.... but 3 years down the line he is allowed on the couch all the time now! It didn't take that long either... maybe a few months and he was back up here!!!!!!!!!
Bad Mommy! But I am the same as you and love having him on the couch!
Our dog is allowed on both the couch and the bed. We bought a new couch and I tried so hard to keep her off but I end up feeling so bad. She didn't know what she did wrong and just wanted to snuggle. So we gave in and shes allowed up there. Thankfully we get a Dyson last xmas and that thing is AMAZING with pet hair. Its like she was never up there. :)
Yes to both! But invitation only...
It's so funny... When we first got our pup, FI was adament that she would not be on any furniture. I'm a lot more lax about it and he would get annoyed when I had her up with me. BUT, as soon as she got spayed, the guilt set it, and now she's on the bed and couch all the time. But like I said... Invitation only!
my ex's parents have cats and their cats are allowed on furniture, despite the excessive fur, haha. They have blankets that cover the furniture all the time, and they take them off just when company is over, at which time the cats aren't allowed on the furniture. The cats are pretty adept at understanding that they're allowed on the blanket but not the couch. :)
i used to let our dog on the bed. before i was around, he wasn't allowed on, and he just became a pain when it became bed time (he's too big so he doesn't fit with both of us on the bed too) and he wouldn't want to get off the bed, so we had to stop letting him on the bed altogether.
he's a spoiled brat when it comes to the couch. we have two couches and if my fi and i are both laying on the couches, he will sit and stare at us until we move our legs and let him up. it's leather though, so if he sheds it doesn't stick.
We let the dog on both the couch and the bed. She has been with me since I lived at home and when it was just her and me she always cuddled with me. When FI and I moved in he tried to put a stop to that but she would sneak up onto the bed after she kne we were asleep. (she's smart, what can I say). As for the couch, she's allowed free range when we're gone so she always gets on the couch. She's also not too big so she sits with us when we watch TV. The hair on the couch isn't too bad, we use the Pledge Fabric Sweeper before people come over and that with the vacuum usually gets all the hair off.
No dog on the couch. Our dog is black and our couch is beige. I felt bad for while since it's hard to hang out with him when he's on a different level, but he got in the habit of dragging his little doggie rug over to the living area when we're sitting there and just curling up on it.
Bed is fine though. He sleeps with us. And most of the day and evening.
Neither! I do not allow the dogs on either! I know when I go over to other's homes I do not like their dogs to be all in my face especially if I am dressed nicely so I think it is easier just to keep the dogs off of the couch all together. As far as dogs on the bed goes - 1 of our dogs weighs 120 and one ways 80 so if both of them are in the bed then we cannot be in the bed. We actually don't allow them in the bedroom at night period. I am a light sleeper and I just prefer the dogs to sleep in their own bed. But I am not so heartless (I promise!) the dogs have the entire backroom of the house to themselves!
My opinion is that it is easier to never allow bad habits to form than to have to break bad habits.
We let the pets everywhere we are. At any given time we usually have one cuddling with each of us. I have the fantastic Dyson pet vac, and I usually throw an old sheet over the couches for the dog- he is a big time shedder. That way when we have people over, we just pull the sheets off and voila- clean couch! I try to use the Furminator brush on everyone a couple times a week too. And a dog bath every few weeks helps a ton!
We let our 70-pound Husky hang out wherever he wants! True, he sheds like crazy, but having our puppy near us is worth having to keep lint rollers in every bathroom, car, and desk drawer!
IMG_1373small.jpg (56.2 KB, 40 downloads) 2 years old 
@Colette: That's so cute! Husky is my favorite breed.
We don't have a dog yet, but I grew up with a dog who was not allowed on the furniture, and I liked it that way. I hope to do the same when we have one.
We let our Silky Terrier go wherever he wants. Fortunately for us, he doesn't shed, so there's barely any clean-up required.
I'm with Ms. Mini- never the couch, the bed when invited, which is rare. I like having "human" space with no hair.
Growing up we had a retreiver. She wasn't allowed to in either. Much like laural described - she wasn't allowed in a number of rooms in the house & she was a good dog for the most part. The couches in the den got pretty messy though but my parents put slipcovers on them and we'd wash them every week.
Try Sure Fit - I have a couple different covers because try as I might I can't really keep the cat off the couch. They sell them cheaper at BB&B, Marshalls and other stores too:
www.surefit.net
There's also those new furniture protectors, I saw them at BB&B too. You could just remove them when you have company over:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=121149
for us - we have two dogs - a pug who is only 25 pounds and a golden retreiver/golden lab mix who is over 70 pounds. the pug is allowed on all of the furniture the golden is not. mainly it's a size thing. :)
now, when we're in the basement, the golden can get up on the futon - but she doesn't because she knows she's not allowed on the future.
haha my boyfriend was a "no dogs in the house" type of guy when I met him, he even had his cats trained to not go on the furniture!
Well, I was here hanging out and his cat was on the couch... a few months into our relationship the cats were allowed anywhere, then we got Blue (who needs to be an inside dog because of his light skin, which I kind of milk so Jason lets him stay inside more!)... Well Blue was in the house a whole... THIRTY MINUTES?! and he was on the couch... and who was the first one to let him on the bed? You guessed it.. Jason! haha He is such a softie.
He even bought him a heater for his bedroom because the cat door has a draft and he was worried about him being cold! haha he's so cute!
aw... i kind of feel like we need to just get over it and let him on the couch haha. at least by invitation. I'll be religious about vacuuming it and if it seems like the hair is sticking then maybe we'll just have to keep sheets on it when we dont have guests over.
up until hubs and moved in together my dog had been allowed on all furniture. He had major issues with her sleeping on his pillow so she is no longer allowed on the bed at all. At first I felt horrible, now a year later I realize it was actually a blessing that we took that battle on when we did. She is almost 10 years old and starting to have some hip issues when she jumps so her not jumping up and down from the bed is better for her hips. Now if she'd only realize that she shouldn't try to jump off the back of the sofa! Anyway...I think it's possible to retrain them and I think it was harder on me mentally/emotionally than it ever was for her! :)
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