Whose Settee?

[Nicky Co.]

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We have just the one settee, and Skipper is allowed on it on the understanding he moves when myself and my husband want to sit down, although he can then sit in between us if he wants to. He has a bed in the kitchen and one on the landing, but at night when we go up to bed he tends to get on the settee to sleep.

The problem is I go to bed before my husband, and if my husband goes to sit on the settee at night when Skipper is tired he'll growl at him. He gets told off and moved, but last night as well as growling he gave a quick bark and snapped at my husband, which took us by suprise.

At that point we decided it had gone too far and took him into the kitchen and settled him on his bed in there, putting the stairgate across the kitchen door until morning. I'm wondering if the best way to deal with this is to settle him in the kitchen at 10.30pm every night, so once he is tired and likely so growl/snap, he is in his own space.

Is this the right way to deal with it do you think? Do we only allow him on the settee during the day, or should we allow it until a certain time in the evening, as he is usually fine until it starts getting late?

Nicky

 

[LasVegasNo1]

Personally I wouldn't allow him on the furniture at all, our Whippet Alfie has never been allowed on the furniture and it hasn't done him any harm! :- " That doesn't mean don't invite him up for cuddles etc just don't allow him free access to the sofa on his own etc, although saying that it may be hard now as your Whippy is used to being allowed on the sofa on his own?... :sweating:

 

[hely]

i would agree, i wouldnt let him on the sofa at all..gypsy is allowed on the sofa, but only one of them and she knows she has to sit on her blanket on there!

we have no problems removing her if needed.

sounds like skipper is thinking he's in charge at your house, and maybe needs to be brought down a peg or two (this is just my opinion)

how about putting a blanket or cushion on the floor near you for skipper to lie on?

good luck :luck:

p.s...this is just how i would deal with the situation...im not saying its the right way :thumbsup:

 

[urchin]

Hi nicky

it sounds like Skipper thinks the ranking in your house runs; You, Him, Hubby ..... so while you are there he is prepared to give way, but when you're gone he controls the sofa.

My suggestions here would definitely be about re-ordering the pack.

Look at:

who feeds Skipper at the minute, and what order does the family eat in?

Aim for all family members eating before he does; let him watch you eat but don't tease him with it. Then get hubby to feed Skipper.

If you weren't planning on having a meal yourselves, then token eating works just as well - get hubby to put out Skippers food then place a saucer on top of it in his bowl. Everyone in the family needs to eat a biscuit/cracker or whatever 'out of his bowl' before he can have his (be prepared for him to look at you as if you are completely nuts though!)

Other areas to work on are about who walks through doors first and what happens when you and hubby greet Skipper when you get in.

I did a lot of work with Digit around this last year, which really paid off..........it's hard work and you have to be consistent, but IMO if Skipper thinks its ok to snap at hubby now, you could well be in for some fairly serious dominance problems down the line unless you get on top of this.

good luck :luck:

 

[hely]

we always eat before gypsy, she is a real piggy and has stolen food of our plates in the past, she now knows that we are more important than her, and this comes across in other ways in the house...just as urchin said...we go in and out the house first and she now waits at the back gate until we say she can come in

she even waits until we tell her she can get in/ out the car now :thumbsup:

it has worked very well for us as she didnt have any manners when she came to us

(have had her since april) it has been lots of hard work, but we realised if we let her do wants she wants, she will try and run the house. :thumbsup:

 

[Nicky Co.]

I always presumed my husband would be viewed as the alpha, it never occured to me it could be me!

I'm usually the one that feeds him, especially in the morning, as I get up early and take him for his walk before my husband gets up. I always eat my breakfast before I give him his, but husband doesn't eat breakfast, so again Skipper has his before hubby is even up and around. Skipper then has his evening meal at around 6, and we don't tend to get round to cooking our dinner until 8.30, but my husband often gives me me mine to start while he is dishing his up which may not be helping. I do sometimes have a slice of toast just before giving him his dinner, which sounds like a good thing, but we'll try both of us token eating and see how it goes.

We usually go on our evening walk as a family, although Skipper usually goes through doors and gates first, which hadn't occured to us, so we'll make sure we don't do that any more as well!

I think the new rule will need to be Skipper can go on the settee if we are out as he is used to it and we can't stop him if we're not there without restricting him to the kitchen/conservatory. However, when we get home, he'll be back on the hearth rug, which is where he is most nights anyway, as he can't spread out as much as he'd like with us both on the settee, so usually gets down after half an hour!

 

[hely]

good luck, im sure he will figure it out soon :luck:

 

[Janimal]

Good luck with him. :luck:

I know my dog instructer at the dogs class, I can remember him saying its all well and good letting dogs on sofas and beds....but when you have problems like this, then this is when the trouble starts. Definitely sounds like hes being dominant and it needs nipping in the bud early before things get out of hand.

PS ...mine get on the sofa too....but must admit I havnt had a problem with any of them growling when I tell them to get off. Maybe best not to start in the first place.

 

[alfie]

It sounds to me as if he's possibly been rewarded for snapping at your OH (i.e. he's backed off and let him keep the sofa to himself) and has learned very quickly that this is how he can get his own way!

I would suggest keeping a light lead attached to his collar at the times when you think this may happen. When you tell him to move, if he growls or snaps, REMOVE HIM from the sofa using the lead. No need to do this roughly, or shout at him or anything, just remove him firmly and sit down, ignoring him. This way, there is no way he can bite you, since you do not need to hold the lead close to him, but he will quickly realise that you can remove him from where-ever he is, and he can't do anything about it! :thumbsup:

This usually stops sofa-guarding very quickly- I suggested this to a friend with a Jack Russell who had the whole household held to ransom- they couldn't get him to go in his bed, come away from the window or even go upstairs if he didn't want them to! :blink:

As soon as they put the trailing lead on him around the house, and used this method a couple of times, he literally became a little angel o and no more problems :thumbsup:

Hope this helps- good luck.

Liz and the Monellis

 

[FeeFee]

Yes I'd go along with Alfie, I've only ever had one dog object to being moved off the sofa, and the trailing lead method sorted it out pretty quickly.

You could also try combining it with an 'off' command and praise/reward when he does get off (even though he has no choice :- " ). Clicker training works really well for this.

 

[Nicky Co.]

Thanks, that sounds a great idea, we'll try with the lead. We also started tonight making sure we go through doorways first, and both ate biscuits from the top of his bowl before giving it to him - hopefully he'll get the idea.

Do you think we should still try the putting him in the kitchen at a set time with the baby gate idea, or wait and see how it goes?

Nicky

 

[alfie]

Sorry, meant to reply earlier!

I would try the eating first, trailing lead etc first and see how you go. Often even small changes to how you behave around him can make a big difference :thumbsup:

As long as he knows what you will and won't allow, and you are both clear about what you expect from him, he should get the idea pretty quickly! :thumbsup:

Good luck :luck:

Liz and the Monellis

 

[JAX]

Some good advice youve been given )

Mine all go on the furniture and a couple of times Montee and Harvee ( must be a boy thing ) have grumbled at Phil when hes gone to move them off so he can sit down , Now obviously he dosnt stand any nonsence :wacko: , but I only have to go over to where I want to sit , and even before ive looked at whichever dog is there they have moved off :thumbsup: so I must be alpha in our house :- "

Hope OH dosnt see this or he will be well upset :lol:

 

[Nicky Co.]

Well we've been keeping him off the settee when we're home, and we've been making a real effort to make sure we go through doors and gates before him, although its tricky!

He did jump up on the settee last night when I popped into the kitchen to fetch something, and I got a quick growl when I tried to get him down, so clipped on the lead and took him into the other room and settled him on his bed with no problems. I guess these things can take a little time, and he wasn't aggressive, just leave me alone I'm comfy, but I still want to nip it in the bud.

We've also been trying to get him into the habit of sleeping in the kitchen on his bed instead of on the settee at night, but obviously we're having to do this with the stairgate and its taking a little time to adjust, as he whines a little at first when the gate goes up and I feel cruel, but he soon settles and goes back to sleep.

I knew having a dog for the first time would be a steep learning curve, so hopefully with a bit of patience everything will settle down again. He has his first assessment with the dog trainer a week tomorrow, which I'm hoping will also be helpful. Once he's settled and we've got a bit further with his training, we'd still like to take on a second rescue, so he has a friend, and we've been advised a female would be best, although I know that will be a little way down the line.

Nicky

 

[alfie]

Hi Nicky,

I'm glad you are beginning to get some results with him- just one thing I would say is it's best to leave the lead attached to his collar at all times ( except when you're not with him of course :thumbsup: )

If you have to get the lead and clip it on him to get him to move when he growls, by the time you've done that, the moment is gone. You need to get him off immediately so he understands that the consequence of him growling at you is that he is unceremoniously (is that a word? :blink: ) removed from the sofa

Hope this helps :luck:

Liz and the Monellis

 

[Seraphina]

Once one of my dogs growled at me, i grabbed her by scruff of her neck and gave firm little shake, with stern warning. That is the way bitch deals with wayward pups. Anyway, my girl was only about 4 months old, and after being told of, she never growled again at anybody.

 

[HopeRosie]

The problem with a house line is if they think its a new plaything that they can take everywhere with them - and just sit down and proceed to chew the whole length of it, or try and stuff the majority of it in their mouth in a nanosecond! - speaking from personal experience here... :- "

 

[Nicky Co.]

Hi Nicky,I'm glad you are beginning to get some results with him- just one thing I would say is it's best to leave the lead attached to his collar at all times ( except when you're not with him of course :thumbsup: )

If you have to get the lead and clip it on him to get him to move when he growls, by the time you've done that, the moment is gone. You need to get him off immediately so he understands that the consequence of him growling at you is that he is unceremoniously (is that a word? :blink: ) removed from the sofa

Hope this helps :luck:

Liz and the Monellis

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

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Thanks, the problem is we did do this at first, but we got a little worried as he tripped over it once, and he has a habit of running up and down the stairs at speed - we were worried if he did that with the trailing lead he may come a cropper!

He didn't attempt to jump up on the settee last night, although he did stand next to it with his nose to it as he does when he wants to. I said no and he just curled up at my feet straight away. And last night he went straight to his bed in the kitchen and went to sleep with no fuss or whining at all, so I think hes getting used to that too!

Nicky

 

[jezza]

We used a long line on Lenny to stop him barking at anyone/thing moving outside the window. He would stand there barking for ages, being downright annoying! We got a line from Pets@home but chopped it quite short (about 50cms or so). Yes he did enjoy chewing it :angry: but he never tripped over as it wasn't long enough.

It just needs to be long enough so that your not actually grabbing his collar because they can become sensitive to this, then you might have problems getting him back on his lead after exercise.

If Skipper is a nervous dog I wouldn't scruff him or shake him as that might make him worse. Lenny is a quivering wreck if I even raise my voice at him, so I can't imagine how scared he'd be if I did something like that

 

[imperative]

Good advice here.

Still prefer using a crate for dogs to have a down time, it acts as their sanctuary and bedroom.Keeps them safe and secure when we go out.

Alfie our new dog is a long haired chihuahua and boy can he snap and growl! He wont snap at hubby,paris or me just other dogs.The whippets "laugh" at him! Scarlett uses her ball to demonstrate what she could easily do to his head!Leo is going blind ,so doest care!And the cat ..............well :- " she chases him if he growls at her.

Alfie came to us aged 9 months and will want lots of work.The advice here is very good.Thanks xx :cheers: