How to stop a dog from jumping on furniture

From my recollection growing up, everybody wanted a puppy in their home! It was deemed the coolest thing ever. Now as adults, when one finally gets the dog they like, therein lies the challenges that every dog owner faces that perhaps as a child, one was not aware of.

Some will be feisty while some dogs will be jumpy. But most owners have the problem of their dogs jumping on furniture and even destroying it sometimes.

Here we list ways to help you answer the question of  how to stop a dog from jumping on furniture.

Give your dog a comfortable place to sleep:

You are laying on your couch and suddenly your dog jumps out of nowhere, dirty with all the sand and dust that he brought from outdoors. This is what most of the dog owners face every day and wonder how to stop a dog from jumping on furniture.

Most of the owners believe that it is the animalistic nature of dog to sit as high as they can find in order to dominate and feel superior in hierarchy. But the thing is your dog enjoys the comfort and coziness of your couch or bed! So, getting your dog his own personalized place that is cozy will in many ways eliminate his need to get on your comfortable sofa.

Check out our luxurious beds and cozy blankets for ideas.

Positive Reinforcement

Rewarding works effectively to reinforce a dog’s good behaviour. Rewarding the dogs with little treats when they obey the command to get off the couch can be effective for modifying a dog’s behaviour when it comes to jumping on the furniture.

Dogs live in the moment like most of the animals so when they do a good job like descending from your couch or portray the behaviour that owner desires then the dog deserves a treat.

You can give biscuits that the dog likes the most and pat him on his back. This will positively reinforce the dog to portray more of the desirable behaviour. So you may wonder how to stop a dog from jumping on furniture using positive reinforcement then?

Plan to have treats for when he obeys your command and also encourage him to relax on his own bed/comfortable spot by putting his food or snack next to it. With time he’ll understand the connection and choose to sit where he knows he’ll be rewarded.

Using the treats properly

An important step that can help with the actual progress on how to stop a dog from jumping on furniture is to watch that you are rewarding appropriately and not overdoing it. Use treats appropriately or you may force the dog to always act for the treats. You really want that behaviour to change so improper rewarding will not work. If he’s driven by treats, he’ll be off the couch when you are looking and as soon as you are not, he may be back to jumping on the furniture.

Initially, the treats allow you to see the desirable behaviour but soon you should wean off the treats and continue to offer praise and affection when he does well. This allows the dog to see your affection as a treat itself and he’ll want to please you whether you are watching him or not.

Sweet and short

Dogs are simple and they feel confused when long phrases/commands are thrown at them.

Instead of saying “ Tommy, Get down from the sofa”, The owner can point at the floor or Tommy’s mat and just say “down” as dogs like to keep things simple. You should always use short and specific commands; otherwise the dog won’t get the command and there will be no other way for them to learn.

Also, when it comes to rewarding, instead of regular rewards, what you can do is master sounds like “tsch” or a clicker like this one

This acts as a secondary stimulus to the dog even if there is no reward to offer. This technique was firstly discovered by Russian Ivan Pavlov on his dog and has been practiced in many forms of animal behavioural teaching and human psychology. This surely will work in your home as well.

Start saying NO

Most dog owners love their dog so much that they can’t bear to scold or say “No” when their dog is misbehaving. Saying No to your dog is a negative reinforcement which will work well while learning how to stop a dog from jumping on furniture.

Say for example, the dog is jumping on the owner’s bed and messing everything in the room; what do you do to stop a dog from jumping on furniture and preventing your valuable items from breaking before the dog creates more havoc? Say NO, be firm and consistent and don’t give into those adorable puppy dog eyes.

Check out this dog training to give you confidence as the Pack Leader and help you achieve your dog training goals in good time to make many fun memories.

Communicating through body language

Listen to this dog owner’s feedback on communicating through body language:
“I just walked towards ‘Ketchup’ until she backed off and out of the living room door. We stood for a couple of minutes at the door staring each other with no audible exchange; just stares. I stood firmly at the door looking down on her and she looked up at me obediently”

Here, what the owner just did is display her entire message through her body language. Dogs are intelligent animals and sensitive too. They know when their owner is angry, sad or happy. So, when your dog misbehaves and jumps into your bed then all you got to do is give a dead eyed stare and a firm No!

These were some of the “How to stop a dog from jumping on furniture” tips for all the dog owners who dearly love their dogs and want to train them to stay off furniture and not be destructive.

Don’t forget to get your dog a cozy bed or blanket to keep them warm and comfortable!