Dog sitting room "etiquette"

Whispered

Strange title I know, but I was wondering how other people deal with this.
My dog is allowed in the sitting room, he is also allowed onto the couch (it used to be a free for all but we are currently working on invitation only ). My question is, do you expect your dog to act in a certain way when in your sitting room? It's pretty annoying to have him up off his cushion, a little walk around, back to the cushion, up and over to look at you for a few mins, back to the cushion, up again for a walk around, pushing open the kitchen door to walk out there and back to the cushion, lying down for a few mins getting back up.....

I suppose you could say that he just doesn't relax. We've started telling him to stay on his bed and he'll stare intently for a few mins, then fall asleep. But I feel a bit bad about making him lie in one spot while he's in there. If I don't he'll keep up and down though.

So how do you expect your dog to behave in your sittingroom, when you are trying to relax? Do you think we should just put up with him mooching around constantly? Am I mean for not wanting him to be moving around constantly?

mymo

I know what you mean, my two are allowed everywhere(upstairs only if we are), but generally stay close to us. If we're relaxing they either lie at our feet or beside us, but we have a rule that when visitors come dogs don't get up on chairs.
I ignore them and they just sleep usually, but mine are odd, in the house they're really quiet and just lie around, outside they're mad, crazy balls of fur.
I think its a matter of what you like yourself, if you don't mind the mooching leave him off, do you still have his crate? I know one of mine prefers to go into his crate after about 9pm, I leave it open all the time and he comes out about every half hour or so and gives me the look:rolleyes:, until I go to bed.

cyrusdvirus

we have an old 2 seater upstairs in a kind of office/spare tv room. The dog is allowed on that, but not allowed on the furniture downstairs. he's got the run of the house otherwise but if both of us are in the house he'll invariably follow me as opposed to Ms Crash

Kya1976

My dogs are allowed everywhere in the house really. I usually just make sure they are kept busy with something, ie I always have bones or kong toys or something for them.

Thankfully they are all very calm and relaxed in the house:D

barbiegirl

Dogs are dogs, telling im to sit in one place is a bit OTT. Sindy mainly just sleeps or looks out the front window in the sitting room, but she'll move about from sofa to one armchair to another, in front of tv, on floor beside me, to be honest it doesn't bother us. She's just being herself.
She's not allowed on the beds or in our room at night, however lately she doesn't seem to know that ;-)DSC01193.JPG

Whispered

We do still have the crate but it's in the Kitchen and he likes to be with us when we relax in the evenings. He will stay on his bed if told in the sittingroom but I suppose I feel bad for doing it.

Kya, we have a few kongs but it only helps for a while, then he starts throwing it around, I mean really flinging it, and seeing as how it bounces, it tends to land everywhere. :rolleyes: I'd love for him to just relax in the evenings when we do. He seems to want to be entertained constantly. In saying that he's lying out in the sun now while I clean around the house it might be better to not let him relax too much during the day.

I'm aware dogs are dog barbie girl . He can of course get up and go from the sofa to his bed etc but this is constant walking around. Climbing on you, climbing down, walking out, walking in, constant moving. It is very tiring and it's hard to relax when he's doing it. And all this is after a lot of exercise! He's actually started leaping from one sofa to the other, he's way too big to be doing that. Little brat.

Kya1976

Whispered wrote: »

We do still have the crate but it's in the Kitchen and he likes to be with us when we relax in the evenings. He will stay on his bed if told in the sittingroom but I suppose I feel bad for doing it.

Kya, we have a few kongs but it only helps for a while, then he starts throwing it around, I mean really flinging it, and seeing as how it bounces, it tends to land everywhere. :rolleyes: I'd love for him to just relax in the evenings when we do. He seems to want to be entertained constantly. In saying that he's lying out in the sun now while I clean around the house it might be better to not let him relax too much during the day.

I'm aware dogs are dog barbie girl . He can of course get up and go from the sofa to his bed etc but this is constant walking around. Climbing on you, climbing down, walking out, walking in, constant moving. It is very tiring and it's hard to relax when he's doing it. And all this is after a lot of exercise! He's actually started leaping from one sofa to the other, he's way too big to be doing that. Little brat.

Could it be that theres too much going on, I mean a dog can get a bit hyper if hes 'over activated'(sorry cant think of the right word in english:o). Like certain games for instance can make a dog really hyper, like retreiving games for instance.

What about plaque busters, you know the filled marrow bones? They are great to calm a dog down. It's the best 'stress relief' for a dog to chew on bones:)

morganafay

When I had an indoor dog I let her wander around the house, but she mostly stayed with me and sat on top of the back of the couch and went to sleep Sometimes she'd wander off and see what someone else was doing or go into my bedroom (where she slept at night too in my bed). I think I was just lucky that she was very good in the house and calm. When I had puppies though I just let them in the kitchen and sitting room, because otherwise they might poo somewhere or chew things or get into some kind of trouble!

Is your dog just an especially excitable dog? Some dogs just hate standing still, so I don't know if you can change that really. It's up to whatever you find best really, if it's really annoying then I don't think it'd be mean to make her stay in her bed, it's only for few hours or whatever.

Whispered

Kya1976 wrote: »

Could it be that theres too much going on, I mean a dog can get a bit hyper if hes 'over activated'(sorry cant think of the right word in english:o). Like certain games for instance can make a dog really hyper, like retreiving games for instance.

What about plaque busters, you know the filled marrow bones? They are great to calm a dog down. It's the best 'stress relief' for a dog to chew on bones:)

Overactivated is the perfect word to describe him and yes retrieving games and pull games make up a lot of our play time with him. He hates "fake" bones, he looks at me like I'm trying to kill him haha. We do give him raw which he loves but I like to limit that to every now and again. Maybe you're right and I just need to find the right treat for him.

morganafay wrote: »

Is your dog just an especially excitable dog? Some dogs just hate standing still, so I don't know if you can change that really. It's up to whatever you find best really, if it's really annoying then I don't think it'd be mean to make her stay in her bed, it's only for few hours or whatever.

Yes he is very excitable, I have a friend who kept large breed dogs for years and she said she coudn't cope with him. He's absolutely wired morganafay! You wouldn't believe it. He can spend the entire day being shoved around by bigger dogs, playing to the point he's so tired he can barely stand, yet when we get home, he still wont relax. The only time is when we put him in the crate or make him stay in one spot (his cushion, the sofa etc) a few mins and he'll fall into a deep sleep. But it's the making him stay in one spot I'm feeling a bit bad about.

When we're up and about or in the kitchen, or out the back etc he can do what he wants but in the sitting room I'd like him to know that mooching around for no reason is not the done thing. Don't dog packs have a time where they all laze around together? I would have thought that relaxing with us would come naturally to him. Once he realises that we're not going to accept him being on his feet constantly and pacing the room, he will relax for a while. But it's like "forcing" someone to enjoy themselves. Doesn't really work

Kya1976

Whispered wrote: »

Overactivated is the perfect word to describe him and yes retrieving games and pull games make up a lot of our play time with him. He hates "fake" bones, he looks at me like I'm trying to kill him haha. We do give him raw which he loves but I like to limit that to every now and again. Maybe you're right and I just need to find the right treat for him.

haha thanks:) Well maybe cut down on the retrieving games a bit to see if it makes a difference? Tug a war are great games with most dogs, some tend to get a bit over excited though:p

The plaque busters are proper marrow bones, Id give that a go if I were you:)

morganafay

Whispered wrote: »

When we're up and about or in the kitchen, or out the back etc he can do what he wants but in the sitting room I'd like him to know that mooching around for no reason is not the done thing. Don't dog packs have a time where they all laze around together? I would have thought that relaxing with us would come naturally to him. Once he realises that we're not going to accept him being on his feet constantly and pacing the room, he will relax for a while. But it's like "forcing" someone to enjoy themselves. Doesn't really work

I had a dog like that too! A Springer, who never calmed down for a second until he got old

You'd think he'd just want to laze around too when everyone else is relaxing. Maybe making him stay in the basket until he does relax is a good idea then, because he'll realise it's relaxing time!

Howitzer

Everyone will have different sitting room / house rules. But whatever you choose they are your rules!

We have a comfy bed in the sitting room for the dog - and figured out over time where she likes to rest (near us).

We bring her in and make her sit / lie down whilst showing her the bone / pigs ear she's about to get. She usually gets it right. Then presto - she gets the treat. She'll spend hours with it.

If she wanders with it - we take her back and go through it again. No wandering is our rule. (pain in the ass getting up to correct this - but persevere!)

After a while she's content to stay in the one spot.
(I'd put her out for a while if she didn't get the message - 2 doors away at least)

These eve's she's at the dog park for 1hr+ and then crashed out and quiet in the sitting room when we get home.

If a dog hasn't been out/exercised the owner hasn't a chance at a minutes piece in the sitting room. It'll be 'sniff that' and 'wander over there' for the evening!

Hope this helps. Our one is a 9mths old boxer.
Now, how to get her to sleep in the one spot 'loose' in the house at night.... onto the next challenge ;-)

paultf

Whispered wrote: »

So how do you expect your dog to behave in your sittingroom, when you are trying to relax? Do you think we should just put up with him mooching around constantly? Am I mean for not wanting him to be moving around constantly?

My dogs used to be allowed up on the couch. Got a new 3-piece recently so they're banned! I have beds in the living room so they sleep on those when I am in the living room.

With the warm weather all the doors are open downstairs, so they can wander wherever they like: to the utility where they sleep at night, to get a drink of water, or the kitchen where they are a couple more beds.

I use to let them upstairs but I was reading how going up & down stairs was not good for their joints. I was going to let this pass until one day 2 of them were messing going down the stairs and one stumbled to the bottom. That was it I said! So I put up a stairgate - so no more stairs for them!

TechnoPool

id go along with most of the rules above, but my fella just like's his spot at the door, as he is in the sun during the way , when he is in mind. He has one sofa in the side room he is allowed on but since he's fully grown a single seater is a bit tight for him now


other than that he's allowed upstairs but isnt bothered with it. He generall just likes to be in what ever room has the most people and just flakes out.

Whispered

So the general idea then is I'm not being horrible by not allowing the dog to wander all over the sitting room constantly while the rest of us are sitting down.

Don't get me wrong, he's not confined for hours and if he gets up to have a drink, come sit with us, go to another sear etc thats grand, but the constant pacing is what we've started to not allow. I'm glad others seem to agree with me. I was feeling like a wagon for a few days!

morganafay

This reminded me of when I moved in with my sister and she tried to get me to train my cat not to jump on the table and kitchen counters and stuff, when in my old apartment I had let him go wherever he wanted and drink out of the kitchen tap. Training a dog is easy enough, but training a cat is difficult! I didn't see the problem since we wouldn't be eating straight off the counters anyway!

TechnoPool

Whispered wrote: »

So the general idea then is I'm not being horrible by not allowing the dog to wander all over the sitting room constantly while the rest of us are sitting down.

Don't get me wrong, he's not confined for hours and if he gets up to have a drink, come sit with us, go to another sear etc thats grand, but the constant pacing is what we've started to not allow. I'm glad others seem to agree with me. I was feeling like a wagon for a few days!

nah i wouldnt , our fellah did that quite bit when he was younger , until he found his ''spots'' , where is always to be found these days.

lrushe

Only my Chihuahua is allowed up on our couch or bed purely because when she was v.tiny I accidently hurt her leg because I didn't see her on the floor so having her beside me where I can see her is as much for safety as anything else. My Spitz won't come any further than our kitchen, he'd rather lie by the patio door and keep an eye on things.
When our Rottie was younger she would be the type to be up and down and in your face when you were relaxing in the sitting room so I bought her a flat cushion which I put in the corner of the living room and trained her that that is where she should be when in the sitting room and it worked brilliantly. Now when I go into the sitting room I just say "over and lie down" and she will go to the cushion and fall asleep. If I'm going to bed early to watch T.V. or whatever I'll bring the cushion with me and again just say "over and lie down" and over she'll go. Her weekly bone is only given to her when she's sitting politely on her cushion so she really sees it as a positive place to be so we rarely have to direct her to the cushion now she just makes a beeline for it when the sitting room door is opened.

mymo

How old is he now? Is this Harley we're talking about?
My older fella went through a phase at about 14 months where he wanted us to be entertaining him all the time, I sent him to bed a few times and he got the message. I read somewhere after that, that pups go through naughty phases, where they will keep trying to get their way and one was around that age. Can't remember where I read it though sorry, just it was about dog behavior.

Whispered

Yep Mymo it's harley and you're so kind for remembering (or do I just talk about him WAY too much) he's 20 months. I think he's a boards user himself because this evening he came in and lay straight down on his cushion. He must have read the thread.

In all seriousness though, I think I'll stick to what we are doing. It seems to be slowly working.

mymo

Was looking at the pics in the pics thread and knew he looked familiar, so went back a bit and realized you'd changed username. I remember him as he's a similar age to my older dog and you posted some lovely pic's and stuff about him.
You could try getting him to lie down and giving him a brush to relax him, works for my two, they fall asleep in minutes. I do this in the evening before I sit down and relax.