Can dogs be allowed on the furniture?

Originally shared March 3, 2020. Original post.

Do you let your dog get on your furniture?

People often ask me whether I think it’s OK for dogs to get on furniture, and my answer is: if it’s OK with you, it’s OK with me!

In Inertia’s case, we did not let her get on our furniture for the first many months that we had her. That was partially because I wanted to take extra precautions against her damaging any of our property during her teething phase (she didn’t!), and partially so that our older dog Indy, who was allowed anywhere she wanted to go, would have an easy way to get away from Inertia when she was tired of playing with her.

I also believe that it’s totally fine to change the rules, as long as you’re clear and patient when showing your dog how you expect them to behave. We decided to allow Inertia on the furniture too, since she had done so great with her house training and was good about leaving Indy alone when we asked her to.

It’s even fine to let your dog get on SOME pieces of your furniture, but not others! Dogs are smart and can learn where they are and aren’t allowed to go as long as you patiently and consistently show them how you expect them to behave.

Have you ever changed the rules on your dog? How did it go?

Watch Indy and Inertia get to know each other in Inertia’s series.