How To Keep Border Collies off The Furniture
Sometimes a Border Collie dog that is not trained for obedience start behaving dominantly and act as if he own the place. I’m sure you’re reading this guide because your dog has also started lounging on your bed, sofa or maybe he has started to shift his room on your dinner table? Sounds cute but it can be a big problem and may become nightmare that will be difficult to overcome.
If you are running out of patience with your Border Collie and tired of yelling at him to get off the furniture, you’ll find these tips and steps helpful to keep your dog off the furniture.
Before you start training your dog, make sure you protect your furniture from getting damaged, because during the training session your dog may scratch or damage your expensive furniture. We suggest covering your furniture with foam tape, plastic cover or a blanket. You can also buy furniture protecting products from pet stores that are specifically designed for this purpose. Furniture parts such as back and arms should be covered with double-sided tape because there your dog is most likely to claw.
If your dog loves a particular spot on the sofa or other furniture, you can place aluminum foil sheets on that spot. The annoying scratchy sound that aluminum foil creates when your dog will sit or lay down on it will irritate your dog and that will force him to avoid that spot altogether.
I don’t know about other Border Collie dogs, but our collie hates the smell of orange peel. I used to place orange peel pieces on our sofa where she used to sit, and after doing it for couple of weeks she started avoiding sitting on our furniture. So, you can try with different things that your dog hates.
Training Your Dog To Keep off The Furniture
First of all organize your dog training tools, because you don’t want to miss the moment when your dog is in act. For example, if you don’t have his treats with you for rewarding him after successful training command, you’ll miss the opportunity. Keeping all the required tools and other essentials helps you speed up the learning process for your dog.
They hate it when you spray water on them, so keep a spray bottle with you. When your Border Collie jumps onto the sofa, chair or dinner table, immediately spray water at him. Not too much water though, but little to distract him. It sounds bizarre but this is one of the most effective training tactics that actually works by annoying your dog without hurting him.
Distracting your dog’s mind works wonderfully well when it comes to keeping him off the furniture, but make sure you don’t distract him with loud sounds such as yelling, shouting or bells. They may work effectively while training your dog, but in general whenever your dog will hear these sounds, he will relate them to those training commands that you taught him, which will only confuse him. In that case using your own voice is the best way forward. For example, you can say “Look Here” “No” “Get off” in firm voice, so that your dog can remember these commands easily.
Start the training procedure with basic commands. Use clearly pronounceable words such as “No”, “Get Down” because they are easy to understand and remember for your dog.
“Prevention is better than cure” phrase also applies to dog training. Before your dog pick up bad behavior problems, training him to stop it before it starts is always the right approach. Therefore, when you bring home a Border Collie puppy, never let him get on the furniture at all. If you ignore and allow him to get on the furniture even for once, he will think that it’s okay to do so. Once he develops this habit, it will be difficult to put an end to it.
Dogs that have separation anxiety problem like to sit with their owners, because they miss them and want to be near and out of excitement they jump onto the furniture and sit with their owner. In that case giving your dog his favorite toy to play with to keep him off the furniture works wonderfully well.
Avoid being abusive to your dog when you train him, but be tough and strict to let him know who’s the boss and he has to follow your commands. For example, if you hit or scold your dog for jumping or sitting on the furniture, you might get him off, but that will hurt him. It is not the right way to train your dog, instead you should use positive reinforcement in training. If you are not being complacent and consistently training your dog, it will take time but over a period of time he will learn your commands and you’ll earn his respect not fear.
Deciding a particular area or spot in your home for your dog always works. You can create house rules for your dog that a particular area belongs to him and some particular areas are a “No Entry” zone for him.
