My Aunt has a 7 year old boxer, when she tries to make him get off the couch he growls. And if you happen to open your car door while he is around he will jump in and again refuse to get out. Growling and acting like he is going to bite. He is so stubborn he waited in the car for 3 hours b4 he finally came out.

She is curious on how this should be handled?

He is a very loving, friendly non agressive dog *until* you want him off the furniture.

Im thinking prong collar corrections and back to basic OB & no more on the furniture.. But would like your opinions. Oh and how do you keep a dog off your couch/bed after you've let them on it for 7 years.

thanks,
Maizie

Dog's don't belong on the furniture. This only promotes aggressive dominant behavior like your already experiencing. You need to read the article Ed wrote on this site about dominance in dogs.

Letting your dog on the furniture does not create an aggressive, dominant dog :rolleyes: .. generally it is genetics LOL!

Every single one of my dogs has had free access to furniture and there have never been any problems.

Yeah, Sammie, but when you can not tell your dog to get OFF the couch, you DO have a problem.

Agreed Deanna.. but that problem is a by product of another underlying issue.. not because the dog was allowed on the furniture, yes there is a dominance problem here... but the 'couch' did not make this problem.. there have to be other problems going on for it to have gotten to this.

*kicks Nyna out of the puter chair*

You are preaching to the choir... dog beds? What in the heck are those for anyway?


Answering the initial question, the dog wears a leash whenever it is out of the crate. You can get a 6 foot foo-foo leash that is meant for a poodle so that it is light and not likely to hang on furniture. Find dog on furniture, remove dog from furniture. Find dog in car, remove dog from car. At 7 years old I doubt this is a new development. The dogs' life has to revolve around what the handler wants him to do, not what he wants.

 Quote:

*kicks Nyna out of the puter chair*

LOL!!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I have always found it amusing that I have at least one dog that teaches the others proper bed tactics. Sprawl on bed until dad comes in and then run to crate, then laugh quietly while dad wonders what he has done wrong, never let them on bed, ect. My mal Buko loves to jump on the bed tell him off, off he goes bank off wall and back on bed. This is a great game dad! I have thought about from now on telling them to stay off the floor and maybe I'll get my wish. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Sammie, Guess I should of been more clear in my post. I've had pets in the past that were on my furniture etc. with no problem whatsoever. I personally don't care for it anymore, so with that said my dogs are not allowed on any furniture. I was trying to say what Deanna said, which is basically if you cannot get your dog off of your couch without the aggression then you have a dominance problem that needs to be fixed. I realize that couches don't make dogs aggressive. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Sammie I think your wrong. Some dogs are just not social climbers. Sounds to me like boxer boy is trying to improve his lot in life. Gotta love a dog with intiative. This dog was probably not born this way. But has discovered that it is more dominant than most of the people in its life. Particularly the owner.After all he was allowed to stay in HIS car for three hours. Because he has been told he is dominant. I am guessing as well that beeing allowed on the furniture is not the only problem here. Were does he sleep, when and were does he eat, how often is he petted and treated. Just a few things that Im guessing are messing up Mazzie 's Aunts relationship with this dog. Bottom line here is that dogs like people will do what they feel is in there best interests. I own a dog ( like most others here Im sure ) that would be a complete dominant a$$ in a pet home. Very sweet to me. But we had to have a couple of disscussions about that.

This little man needs some stress in his life. Definatly no more furniture. That pinch with a good trainer sounds like an excellent start. When you learn how or already know how to apply stress to the dog. You will simply apply stress to the dog when he engages in the undesired behavior. Lets say that you have been sitting in the same chair at the same time the same way for ten years. All of the sudden one day you sit down like usual in your comfy quiet chair and... BAM lightning bolts fall from the sky. So, you try again ever so carefully looking with much concern at your ceiling...... BAM more lightning bolts. That would probably be enough to change your behavior.

Hope this helps and your search goes well.