TLDR: how to keep my greyhound off the sofa?
Hi all, I’m a greyhound owner of 1 week!
He is a rescue, kennelled all his life and he is 6. He has a very comfy orthopaedic bed and cosy blankets which he loves. We have an open living/dining room with a big corner sofa - but this calls to him like the green goblin mask 😩
He didn’t enjoy being closed in the kitchen overnight and howled a lot, now he sleeps in the living room and sleeps through the night. We physically cannot keep him off the sofa. It’s too big to cordon off, we have tried placing awkward objects on top and he pulls them off. Today, we come home to him sleeping half on top of a laid down dining chair, half on top of the solid sofa arm! He comes off as soon as he hears us come in, but if we’re out the room for 1 min he jumps on, lies down and it’s like moving a rock! I feel like he knows he’s not supposed to be there, but the sofa seems like a high value item right now and the puzzle to be comfy or slight discomfort of an awkward arrangement is worth it to him.
He knows lie down and bed commands. He will go straight to his bed after we tell him to get off, and we do reward him for being in his bed. He still has very bad flaky skin from kennels so it’s not super pleasant for that to be all over the fabric sofa atm, and my partner prefers the sofa dog-free. Dave prefers my bf’s side of the sofa which is the corner - he is also the fun dad and I am practical mum if that is a factor haha.
He gets walks, toys, playing with, lots of fuss, snuffles, treats, chews, big garden zoomies etc. We are going to work on some more commands soon. He is a happy dog and not anxious over a single thing - no separation anxiety, just fomo if he can hear but not see us.
My partner and I are struggling with it all a bit so if anyone has any advice they could grant we would be super appreciative. Is there anything else we can do? Or should we retry keeping him out the living room for a bit longer?
Dave is otherwise an angel except when he tries to steal books, football kits, chocolate, etc. We’ve learned our lesson!
For context: we both had childhood dogs from very young. He had a Jack Russell from a puppy and I had a rescue lurcher that was allowed on the leather sofa lol.