Eight Ways To Keep Your Pets Off Furniture

Pets are beloved additions to every household they inhabit, which means they are often treated like part of the family. They are spoiled, cuddled, and showered with attention. For the most part, pets bring endless joy to the home. The problem, however, is that even the most loving pets can wreak havoc on couches, chairs, and other furnishings. If you have a pet that has ruined upholstery, you’ll want to do all you can to keep your furry friend off your furniture.

To keep pets off your furniture, create a barrier between the pet and the furniture, and offer an alternative sanctuary. Keep your pet off your furniture from the moment you bring it into the home, and teach it commands to reinforce the behavior. You can keep certain rooms off-limits to your pet, use deterrent sprays, and even enlist the help of a professional to properly train your pet.

While the love for your animal might be endless, you should establish some boundaries with your pet, especially if it is ruining expensive furniture. It can feel incredibly difficult to keep a dog or cat off all your chairs and couches, but it’s still possible. Keep reading to learn the best ways to keep pets off your furniture, as well as reasons why some furniture must remain off limits to these loving companions.

Five Reasons It’s Smart To Keep Pets Off Your Furniture

1. Bad Smells

Pets don’t necessarily smell bad, especially if you groom them properly. Still, dogs and cats in particular are curious creatures. They love to roll around in smelly places that human beings would never venture. These smells can quickly seep into your furniture’s upholstery if you let your pet sit on your furniture.

2. Pet Hair 

Pet hair can be a constant battle if you own a dog or cat. Keeping your pet off your couches and chairs is a great way to reduce pet hair in the home, especially a couch, where it’s challenging to remove it.

3. Claws Can Scratch And Destroy Upholstery 

Regardless of whether you have leather, cotton, velvet, or some other type of upholstery, no material is safe from an animal’s sharp claws. While unintentional, your pet can scratch and pierce your furniture’s upholstery, which can damage it in ways that are often expensive or impossible to repair.

4. Dirty Paws Stain Furniture

Most pets spend time outside every day. While this can be a great exercise, it can also make your pet dirty. If your pet comes into the home with muddy or otherwise dirty paws, this filth has to go somewhere. Allowing your pet on your furniture means this mess can get all over your favorite furnishings.

5. Fleas, Ticks, And Other Pests

When pets roam around outside, they are easy targets for various pests you never want in your home. These pests include fleas and ticks, which can make your life miserable if they find their way onto the furniture you sit on daily.

Eight Ways To Help Keep Pets Off Your Furniture

1. Keep Certain Rooms Off Limits

One guaranteed way to keep your cat or dog off certain valuable furnishings in your home is to make certain rooms off-limits to your pet. To do this, you can close doors to certain rooms, or use screen doors as barriers.

You can use baby gates to keep areas pet-free, or even build DIY barriers that are more aesthetically pleasing and equally effective at sectioning off specific rooms. Keeping rooms pet-free ensures all the furniture in that room remains safe.

2. Create A Comfortable Sanctuary Elsewhere

Another great way to keep pets off your furniture for good is to create a more comfortable place for them to relax. There are dog and cat beds that are more plush and enjoyable for pets than even the most luxurious couch.

Create a nook for your animal that remains in a consistent location, and encourage your dog or cat to spend time in this area. Teaching your pet that this DIY sanctuary is where they should relax helps deter them from spending time on your chairs and couches.

3. Teach Your Pet Commands

Teaching your pet commands is vital to ensure your pet is always on its best behavior. It also helps prevent your animal from running wild through the house. One important command that every pet owner should teach a dog (and even a cat) is “off.” 

Using treats and positive reinforcement, you can train most dogs and many cats to get off any piece of furniture they don’t belong on. If you say the command enough times, many pets will learn to stay off the furniture for good, at least while you are home.

4. Create A Barrier Between The Furniture And The Pet

Even if you don’t keep entire rooms off limits to your pet, you can still form barriers between your pet and certain pieces of furniture. There is an entire market for these types of barriers. You can purchase couch defenders, which are foldable barriers that block pets from hopping on your couch.

Alternatively, you can use plants, tall objects, and other makeshift barriers to keep your pet off your couches and chairs. This method is particularly effective if you are looking to keep your pets off the furniture when you aren’t home. Using these barriers consistently for many months helps pet proof your home, and can often train your pet to stay off the furniture even when no barrier is present.

5. Consistently Supervise Your Pet

Pets are like small children in many ways. Just like toddlers, pets need constant supervision. This is particularly true in the first few years you own them. When you consistently supervise your animal, you can effectively reinforce positive behavior and discourage bad habits.

One bad habit is jumping on furniture. When you always have your eye on your pet, you can immediately use the “off” command to get it off the furniture in question, or physically remove the animal from the couch or chair. Over time, the pet should learn that there are certain areas it does not belong in.

6. Use A Deterrent Spray

One unique DIY method you can try to keep pets off furniture is to use specific scents to make your furniture less appealing. There are several smells, including citrus aromas, bitter apple, and other herbal fragrances that are appealing to dogs and some cats.

You can purchase these sprays at many pet supply stores. Alternatively, you can create a DIY concoction of various essential oils and dilute them in water. Place this mixture in a spray bottle and spray it on your furniture’s upholstery. 

This can make your furniture smell lovely, and make it less appealing to your pet at the same time.

7. Make Furniture Off-Limits From The Start

Old habits die hard. Therefore, if you allow your pet to sit on couches and chairs when you first bring it into the home, then it can be incredibly difficult to retrain the pet to stay off these furnishings in the future.

It’s much easier to keep pets off your couches and chairs when they are never allowed on them in the first place. Training this behavior when the pet is young and new to the home can create lasting behavior, and will make your goal of having no pets on the couch more achievable.

8. Consider Enlisting The Help Of A Professional

Some pets, as much as you love them, can be a nightmare to train. If you have tried everything and your dog or cat still jumps on your furniture and damages it, then you should consider professional help.

Professional pet trainers can be highly effective at eliminating bad behaviors and encouraging desirable ones. Professional pet training requires time and financial investment, and it isn’t for everyone. However, if your pet has already successfully ruined several expensive pieces of furniture , it might be a worthwhile investment.

Concluding Notes On How To Keep Pets Off Your Furniture

You might want your pet to go everywhere you go, but once it starts ruining your expensive furniture, you may find yourself singing a different tune. While challenging, it is possible to train pets to stay off your furniture using commands and constant supervision. 

It’s much easier to keep pets off furniture if they are never allowed on it from the start, especially if you create a comfortable alternative sanctuary for your furry friend to relax. You can use barriers, keep rooms of limits, or even try a natural deterrent spray to make your couch less appealing to your beloved animals.

Related Guides:

• Home Cleaning Checklist For Pet Owners
• 13 Ways To Prevent Your Pet From Tracking Dirt Into The Home
• Pets For The Home That Won’t Cause Allergies