We all love our furry and fun friends, but we don’t exactly want them strolling all over our furniture, leaving behind hair and… other deposits. There has to be a solution, right? Of course, there is!
We can show you how to keep your pets off of all your furniture in this article, and we'll provide tips for making sure that this change in behavior in your pets is permanent.
Invest in Pet Furniture
An easy way to keep your pets off of your furniture is to give them some furniture of their own!
Get a cat bed or a dog bed, and your pet will have its own soft surface to lay on and, with some training, will no longer feel as inclined to hop up on your furniture. This is easy to teach your animals. Just don’t allow them on the regular furniture, but encourage them to use their own furniture.
After all, imagine coming home to this Bernhardt Addison Loveseat all scratched up from your pet walking on it. You’d be furious, wouldn’t you? Getting a pet bed will demonstrate to your pet that it’s ok to use their own furniture.
There is plenty of pet furniture out there, such as pet beds, cat trees, and even pet sofas. Be sure that if you have a cat, it has somewhere designated to scratch, such as a scratching post or pad. Cats need to scratch, so not having an outlet for this behavior can be the source of a lot of furniture scratching.
Once you have the cat tree/pet bed, you’ll need to still keep your pets off of the furniture “manually” for a little while until they learn the new rules.
A "Furniture Offering"
The next option for keeping your pets off of the furniture is what we like to call a “furniture offering.” This is a situation in which you demarcate one piece of furniture as okay for the pets to use, but not the others. This allows the pet to play on or lay on one piece of furniture in the house, but nothing other than that piece.
Imagine you have a gorgeous Stressless Recliners Classic Chair you absolutely do not want the pets to be on, so you offer them something else instead. This is a good solution to the problem.
You will find that oftentimes this simple move will satisfy the pet’s desire to be on the furniture, and they will not try to get on any of the forbidden pieces. The best way to implement this is to keep your pet off of all the furniture but the designated piece of furniture “manually” until the animal learns where it is allowed to sit. Usually, a few days to a week or two of continuous reinforcement will result in a pet that knows which piece of furniture it is allowed to be on.
Pet Training
Pet training can be helpful in keeping pets off of the furniture. You just train the animal to not get on the furniture. This is much easier said than done, and if your pet is having trouble learning this critical behavior, it may be time to call in the professionals. A professional pet trainer can teach your pets to stay off of the furniture without compromise. However, pet training can be expensive. Obviously, it is undoubtedly worth it to protect a gorgeous piece of furniture like this Rocking Recliner by Best Homes.
If, however, you’ve decided that this is the direction you would like to go, it may be the best solution. Simply teaching your pets not to use the ordinary furniture is an excellent option, and with a professional’s help, you can certainly accomplish this goal.
Repellant Sprays
The final way to keep pets off of your furniture is with highly-rated “repellant sprays,” which are designed to make an area unpleasant for animals to be on. Follow the product's instructions before treating your furniture with the repellant spray, and your pets will no longer climb on your furniture.
This is a simple option, but we have listed it last because it is the most invasive to your pet and could cause potential damage to your furniture. Make sure you test the repellent on your furniture in a hidden area before committing.
Stop in at Baer’s Furniture
Regardless of how you keep your pets off of the furniture, at Baer's Furniture, we have a multitude of styles and designs of the finest furniture available. Come by and peruse our furniture stores to see thousands of square feet of floor models to find the perfect home furnishings for your next decorating project.
