Possessive Of Couch And Bed

[Guest zoolaine]

Jupiter has become somewhat possessive of the couch and bed. This has escalated since Danica came home about 3 weeks ago. Jupiter is a bit of a velcro dog and usually follows me everywhere. He thinks he MUST be on the couch or bed - even if there is only a few inches of space. He has nipped Zali, Danica, and Luna over the past 3 weeks - always when one of them gets close to or tries to get on the couch or bed. When he does this I make him get off the couch and he usually tries for about 10 minutes to get back on and then will go lay on a dog bed. I have seen improvements with his behavior regarding the couch. But last night him and Danica where sleeping on the bed and I woke to growls, Danica screaming and her running off to the living room. I kicked Jupiter off the bed and of course he tried to get right back on. This went on for about 5 minutes and every time I corrected Jupiter it seemed to just scare Danica. So I put Jupiter and a dog bed out in the hall and put up a baby gait. Jupiter kept trying to get in and was about to topple over the baby gait (which would have landed on Sunny's head). So I just closed the bedroom door. I tried to get Zali in the bedroom but she wouldn't come so she ended up being shut out of the bedroom as well. Well needless to say I had two dogs crying and Zali barking to get back in. After an hour or so of this I let everyone outside and then let Jupiter and Zali back in the bedroom - both ran right to the bed, but behaved the rest of the night.

 

I do like the dogs on the couch and bed but obviously Jupiter has to learn they are not his and he doesn't control who can and can't be on them. So my questions are:

 

When I kick Jupiter off the couch, how long do I make him stay off?

 

What to do at night? Even if I am successful at keeping him off initially I know he will sneak up in the middle of the night. If I'm sleeping it is hard to pre-empt him from being nasty to the other dogs.

[Fruitycake]

I am not very conversant with this topic, but I would think that since he is unreliable on the couch or bed, that he loses privileges for a while. Not forever, but until he shows that he can behave in a "civilized" manner. If that means a couple of weeks of no couch or bed access, so what. You need to reassert that you own these areas and that if you say he's off, he is off. No trying to get back on, no bullying anyone (you or dogs) when he's on. Then try him again.

 

If keeping him off for weeks won't be working, I'd say boot him off and wait at least half an hour - until he isn't trying to get back on (you do NOT want to reward his pushy behavior by letting him get hsi way if he is persistent enough!). If that means an hour, fine. If it means 15 minutes, after he's gone back to his other bed and been quietly lying there, that's even better.