Odd habit...

Sarky

MY dog's a good year old now, and he's more or less fully grown. But he has this wierd habit of sitting on chairs. I don't know how he manages it, being as large a dog as he is, but he does it.

He also seems to delight in sitting on people. I'll be watching telly on the couch and he'll hop up. There's plenty of room on the couch for both of us, but he'll insist on plonking himself down in my lap, sometimes resting his head on my shoulder.

Adorably cute as this is, it can be rather a problem. He often blocks the telly, and more than once he's jumped into my lap while sitting at the computer. God help me if I was working on anything important...

Any idea why he'd do this? I'm sure he gets enough attention and play, and he lets us know he wants outside in a different way...

And just because I couldn't resist, here's a piccy.

embee

Dogs think theyre human..... so they do the same things we do... hence sitting on chairs...

(I only say this cos my grandads old dog used to walk around with a pipe in his mouth)

Anyway.... your pooch is gorgeous!!!!

Is his name Murdoch?

jd

Lovely dog-hope you didn't use the bread afrewards!!
Our dog in wexford sits in chairs etc.. and has virtually taken over a sofa. Poor girl is getting on-is virtually deaf now..
jd

Gillie

Cute Dog.
I know how ya feel. I have a German Shepard and he's great for Nailing ya with his two front paws!
Just be authoritive without being mean if you want this to stop.

Make it clear that the Couch etc. is for you.
Does your dog know the "Down" (As in Lie Down) command?
It can be very useful.
Here's a pic of my GSD.

commuterised

oh your dog is beautiful, what a gorgeous silky coat.

Our dog also thinks hes human, he's mad!.

Peace

Originally posted by commuterised
oh your dog is beautiful, what a gorgeous silky coat.

Our dog also thinks hes human, he's mad!.

hahahaha

he thinks he's people.

koneko

What a gorgeous dog!

I agree with Gilly though, showing you're the authority figure should cut that behaviour out. Don't be mean though Reward the good behaviour so they continue doing whatever was great, they tend to catch on.

They just follow our lead sometimes. Some pets act so much like humans it's a little scary sometimes.

But really, I love your dog, real purdy.

luckat

Two excellent books:

The Dog Listener, by Jan Fennell, with an intro by Monty Roberts. This is a book about dogs and pack behaviour; Fennell is a professional sorter out of problem dogs who had a series on UTV where she'd go into a house with, say, two dogs that hated each other, or a dog that screamed and chewed the door when the owner went out. *Very* interesting theory on how to treat dogs (you should be the "alpha wolf", she says, which means visibly feeding yourself before giving the dog its food, always being the one to make the running in terms of calling the dog to you, etc).

Don't Shoot the Dog, by Karen Pryor. Pryor is a behaviourist and dolphin trainer, who runs, or used to run, a dolphinarium in Hawaii. She discovered in the course of her training that you can't use unkindness or punishment to train dolphins - just impossible, because they're big, and they're way out there in the water; any punishment would be dangerous to you and/or dolphin. She also discovered that her fellow-trainers had spectacularly nice and polite children. She started using the same methods she used to train the dolphins on her children, and soon she too had nice and polite children. Fascinating.

carbonkid

your doggies sooo cute! i think one of the best things about caring for a dog is when theyre overly affectionate:D silly doggie thinks hes human.

pic of me messin around with my doggie,basil

Stark

pic of me messin around with my doggie,basil

Ewww, keep the fetish stuff off the main board carbonkid!

carbonkid

Originally posted by k.oriordan
Ewww, keep the fetish stuff off the main board carbonkid!

dont ruin a perfectly innocent post with ur active imagination lol