Hello to all

Well my 14 week old springer spaniel is jumping up on the sofa/armchair, although she is and was never allowed on the furniture.  When I tell her to go off, she will do it (although not exactly in a hurry), but when she has her mad half an hour, she jumps up in no time at all and when I tell her to go off, she does do it, but then she will bark and even growl at me.  To me it seems as she would 'answer back'.  When she does that. then my husband and I give her some time out in the kitchen, where she can still see us sitting in the livingroom through the glass panelled door.   When we let her back in , she has calmed down.  I wonder whether that is normal behaviour for a puppy to bark and growl at us when I tell her to stop doing something.  When she is 'normal' and she looks up at the sofa and I say 'a-a-a' she looks at me and turns away from the sofa.  But when she has her mad time, then she reacts quite 'cheeky'.

Thanks for advise and regards from Bagpipe

She's getting used to your ways, and yes, to a certain extent, it's normal behaviour, but a lot of it is also the dog being unsure about your responses and pushing their luck.  It's best not to get into this sort of situation in the first place.  You might find it useful to attach a short lead to her collar so you can physically remove her if she doesn't get off first time of asking, rather than give her the chance to 'back chat'.

14 weeks seems to herald a certain bumptiousness in pups I've noticed (having got one of that age too!) and this over-confidence seems to come with a whole new ability to behave like Mountain Goats or Harrier Jump Jets and I've had to remove my pup from a whole new set of undesirable and previously unreachable places over the last couple of days.

I've found that distraction into more constructive activities helps a lot and when the red mist comes down a run around the garden seems to burn off the Mad Back-Chatting Pup energy best. If that's really not practical then calmly removing him for some time out seems to work for us too since the more conversations you have with him the more likely he is to try and get the last word!

Hello roz

Thanks for your answer.  You say  'the more conversations you have with him the more likely he is to try and get the last word!'  Well in that case, I will just take her off the furniture in future and just put her into the kitchen for some time out.
In some ways I don't really know how to tackle this issue.  When she is calmly lying on the floor, having a nap in the afternoon, and I go out the room for just say two minutes, when I come back she is on the sofa/armchair.  In this case she normally jumps off when I open the livingroom door, no need to say anything.  Shall I always shuffle her into the kitchen even if I'm only going to the toilet and is lying sleeping on the floor?

What do other people do???

Bagpipe

Hello digger

Thanks for your answer.  To be honest to put a lead on her in the house is a bit difficult.  She would not accept it = ...chewing.  But I can see your point that it is best to avoid it in the first place, so I do take her with me in the kitchen, when I'm not in the livingroom.  Though not always.  I find it all a bit difficult and sometimes I wonder whether I should just give in her desires.  But then I think 'No.  I will not.'    I think she knows not to go on the furniture, but she still does it all the time ... Is there any light at the end of the tunnel?   Well, but I don't want to be unthankful, because in many ways she is really a nice puppy!!!

Regards Bagpipe

Bagpipe - If your pup goes on the furniture still, then she does not "know" that she shouldn't go on it.  Dogs to what works and they don't think like people think.

They work by cause and effect.  IF she jumps on the furniture, and she likes it, then she will do it more. 

You say that she understands the "off" word, so how have you trained it?  If you have just started using it, the chances are that she does not understand it.

If you give the puppy a command "off", you must then reward the puppy if she obeys you.  Do you give a treat when she jumps off?  It is best to give a treat with this command until she understands it and obeys it instantly.  Then you can just praise, because dogs are very clever and they will learn that they can jump on the sofa, in order to be told to get off, in order to get a treat!!!  So - use the treats at first, until she understands clearly and instantly obeys you, then just praise for this behaviour.  (For other behaviours you should give treats every time for longer.)  If you tell her "off" and she disobeys you, it is better to throw a treat on the floor so that the dog will jump off to eat the treat.  Don't lift her off because sometimes this physical contact becomes a battle between dog and owner and I've known dogs develop guarding issues over sofas and beds as a result - so throw a treat on the floor and then the dog will comply and the dog will believe that it wanted to do that.  This is the best way.

The other important thing to say about the sofa is - you must decide if you NEVER want the puppy up there.  Because dogs don't do "sometimes".  Either she is _always_ allowed up there, or she is _never_ allowed.  But you can't let her go up there sometimes and stop her at other times - that will just confuse her. 

This rule is also the case when you go out - the dog must not be able to get on the sofa when you are not in the room.  So crate her or supervise her.

I think her growling is just play-growling and is puppy behaviour.  Puppies just want to play with you like you are another puppy, so it isn't aggressive - she is just trying to play. 

Hell onetwothree

Thanks for your answer, as usal a very useful one.  In some ways I really thought she would know, because when I enter the room she will jump off.  But she probably only knows, that she is not on the sofa, when I am / we are in the room, and if I am not there, then it's ok to be on it.

I can absolutely understand the point that she should never be in the livingroom by herself, not even a minute or so, because of that.  I understand that it doesn't help the issue, if she is on it sometimes and sometimes not.  But I can truly say, that we never had her a single time on the sofa since day 1. I always sat with her on the floor, so she could cuddle up on my lap and I  still do that.  I know how important it is to be consistened. 
I started to train her the 'off' comand in luring her down and when she was down I said 'off'.  Or I threw a treat on the floor.  I stopped it though, because my husband and I thought, she might start jumping up, because that makes her getting a reward and it might not be the right thing to do.    I know you are against telling off a puppy, but of course we tried that too.  With no effect, except barking back at me, when she is in her 'headless time'.

So, I will start giving her treats  for jumping off again, but also try to avoid giving her the oppurtunity to go on it in the first place.   Because if she is on it (even if I am not in the room) but she is not allowed to be on it, when I am in the room, that makes training her not be on it at all difficult for her.

Thanks again and kind regards Bagpipe

Just a thought - but why do you sit on the sofa? Is it because it's more comfortable than the floor? Dogs are great imitators - if you do it they're likely to try to do the same. I often sit on the floor with my boys (who have never been allowed on the furniture) but they'll still get on if they're unattended - and they're 6 years old!

Hello

That dogs are great imitators is a good thought and it made me smile to read that.  The way we are build especially for our backs  , it is quite comfy to sit in a lower seat .like a sofa/armchair.  But to be honest, I actually like to sit on the floor too and did it anyway before we had our puppy. 

Hi - You're right, you've got it now - she thinks that it is ok to be on the sofa when you are not in the room, but she is not allowed on it when you are...

So you must crate her or supervise her all the time to make sure she doesn't get to go on the sofa.  If you do this well, eventually she will forget that she can get up there and stop trying.  But she must never succeed.

When you trained her to jump "off" - you said that you say off when she is off.  Well, that's a bit late - you want this order:  Command - Action - Result.  So - you say "Off" when she is on the sofa, then she jumps down, then you praise and reward.  That is the ideal.  If she won't jump down when you say "Off', then you make her jump down by throwing the food on the floor.  But you still say "Off" when she is on the sofa.  Then you throw the food on the floor, so the dog jumps down - and then she gets the reward. 

Hello onetwothree

Thanks for your explaining words. 

Bagpipe :)