Pic of the boy Stevie Wonder.
this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2026
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At my mother's there was a "no dogs on the furniture rule". A few years before I moved out she had a foster fail called Ayk. He was so energetic but always friendly and everyone loved him but he tried to stretch this rule as far as possible.
This is an example:
And some of you may say: that's just a coincidence he's in touch with the seat. But I can assure you: it's calculated. As soon as he had established contact he started inching forward, slowly but steadily.
On the couch he usually started with his butt, just touching and suddenly he sat next to you, acting totally normal.
It was tolerated way too often because it was hilarious to watch him and see how his little brain came up with a "walkaround" for the rule. He was a very good boy!
I love this lol. Thank you for sharing the story. It’s pretty amusing how they try to inch their way in and stretch some boundaries.
I love the fact that they know what they're doing. We had a second dog around that time. She waited until everyone was in bed and the went to sleep on the couch.
In the rare occasions she was too deep asleep to notice someone coming down the stairs and she got busted, she was just lying there, wagging her tail like crazy, her eyes literally squeezed shut. If she can't see me, how should I be able to see her?
She was also a huge trash digger and whenever my mother found trash in the dog bed and asked her where the trash came from, she always looked at my younger sister like "I don't want to accuse anyone here, but you may want to ask your daughter u.u".
Dog tax - Trixie the trash queen making a new friend
My dog used to burrow under the covers. Now that he's an old man, he doesn't even get up on the bed or enjoy snuggling anymore. You will miss that burrowing one day.
You can train any behavior out of a dog. It all depends on how much effort you want to put in to it. If youre fine with what your dog does and how they act is one thing but if you give them a pass for undesirable behavior then youre just reinforcing that behavior and they build a habit over time that its okay to do the said behavior. Dogs should never be punished even if they do something "bad". Redirection and positive reinforcement are the way
I totally agree with you. There are certain behaviors that do not get the pass (excitement and wanting to jump on visitors when they come over). We are working on it with positive reinforcement and other tricks.
I also have a GP and they're notoriously difficult to train. I've given up. I'm lucky my girl is sweet.
My dogs pretty good. I trained him when he’s a puppy and he listens when we do things together (ie: on a walk, leave it for food, trim his hair) but when he’s free to do whatever he ignores all commands. I’ve just accepted that he’s stubborn, and really it doesn’t matter because when it counts he listens. That’s all I care about.
Yeah my one true wish is if I could make my dog recall on command even if he sees a bunny he wants to chase. Do you have that control?
Sounds like you’re giving him his best life either way!
Mines a lapdog and he has no desire to chase anything. He doesn’t pay attention/has no interest, he just wants to sniff brick walls. He’s really good at stoping to cross the street and keeping close to me when we do. He’s really great at “leave it” indoors and outdoors.
I let my dogs just be dogs as long as it's not destructive to things that don't belong to them (they can destroy their own toys).
Of course. Life is compromise and we try to give our dogs some leeway on the things that seem to matter to them. Also, they are sometimes just too cute to reprimand.
Just like in humans I feel like there’s behaviors and there’s personality traits. But since we can’t communicate with dogs the same way we do each other, the line gets kind of blurry.
Does it bother me that my fluffy girl refuses to share a bed or couch with people? Yeah, but that’s her preference, it’s what makes her her.
all the time. my dog is supposed to not go on stairs until I tell her or if I go up she can follow but her paws should not touch a stair im on. she gets excited and runs up a short span to landings all the time. I should correct her but often I don't.
Sometimes, you just have to pick your battles 🤷♂️
My dog cannot be governed but he listens when I need him to and he’s part Pom so he lives for being a good boy so he does end up getting to be pretty independent. He absolutely wrecks toys though so I have to be vigilant with plush toys cos he will definitely try to rip it open for the stuffing
Why in the world would anyone try to get their dog to specifically lie on their bed if they're more comfortable somewhere else?
The weirdly controlling behavior some humans exhibit with dogs strikes me as extremely unreasonable.
I’m not trying that hard I promise. It’s just been more of a suggestion lol
It's the result you are pursuing by doing it that is the offence , I think
He gets away with a lot more than that
Everyone should train their dog for proper behaviors. Be consistent. It seems you know what you should do.
Maybe rinse him off when he comes back in? Or doggie wipes.
I like to be completely consistent. For instance, I've trained Shep to severely maim everyone who sets foot on my property, other than myself, so that he won't hesitate to do so to a home invader.
Dogs should be left to do what they are good at: just being a dog! Dogs will quickly fill your house with all kinds of nasty pathogens, after all they don’t take off shoes and coat when they come into the house. I can’t recall ever hearing a doctor say that this is unhealthy though; In fact, it seems to create a “better” immune system in children. The bigger problems with dogs, is that they are hypoallergenic, and especially as they get older, you may get a allergy against their skin protein, this actually happened to me, and I can probably never have a dog again.