Dogs

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!

Pic of the boy Stevie Wonder.

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.

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.

Sometimes, you just have to pick your battles 🤷‍♂️

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.

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.

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

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.

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).

He gets away with a lot more than that

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

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.

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.

Maybe rinse him off when he comes back in? Or doggie wipes.

Everyone should train their dog for proper behaviors. Be consistent. It seems you know what you should do.

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.