Anyone who has had pets will testify to how hard it is sometimes to ensure they don’t jump all over your furniture. Like it or not, pets seem to have a fascination with jumping on your bed, lounging on your sofa and even exploring your wardrobe every now and then. It would be fine if they just sat nicely and were clean, but as we know this is often not true of pets. Instead they claw at your bedding, chew up your couch and get mud all over your lovely white wardrobes. There are methods for stopping this happening however, lets take a look at three of the most successful.

Training. It is only by making sure your pets are trained well that you will ensure they keep off your expensive living room and bedroom furniture. If you can train your pets early in their life then you stand the best chance, because as the saying goes, ‘you can’t teach and old dog new tricks’. You should instill the idea in your pets that furniture is for the use of people and not them. However, many people do let their pets on certain pieces of furniture, in which case your pets should know which ones they are allowed on, and which are forbidden.

Pet deterrents. If your lovely pets don’t listen to you and have no respect for your property whatsoever, you may need to be a little bit craftier in your approach. You can buy certain powders and sprays that cats, dogs and other animals simply detest. They are often citric acid based, which is fine for humans, but pets, with their sensitive noses, don’t like it at all.

Discipline. This ties in with training, but even pets that have had no training at all with still respond to correct discipline. This doesn’t mean that you should hit your pets every time they jump on the chair or bedside cabinets, but instead be consistent with how you react when they do. There is nothing more confusing to an animal than being told off for something one day and allowed to do it the next without being told off.Provide a good amount of praise when your pets behave, and only tell them off using a loud voice and by moving them firmly from anywhere they shouldn’t be.