Dog Licking Couch

[Greenday]

I have two beagles, one male (Jack) and one female (Squeekers). The female is fixed, the male is not (good going on my parent's part for being cheap). We've had the male dog for about five-six years and the female dog for around two years. They get along for the most part. Sometimes, Squeekers will get fed up with Jack and growl at him but it never gets bad. Jack on the other hand sniffs at her all the time. She can't pee in the backyard without him having to run up to her and sniff her. He also will have the urge to lick the couch in certain spots where she's been. It bugs the hell out of me and makes the couch smell.

Is there anything I can do or use to make him stop the couch licking? I'm facing the facts that I can't get a 10 year old dog neutered or really train him to stop at this point. But I figure there has to be something I can do to make him not like it.

[Parrothead]

bitter apple on the couch might work

[Food Lady]

OK, so my brain put a hyphen in there and I pictured a couch that likes to lick dogs. As for this problem, I'd think spray it lightly with diluted ammonia (the plain kind, not sudsy). It won't hurt the fabric. You won't like the smell, but neither will the dog, and it will dissipate. I use it for cleaning and it doesn't hurt the cleaning towels nor make anything smelly for too long.

[Sapphire Silk]

Don't see why you can't neuter the dog. It will calm some of the unwanted behaviors.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Quit farting on it.

[draggar]

bitter apple on the couch might work

Second

Don't see why you can't neuter the dog. It will calm some of the unwanted behaviors.

I agree - my only hesitation would be if the male is too old for surgery (but 5-6 shouldn't be too old). If it's an issue of money, you can go though SpayUSA or a local humane society to see if they have a local vet they can work with.

As for the growling - she's just telling him to back off. I don't think it'll escalate because he thinks she is his girlfriend but you may want to keep an eye on it if she get to snarking.

[strawbabies]

As long as he doesn't have issues with anesthesia ( which bloodwork before surgery would indicate), there's no reason not to neuter him.

[Greenday]

We've had the male dog for five-six years, but he was five years old when we got him. That makes him about ten-eleven years old. Too old for neutering.

As for Squeekers, she'll growl and snap at him, but she never tries to actually bite him. She just doesn't want to be bothered.

[Seshat]

Neutering is minor surgery, and can even be done in 'twilight' anaesthesia. Unless two different vets tell you otherwise, he can be neutered.

He can also be trained.

In this particular situation, I would recommend the 'change the environment' type of training. Put rugs - throw rugs, washable cushions, whatever - on the places where your dogs like to lie. Squeekers will be just as happy to snuggle onto one of those, and it won't matter if Jack licks the washable rugs or cushions. Just throw them in the washing machine, and put another one down.

If you need to make it cheap, use old towels or blankets, or pick stuff up at a charity shop.

See: my attitude to animal training is 'look for a solution which suits both you and the animal'. Jack wants to savour the smell of Squeekers. You're never going to change that, it's too much a part of his dog-ness. So you have to change HOW he gets the smell of Squeekers.

You might want to train Squeekers to stop lying on the couch - and wash the couch thoroughly to get rid of the lingering smell. But the easiest one is just going to be to cover the couch with washable rugs or cushions.

[Andara Bledin]

It's worth noting that there are both positive and negative effects of neutering a dog.

Spaying has almost entirely positive effects and is nearly always recommended, but neutering has much less support.

^-.-^

[Greenday]

Squeekers was spayed before we got her.

We actually have been putting towels on different parts of the couch. That's definitely helped a lot.

[PepperElf]

OK, so my brain put a hyphen in there and I pictured a couch that likes to lick dogs. As for this problem, I'd think spray it lightly with diluted ammonia (the plain kind, not sudsy). It won't hurt the fabric. You won't like the smell, but neither will the dog, and it will dissipate. I use it for cleaning and it doesn't hurt the cleaning towels nor make anything smelly for too long.

I was thinking the same thing! The couch is licking the dog!


But seriously I think part of this IS the fact that he's not fixed. Even though she's fixed, his libido is completely intact and he's smelling girl-dog-pee. Hell even *fixed* dogs try humping other dogs, so it's not surprising that an unfixed male is reacting to the scent of a female.

makes the couch smell.

If he's making the couch smell... he might be doing more than licking it. (sorry but male dogs do *that* to couches too).

[Flying Grype]

I'm not sure who's telling you that ten is too old to neuter. My mother adopted a ten-year-old female dog and had her spayed, no problem. Neutering a male is a far less dangerous surgery. As long as the dog's health doesn't prohibit him being anaesthetized, there's no reason why he 'can't' be neutered.

It's more likely that neutering him will have less of an effect on his behaviour now that he's old. If you got him neutered young, sex-related bad behaviours wouldn't have had a chance to set in. Now he's probably set in his ways. But neutering him now couldn't hurt and might help.

It might also be that you just have to try some plain old cause-and-effect training. If he licks the couch, put him off the couch or out of the room immediately. It might mean that you can only let him in that room when there are people there who are willing to enforce the training, because it won't work if he goes in there and does his thing alone with nobody to tell him not to.

[Andara Bledin]

Dogs are considered "senior" at 7 years, generally, and other than doing some blood work to ensure there are no health problems preventing it, there shouldn't be any reason you couldn't fix a senior dog.

^-.-^

[Greenday]

If he's making the couch smell... he might be doing more than licking it. (sorry but male dogs do *that* to couches too).

Naw, he doesn't do that. He doesn't hump other dogs or legs or anything. He just licks and sniffs. He follows me everywhere so I'd know if he did that on the couch. The only time he goes on the couch is if I'm in the living room. When I sleep, he sleeps with me in the morning. When I shower, he lays down next to the bathroom door.