[Dailydrool] Furniture issue

[James Reynolds]

All,

Our new friend Riley rescued via Looziana Basset Rescue (Yay!) is still in
the adjustment phase of joining our family. He came to us less than 10 days
ago. He's incredibly well behaving in almost every respect except one. He
keeps getting up on our sofa. We've had two previous rescue Bassets & w/both
of them, this seemingly easy concept & rule was non an issue. In other
words, they learned almost instantly by positive reinforcement, & a little
bit of drama added to convey the importance of following the house rule.
Riley's quickly learned not to climb on all other other household furniture,
& is in most other respects adjusting to the rhythm of our household quite
well. He's perfect about letting us know he needs to go (not a single
accident since day one), gets along with Edgrrr, is learning voice commands
reasonably well given the short time he's been with us.

I've never been a "clicker" person, & I'm hoping someone can give me some
ideas on how approach training Riley not to climb on the specific piece of
furniture.  What's triggering this I suspect is that the sofa is below our
front picture window, & more importantly Riley has very, very severe
separation anxiety. He howls like banshee the minute I leave the house or if
I crate him when we leave the house., or even if I go upstairs for a moment.
I don't see much improvement in the "He'll get used to it after a while"
method of training here & I'm not sure what to do. I'm thinking that what I
really need to focus on is the separation anxiety, which I've never dealt
with before with our other two Bassets (or any of the canines I've lived
with over the years). I also have to address the sofa issue as my wife & I
both are perplexed as to why Riley isn't "getting it" that the sofa is a
non-approachable area.

Please don't misinterpret this as being mean, both Riley & Edgrrr both have
two beds each on the main floor of the house & one each in the bedroom, so
this isn't an issue of the dogs not having a comfortable place in the rooms
we gather in. This particular sofa is the "Sitting Room" sofa where we
receive guests formally. In other words, the one room of the house we keep
pristine at all times; we don't even use it unless we have "company".

Any recommendations or advice? I'm not keen on upside down rug runners,
bobby-traps that startle or frighten are not really options. I don't like
frightening; & I'm not willing to change our habits to meet Riley's
"lifestyle".

Feel free to respond directly or to the group. I'll welcome any advice.

Thanks!

-James
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