We Bought a Farm: Keeping Scrubs off the Furniture: Part II

Ever since he was a pup, Scrubs has brought us so much joy ...

• He happily cleans up the floor whenever kids make messes.  
• He would bond gladly with each of the kids, one after the other.
• He willingly let the kids paint him with mud. 
• He ha accepted child after child after child and their hugs.
• He can catch a Frisbee like no one's business!
• He learned to ring a bell to tell us he had to go to the bathroom.

.... and, like most dogs, so much incredible angst!

• When he was little he swallowed socks whole. 
• He once ate a dozen cupcakes off the counter in the Azores -- and left no proof. There wasn't even a piece of paper remaining!
• He would get himself stuck on top of things that he could get up on but couldn't get down from.  
• When he was little his energy was absolutely unending as I wrote about in this post and this one. 
• He has terrible allergies that could actually blow up his whole face. 
• If I left a baby bottle unattended he would eat the nipple off and drink the milk. 
• He regularly ate any baby toy he could get his paws on.
• He often counter-surfed and ate our dinner before we ever got to it. 
• While he is not allowed to get up on the furniture, he would always find the person he viewed as the weakest link and try to talk them into letting him up. 
• He has gotten into a growling match with a dog on a picture. 
• If he needs to vomit, he always moves from the tile floor to a rug. He doesn't like to puke on bare floor!
• He would bolt anytime the door was opened even a crack and perch himself 100 yards from me. Refusing to come back but not going to run away. 
• One time he went into a neighbor's carport and stole his ball cap and frolicked around the neighborhood until I tricked him inside with a treat and then left to return the ball cap. 
• His nose smudges are everywhere from asking to go outside and then standing at the glass immediately to be brought back in. 
• He's given me a black eye.
• When he was younger, he followed me everywhere. I mean everywhere.

But honestly, he's eight and a half now. He has a huge farm to run around in. So the Scrubs "issues" are less and less of a thing for me. He's not as hyper. He lays around a lot more. For the most part he listens.

However, there is one area that he and I continue to not see eye to eye on.

I do not want my dog on my furniture. Is that really so much to ask? Just stay off the furniture and we won't ever butt heads again!

Folks, this is not a little dog. He is big. And he has wiry white hairs that stick everywhere. It is so bad that JB, who wears black scrubs to work, will not change until the very last minute before he leaves for work, in order to prevent hair inundation. 

This dog has a very nice dog bed. But it doesn't matter. He wants to sleep on our sofas. Or our beds. Or our chairs. When we leave the house, we have to make sure all of our bedroom doors are shut and every piece of furniture is covered. 

One day dad and mom accidentally left their house door open. 

And they came home to find Scrubs sleeping on their bed.

So I came up with a plan, and I wrote about it here.  I was so tired of trying to find things to cover the furniture with that I did my research and found this great idea to keep Scrubs off my furniture.

It worked.

For about six months.

And now he has outsmarted us. That dog has taught himself to flip the cushions on the back of the couch, over, and lay on top of them. There is no way I could get a picture of him on the cushion because as soon as I walk out of my room, that dog bolts, and hides on the other side of the dining room table from me because he knows I am going to lay into him. 

I have tried to lay the plastic in different ways. This dog is either flipping the cushions or using his paws to knock the plastic off the couch. He has totally rendered the plastic .... useless.

I know he is a good dog.

But grrrrrrrrr ....... he makes me want to growl!!!!