Should I let my dog on the furniture?

​That’s a question I hear often and quite frankly, the answer is “That is your own personal preference”.
I always tell my clients that it is up to their discretion if they give their dog permission to be on the furniture. That being said, one important factor is permission.
As long as your dog knows and understands that the couch belongs to you and they are using your property at your discretion, there is nothing wrong with letting the dog on the furniture. Problems arise if that is unclear to your dog and your dog sees it for granted to use your belongings or even assumes ownership over certain spots and areas around the house. 
Why is that? 
Dogs are animals; they have no real sense of sharing resources, especially if they think those will give them some kind of advantage (couch= high perch) or have a lot of value to the individual; contrary to some TikTok videos, sharing is not in a dog’s DNA. From day one, dogs have to compete against each other; they compete with their litter mates for the best teat on their mother while nursing, and then they compete against each other while eating puppy gruel (ever seen a video of a litter of puppies eating gruel? You think you are watching some kind of gladiator games). They compete against each other for resources; they do not understand the concept of abundance. In the animal kingdom, it is always the survival of the fittest. The one who controls the resources is basically in control of everything. The mother dog controls the “milk bar,” and when she’s had enough, she will just get up and walk away. She makes the rules. If you do not set rules for the house and give allowances without limitations, your dog for sure will. So, it is absolutely ok for you to allow your dog on the furniture as long as you set the rules for it and your dog does not become possessive about these. When you tell your dog to get off the couch, your dog needs to get off the couch promptly. No questions asked. If you are having problems with establishing rules and boundaries around your house, feel free to reach out to me.