I don't like being moved when I am warm and comfy either With dogs like this I find that a house lead makes a big difference, the dog drags the lead, it doesn't have to be long just long enough to pick up and lead him away in this type of situation. If on furniture etc. you can give a command as you lead him off, you may have to be very instant at first then reward him when off. This is much safer for everyone and you are not challenging your dog.

A good idea and is one of the reasons why I like my dogs to be muzzle trained. Also I will put one on a dog for their protection especially with Tilly as she is frightened of people, they stay away from her if she is muzzled.

Unfortunately a house lead is not appropriate for us because my 2 and 3year old daughters would want to lead/pull him around on it ...and also would trip on it as he was walking/doing wall of death!

We're teaching a 'get off' command by throwing a couple of pieces of kibble on the floor and asking him to get off. When he does get off he gets a high value reward. He now has a lovely soft floor cushion so getting off the sofa doesn't mean lack of comfort. If he refuses to get off I gently lift the sofa cushion while not looking at him and he gently falls on the floor...and no more is said about it, lol.

The thought of leading him away made me chuck,e because he does a very good line in standing/lying still and just looking at you and refusing to move if he doesn't want to! I'm so glad he came to us rather than a novice house or I think he may well have been returned at the first growl. He did not show any of those behaviours while in foster care but he had about four different ones in the few months after he was rescued at 12 weeks and he took a good couple of months to settle with us. He was no trouble, just reserved. Our children are having to learn that a growl means that heis not happy with what they are doing. They are so use to Tonks, our Staffie, who is happy with all physical contact and snorts and grumbles in a conversational way.

Had dogs like this, they seem to think if they refuse to move you will stop expecting them to, they are wrong, I am a lot more stubborn than any dog I have had and can outstand them, they will eventually move. I do have my back to them, this is important when trying to get a dog to move, looking at them can stop them moving as you could be holding your dog in that position with your eyes.

Poor dog, he is lucky he has found you, so many homes in such a short time when he was still a baby will have made things a lot worse for him. One of my dogs has been passed from pillar to post, she is very good at escaping, can open doors and windows, get over a 5ft fence etc. It took her 2 years to accept she was staying and was only a year old when she came to me.

The best think I taught my sons was to listen to my dogs, they learnt to see, that sounds a bit daft but true. Most people look but don't see what they are looking at properly, if you ask them what they had seen they can't tell you. One of my sons was on a treasure hunt when he was 1 years old, he won it because he took notice of what was around him, he saw a lot more than others did and only missed 1. Many on this hunt were teenagers, he was the youngest.

My dogs had a safe place to go to were my sons were not allowed to go near them, when my grandson came along I said he couldn't go near the dogs when they were in their beds, both my son and his partner got up and walked out, didn't see them for some time. Not one for backing down I told them that if their son kept pestering my dogs he would eventually be bitten because they are not doing their job as parents by teaching him respect of animals, if one of my dogs bit him they would demand that the dog be pts when it was their fault for not teaching their child properly. Not surprised we didn't see them for some time.