My personal and proffession advice would to make sure Molly is of the sofa before it is time for you to go to bed. Either that you can use a lead and put the lead on Molly first befor you try to coax her of the sofa. The lead her to her bed.

Thanks again for the advice.

We took all of this on board and got to work with her last night. I took her bedding from her crate and put it in her favourite spot (when she's not on the couch) in the living room. The room is on the first floor with full length windows and she likes to sit and watch the world go by out of the window. She already knows the command for 'place' to go to her crate, so she very quickly picked up 'window' to go to her bedding by the window. Every time she laid down on it we gave her a treat, one of her toys or her chews or even just a little bit of attention. It worked well and she is already settling there by herself. She inevitably fell asleep on the couch again (I was in another room on the phone at the time) but we took everyone's advice and encouraged her off when it was time for bed using her ball/toy, rather than coaxing her physically. She went off to her crate down in the kitchen with no problem.

We'll obviously keep working on this but initally thngs are looking positive. Appreciate everyone taking their time to help us out.

Dene

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Molly - 10 month old beagle

Victims to date - garden trowel, Sky+ remote control, 2 cardigans, 1 pair of trousers, skirting board, telephone cable, laptop cable, camera....and counting!

no no no no no. don't tell your dog off if he snaps at you.
sure, you can avoid/prevent situations, but the best is to train the dog.

1. choose a time OTHER than bed time, training time.
2. put the collar/lead on him - teach him to 'turn off' pressure on the collar to get a treat.
- you will get a dog that may snap at you, as a form of resistance. but if you continue to train through it, and reward him at the end of it, he will learn to 'move' with the collar.
i teach this normally with 6-8month puppies BECAUSE when they get older, they get stronger, bite harder and a bit more serious. as a puppy we can control them a bit more and they learn to understand that we CAN move them by the collar (or otherwise).

IF YOU DONT DO THIS there are two options - he MAY grow out of it. or he may not. and he will continue snapping, not just at you, but at anyone that may decide to move him ( a guest/child etc.).

This should all be done OUTSIDE of obedience, commands etc.
You should simply teach the dog to 'turn off' the pressure on the collar and MOVE ALONG and be compliant to what you make him do.

If you don't know how, get a good trainer who can do this. It should take 3-4 sessions to get a good understanding.

IM all for postive food training, but this has to be done for SOME dogs. otherwise, you'll get a dog that learns to snap to control his situation and YOU.

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Cambridge Dog Training School | G3 Dogs
www.g3dogs.com

Glad you have seen some progress already, just keep at it and doing plenty of repetitions and be consistant.
We'll obviously keep working on this but initally thngs are looking positive. Appreciate everyone taking their time to help us out.

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