Over the years, Mrs. H. has grown OK with allowing the two Aussies to jump up on the sofa and snuggle in while she reads the paper and enjoys her afternoon cup of coffee... which was fine when the sofa was the old, beat up leftover from our first home almost 30 years ago.  But just before the holidays we [finally] bought a nice replacement for the living room and relagated the 'paper reading' and 'coffee drinking' visits with the dogs to the family room sofa-- a leather unit that can easily be washed.  But when I'm away for awhile and the 'boys' are alone in the house, I've noticed the tell-tale shedding on the new burgandy fabric that lets me know we've created a new naptime location-- and one I'd prefer they not use!

I tried the typical teaching tools we've always used and I've moved them from where I DON'T want them to be [when I've occasioanlly caught them in the act] and rewarded and praised them for moving to the acceptable places.  No luck... the shedding signs continued.  Until a friend suggested I cover the new sofa temporarily with aluminum foil.  Voila!  Since covering the pads of the sofa, they avoid it like it was The Plague!  I'm going to leave the foil there for another week and then test it out for lasting 'behavior modification' results.

Stay tuned!