we have leather sofas since we have fur babies

It's the easiest way to keep it clean.

Slip covers are reminiscent of the plastic covers great grandma kept on her couch or the plastic wrapper left on lampshades. Why pick a sofa you love and then cover it up? Perhaps once they get old and shabby then the slip cover could come out. Otherwise are we furnishing for our guests enjoyment or our own? There are lots of good performance fabrics now that are easy to clean. Choose one you like and skip the slip cover.

We bought our Mitchell-Gold sofa without fabric! They specifically make sofas to use with slipcovers. Mitchell-Gold makes the slipcovers so well that people don't even realize the chair & sofa are slipcovered. When I change out the look for the season people do a double take and ask if I bought new furniture. You have to go with a good craftsman but it's worth it.

@Kate and @ShadyWillowFarm.. What's your suggestion on training two "small" breed dog(s) you've adopted/rescued (to give them a better life) who have had not much, if any at all, obedience training (2 years & 4 years old) because they were "crated" 12 hours a day and used only for breeding? I've had well trained dogs all my life but this has been a major challenge. My solution is vegan leather sofas with pet-proof covers that can be washed. As far people who don't like the dogs jumping, barking or being annoying, they probably shouldn't visit my house lol.

YouTube! Or a local trainer with good references. I’ve found that the more time dogs are allowed to be outdoors, the quieter they are in the house. It’s like kids - get them really tired and from running around outside all day and they will eat good and sleep good. Also invest in a really good fence. 🙂

Lol, another one of those topics! We have no pets now, but our cats were allowed on sofa and chairs, a d our first dog (Golden Retriever) was, as well. We had only hand-me-downs back then, would cover the sofa with a large quilt, so we didn’t worry about it. With our second dog, a Bernese Mtn Dog, we were stricter: the hairy beast was never allowed on any furniture…..and she knew it! When we left the house we placed a long mop on the sofa, which kept her off; occasionally DH would forget (if he was “running out for just a minute”), and boy did she take advantage of the mopless sofa! We think she literally had parties on the couch (worse even was our bed!!!) on those occasions, she created such a hairy mess. (I’m sure dogs can be trained better, and she was usually a good, well-behaved girl, but she just couldn’t stop herself, I guess…..RIP, Molly-Girl!) But no slipcovers here.

@ShadyWillowFarm Thank you for the advice.

@ koolbeanzzzz - Rescues that have had some type of abuse are very different than training an adult dog that just hadn't been well trained and trainers without experience with rescues are sometimes quick to give advice that may not be appropriate for your rescue pets.

Many rescues have had a rough start, and they have never learned to trust their human. You have to start with gaining their trust. Depending on the level, timing and duration of abuse there may be behaviors you will never train out of them. Animals who were starved are going to eat every morsel of food they can find until they learn that they won't be deprived again. I generally free feed pets, but I have had some that would eat until till they made themselves sick. I had one rescue that had been beaten during the fear imprint stage and I remember my husband calling me at work one day just as excitd as anything. He told me Honey had come out from under the bed and laid on the far end of the sectional sofa. We had been married for about 3 years and had lived together for a year before we got married and this was the first time Honey came out from under the bed when I wasn't home. It took me 3 months of sitting on the floor and not doing anything before she stopped peeing when I walked past her. She had to learn that I wouldn't hurt her and that I was her protector. She was fine when I was at home and it was just me and someone she knew, otherwise she jumped up on the sofa and buried herself between me and the sofa cushion and shook. She came, she sat, she laid down on command, She needed the security of being cuddled up next to me, she ate her dry food one kibble at a time, getting a kibble from her dish, jumping up on my lap to eat it and going back to her bowl to get another kibble. She was the most neurotic rescue I have owned and I don't know if she could have ever been classified as "well trained", but giving her a loving, stable home enriched my life in ways that I can't explain. I just know she gave far more to me than I gave to her, and anyone who didn't want to sit on a sofa where Honey had sat could sit in my driveway and not bother coming into my home.

Each rescue comes with their own unique issues, fears, neurotic behaviors and you have to take the time to understand how they are wired and what training methods may work or not work.

I had another dog that nipped playfully, but most of what I tried doing to curb the behavior actually incited more aggressive behavior. I found that if I rolled up in a ball, whimpered and turned away, they stopped nipping and nuzzled and tried to make up. The behavior stopped within 2 weeks.

Some of the bigger cities have behaviorists that work with the shelters and understand the unique needs of some rescues. Smaller towns may have a rescue organizations that have volunteers who have dealt with rescues and their unique needs. Your vet may also know someone who has done a lot of foster care or rescue work and is equipped to help you with the special needs of your pets. Horse trainers that practice "natural horsemanship" are also often quite good with dogs that have trust issues and may be able to provide some guidance.

I recommend the book "Mother knows best, The natural way to train your dog" as a starting point. It doesn't specifically cover rescues, but it does explain how a mother dog or litter mates influence behaviors.

I wish you the best with your bundles of love.

I'm in the camp that believes dogs can be trained to stay off the furniture. I'm 75 years old, have owned many types of dogs in my life from Chihuahuas to Boxers to Labs to Collies, Aussies, and German Shepherds, to various humongous Livestock Guardian Breeds. Some have been deliberately acquired, some have been gifts, others have been rescues. They all have their individual personalities and quirks which must be observed, learned, and respected, but they are intelligent animals. They'll train us if we allow it, but they are quite able to comprehend the rules if explained and enforced. LOL!

As for slipcovers on the sofa...again, I've had various styles and decor in my years. My preference is Italianate white leather...but right now, my environment and budget dictate wicker and linen slipcovers. One does what one must...sigh...

I always wanted a navy blue couch with the slip cover at our lake house, but couldn’t find one that fit the space. So we decided to buy a slip cover and have a custom-made to our old couch. We bought a couple white matching slipcover chairs and I absolutely love the space… It really is perfect for our lakehouse.

My cat is totally trained to stay off the furniture I don't want him on. I don't see what's so hard to believe about that. He knows there would be hell to pay if he were to scratch the off-limits stuff. I have a $4000 chair with ottoman. I let him sleep on the ottoman but knows not to cross me. It's been six years with him and this wool ottoman.

Like so many other things in life, everyone has their own lifestyle and rules for their home.

I choose to allow my dog to get on my furniture.

I choose to allow shoes to be worn in my home.

I choose to keep some of my small appliances on my counter.

Your choices may be different.

That doesn't make my choices right and yours wrong.

It doesn't make your choices right and mine wrong.

They are simply different choices.

The only issue I have is when people state their preferences in a way that sounds like everyone who doesn't agree with them is wrong.

If you don't like my rules and don't want to sit on furniture that my dog sits on you don't need to come to my home. I will respect your decision, but in turn I do expect that you should respect my decisions and not tell me that I shouldn't allow my dog on my sofa in my home. My home, my rules.

@jennifer hogan, "Amen!"

Thank you for the advice. It has been a real challenge for me and my husband but these dogs are very grateful now. So, for me it's worth the trouble and aggravation to give them a life they've never had. For the record, they are French Bulldogs. Very stubborn by nature.

Thanks again!

@koolbeanzzzz, I agree that rescue dogs require different training and patience. We had a rescue Collie that was probably chained up outside most of his life. He never got on the furniture, but wasn’t anything we taught him. I think he was grateful he had a dog bed and slept inside.

I don’t care for slipcovers on couches. I have a Flexsteel love seat and long sofa that I love. The couches are firm and so comfortable. The back couch cushions are fixed so they always looks great. We chose a sturdy microfiber in a greige/ green that is ultra stain resistant. No slip covers needed.

@koolbeanzzzz , @Kate - We have been blessed with the opportunity to live with a rescue!

Frenchies are rather ritualistic. Good and bad for training. With a pup, consistancy is everything, but with a rescue re-programing their thinking is really a challenge. They learned what they learned and don't like change. Kind of like some people I have worked with!

@Jennifer Hogan We too feel blessed with our girlies and your our advice is "right on", lol. My girls have come a long way but truly is a challenge to reprogram them. I feel like I have two toddlers in their "terrible twos". I'll leave at that because I know this post is really about slipcovers :) Thank you for the advice!

No we cannot as we live in Miami and we have (indoor only) cats. To avoid any potential flea infestation that could be walked in from outside, we leave shoes near the front door, we have leather mid-century couches, avoid any furniture with fabric slipcovers, and limit any rugs to throw rugs that can go in the laundry. It helps that the furniture for our home follows a Scandinavian design such that we incorporate wood furniture for instance the bed frames.

Dogs can be trained. The problem is they are so smart they will trick you into thinking they can not be trained.

I have chosen a slipcover instead of reupholstering because of the cost. I have two vintage Ethan Allen wing chairs gifted to me by a close friend. Although in perfect condition the fabric would never work in my house. I got quotes on reupholstering...$1200.00 each, not counting the cost of the fabric. So I went with slips. Gal who does them is so talented you can't tell it isn't upholstered.

5* for Flexsteel furniture and an extra 5* if it is upholstered with the Kashmira fabric. Looks like suede or leather...indestructible.

Our sweet rag tag is from a kill shelter in Arkansas. He never gets on furniture, his choice, not ours. Could be he never saw a sofa and doesn't know what to do with it. But, does he love his bed.

Ollie gets lots of walks every day and has two days of play dates. We can't let him out alone...coyotes. I have seen 3 so far this week. It is mating season and the males can be very aggressive. I walk with a walking stick and have a referee whistle around my neck.

We have a leather sofa, chair, and ottoman

How did this become a discussion about how to train your dog? And the pros and cons of different breeds and their individual histories. We all get you love your “ fur babies” and some of the are very cute but the question is do you or do you not use slipcovers? Too much info about the dogs . “Yes I use slipcovers because I have a dog who gets on furniture“ is all thats relevant. Stick to the topic.

We thought it was a free country...at least for the time being.LOL!

It is and you can comment on whatever you like but we need to respect that people generally log on to Houzz for decorating and home styling advice and not pet training. Lets respect the intent of the site and not waste their time. I’m sure there are multiple other forums for pet lovers.

I'm not trying to be disrespectful, Kathy, but I've been using this site for over 13 years, and people frequently discuss pets and other topics along with architectural, gardening, and home styling advice. It's a site where people generally genuinely enjoy interacting as well as a site where we learn a lot. I've actually made a couple of long lasting "new" friends as a result.

@ Kathy Nakrayko - I have been a successful manager of a highly effective team of virtual employees for 10+ years. Since Covid I have been asked to help other managers who had teams that transitioned from in office to virtual environments.

All the old rules for respecting your staff's time and management's time by keeping meetings brief and to the point, staying on topic and not letting conversations stray have to be abandoned if you want a truly successful team. People are motivated by relationships and relationships are built from conversation. If you pigeonhole your conversations to just the task at hand productivity, collaboration and innovation suffer. I know my staff's favorite foods, places they have traveled, and most importantly, what makes them tick. I know who I can put on the spot to do an impromptu demonstration and who needs to chew on an idea quietly for a day or two.

If someone just wants to implement the rules of design, they could read a book. But if we want innovative ideas and the best solutions, we are better off letting people have the freedom to communicate freely, build relationships and feed off the thoughts and ideas of others.

Does it really matter if someone came looking for advice on a slipcover and left with a new understanding that they aren't a failure because their rescued dog gets on the sofa, but are, in fact, a successful savior to an animal that has special needs?

It's all good.

Thanks, Jennifer...well said and appreciated!

I am patenting fabric slipcovers for dogs that match your sofa.

Well thats some long rant Jennifer. A lot of rebuff for a simple comment about staying on topic in a comment column. I get it, you like straying off topic. I don’t.

@Paul F. - One of those memories that stands out in my mind from my years working at a shelter was a woman who brought 2 cats into the shelter because her cats didn't "go with her new furniture."

@ Kathy Nakrayko I often open meetings with the statement "I seek to understand." It is true and the essence of my personality. I wish I understood why my explanation was seen by you as an emotionally charged display of anger when it was written simply as an explanation, a different viewpoint. I wonder why it bothers you so much that others aren't just falling in line with your point of view. I wish I knew more about you and could understand not only your point of view, but why you think the way you do. I also wonder about your design style and color palette.

I love comparing personality traits and skin tone/eye color and hair color with design and color choices.

I don't use slipcovers mostly because I have cats. I tend to have blankets and pillows and sometimes use sheets on all the couches in our house. For the comfort of humans and cats. I find using blankets and sheets is easier to swap out and launder than slipcovers.

I have had slipcovers a couple times in the past. But they just weren't ever right. Probably some part of too generic of a slipcover. And part of it just having couches not shaped well to suit generic slipcovers.

I've done holiday slipcovers for the dining chairs in the past when we entertained more. Those can be fun and really complete a table setup.

You have an extraordinarily high opinion of yourself Jennifer. Your comments are intrusive, passive aggressive and condescending but I doubt that you understand that. But in any case it’s irrelevant. The topic Jennifer is slipcovers. And this very unfortunate thread stemming from my one comment is a great example of why you should stop trying to dig into my psyche and why we should stick to slipcovers.

If everyone could just take a deep breath and smile then we don't have to agree or to argue or to try to persuade others to our point of view. Please, let's enjoy our discussion in a way that makes it enjoyable to be here.

I mentioned above (I think) that slipcovers, even custom ones, put me in the mind frame of both grandmothers who used the phrase, "looking like an unmade bed." Of course they were referring to the sixites/seventies clothes when ironing went out the window for me permanently and I embraced those long, crinkly cotton skirts. Still, the phrase stuck with me and it rolls around my head when I see slipcovers in photos or in real life. I never say anything of course; it's not my furniture and it's not my business. But I always picture the (likely) massive difference between the polished and untouched look of them and the probable reality of living with them.

@ Kathy Nakrayko ...You have made some, I think, unfortunate and uncalled for accusations against Jennifer Hogan, and indirectly, against all the rest of the Houzz commenters on this thread for what you have deemed "straying off topic." You may be a newer participant in the Houzz community who has apparently not perceived yet that this is, indeed a "community" where we enjoy input from both the very generous experts who share their knowledge and experience so freely, but also from the "lay population" who frequently contribute not only knowledge but humor and human warmth and interest. As such, it is one of the most valuable and refreshing sites on the Web. We joyfully welcome such input. I hope that you will be able to enjoy and benefit from such a life-filled community the way the rest of us do.

@ Aphaea ...thenk you! Your "take a deep breath and smile" point is appreciated!

O goodnees granmas. My grandma had fabric quick covers for her couches that she would take off for when good company would come over. She left them on the couches when us kids would come over. We weren't allowed to sit on the couches.

But even worse retro... clear plastic slipcovers. As a kid I remember a couple houses I visited that the furniture had clear plastic slipcovers on them. I sure hope that design trend never returns, lol.

Oh, yeah, beesneeds! I've seen those awful plastic covers too! I also remember the "temporary" covers that came off when company came calling at my Great Aunt's home! I've seen some lovely linen slipcovers that I wouldn't mind using on a pretty much full-time basis ...again, if I didn't have 2 very large, long-haired dogs who, though they don't live inside, do visit at least once daily, and love to rub against the furniture when they deposit themselves on the living room floor! The dark floral cushions that currently sit on my living room love seats, (which are not my taste at all, but are what I have to live with for the time being) don't show the hair as easily and can be brushed or vacuumed as necessary to keep them "hair free!" It's easier than wrestling slipcovers on and off to cycle them through the wash...even lovely white linen ones!

Can get this look also with painters’ canvas dropcloths. Wash the dropcloths a couple of times to soften them up - and you get the look of a nice linen. Easy to take off - relaxed look.

Cam also use the canvas dropcloths to make more tailored covers - for DIY or custom.

Plastic slipcovers! I remember that vividly. Neither grandma had the but my aunt (my mother's sister) did in her formal living room. Clear plastic slipcovers on the sofa and chairs and also plastic coverings on the lampshades. When my mom and dad and we kids (five of us) visited, they didn't come off. I remember once asking my mother why not, were we chopped liver or something. Hahahaha! A funny memory.

Aphaea: yes, I also remember plastic slipcovers at one of my friend’s home. We were not allowed in her living room even though all the chairs and couches were covered in plastic. Yuk!!

KCulbers, I think I remember reading that Joan Crawford, not surprisingly, was a big fan of them too. Even when some magazine came to her house to photograh her they didn't come off. Let me see if I can find a picture. (Of course they were the rage at that time.)

@ Aphaea ...Wow! Design History! Thanks for sharing this one!

No no no do not like slip cover they never fit right really don’t look good on and they never stay straight…always look messy

Yes! I change up my look seasonally. I have a Ballard (Arhaus) sofa with a velvet slip cover in winter and linen and summer. i go from a wooly shag tug to sisal in summer. You can buy replacement slipcovers made to order for standard brands at a reduced cost than name brand.

I have a futon and would not put a slipcover on it. Not a big fan of slipcovers.

I used a slipcover in college with a $20 sofa that I bought at a garage sale and kept for only two years. I have not used slipcovers since then. I did like the slipcover that I had made for that sofa.

I do not allow dogs in my house (I do allow them in my backyard), and so I do not have to worry about fur. I like cats but am allergic, and so I don't have those either. My father taught me that dogs belongs outdoors, and while I did not appreciate this as a child, I have come to his way of thinking, especially after buying our current house in Los Angeles, which had the stench of dog urine in it (masked by deodorizers while we were viewing it) that did not go away for at least six months. At the time, I could not afford to rip out the carpet in my bedroom and install new flooring, which is what should have been done - by the previous owners.

I have two beige mid-century slab couches in my family room. However, the beige fabric doesn't stand up to hubby's penchant for chocolate and it isn't washable. I bought stretchable dark brown covers for the couch cushions and still use the beige slanted backs. The brown covers look great and are washable--I do have to straighten them about once a week. The original beige upholstery is still in good shape for whoever in future wants to use the couches that way. I expect that stretchy slipcovers might be more acceptable than the ones of stiffer material.

As a side note, heavy duty chocolate craving is sometimes a sign of a magnesium deficiency.

Continuing the plastic slipcover story: My frugal mother covered her new couch with plastic slipcovers as was the custom at the time. However, they were slippery and hot, so she covered the slipcovers with carefully folded throws. My brother commented that you could tell how important visitors were by how many layers of coverings were removed when they came over. Incidentally, when we broke up her house fifty years later that couch was still pristine, probably because the upholstery was scratchy so no one sat there until it was the last available place.