For those of you that have cats or dogs (or maybe even rabbits), you’ll know just how difficult it can be keeping them off the furniture. For some reason, pets love to lie on your beds, sit on your couch and even hide in your wardrobes. Owners probably wouldn't mind if they didn't do any harm whilst on the furniture, but this is often not the case. Instead they claw at your bedding, chew up your couch and get mud all over your lovely white wardrobes. There are ways to prevent this happening though; here are 3 of the best.

Training. It is only by making sure your pets are trained well that you will ensure they keep off your expensive living room and bedroom furniture. If you are lucky enough to be able to provide training from a young age then your pets will be more receptive to new training when they are older as well. If you can teach them that the furniture is not their plaything, but instead for their owners to use, that is great. But if you do chose to let your pets on the furniture, you should at least train them to listen to you when you tell them to get down.

Pet deterrents. If your lovely pets don’t listen to you and have no respect for your property whatsoever, you may need to be a little bit craftier in your approach. Available from pet stores are products that you spray or sprinkle on your furniture to repel pets. They are often citric acid based, which is fine for humans, but pets, with their sensitive noses, don't like it at all.

Discipline. If you have trained your pet then they will respond better to discipline, but any animal will learn if you go about it the right way. This doesn’t mean that you should hit your pets every time they jump on the chair or bedside cabinets, but instead be consistent with how you react when they do. Make sure you don't let them get away with lying on the bed one day, only to chastise them the next. Use loud short noises to tell them no, and praise them when they don’t jump up.