Dog Resistant Sofa Cover

If you have a dog, you must have faced this dilemma - is the dog allowed on the couch or not? It's not an easy choice: it's fun to have your dog with you, but they shed and sometimes smell. My dog takes it even further and tries to dig into the sofa and he literally ruined our previous on. But even if you decide they're not allowed, you can't just ask them not to climb - dogs are sneaky! You also have to make sure they don't do it while you're gone. This is a never-ending battle - you design a barrier and they find a way to solve the puzzle, move things around, and climb back on.

The only way to keep our dog off the couch was to fill the entire area of the couch with objects he can't move. So we started laying chairs and boxes on the couch every time we go to bed or leave the house. This was clearly a bad solution, since it took a long time to deploy and was really annoying, so I decided to find a different solution.

The solution had to fulfill several requirements: it had to cover the entire area of the couch, it had to be rigid and resist my dog's attempts to move it, and importantly, it had to be better than the current solution of laying chairs - it had to be easy to deploy, fold, and store away.

The solution I found is made of cardboard, which is actually made to be light, foldable and rigid.

I hope you follow along and enjoy this project, and if you have any questions or comments, I'll be happy to reply!

You'll need cardboard boxes. Make sure they're long enough to cover all or most of your couch's depth. I laid the boxes on the couch and made sure their dimensions are a good fit. How many boxes do you need? This varies, but a rule of thumb is that each box will contribute to cover about x1.5 of its own width.

It's easiest to use identical boxes, but if you can't find identical boxes, that's okay. It'll just require a bit more processing.

You'll also need a utility knife, simple PVA glue, and wide gaffer tape.

• Disassemble the cardboard boxes. Try not to wrinkle them.
• Slice the boxes into 4 sections - two main faces (the large ones, without the handles) and two secondary faces. You'll only need the main faces.

Each fillet is made of 3 parts - its central part and two outer flaps.

• To make a segment of the sofa cover, use PVA glue to connect two fillets at one of their outer flaps as shown in the first image. The result should look like what's shown in the second image.

The sofa cover has two types of segments - interior segments and edge segments. In the step 3 we'll make a repeated chain of segments to form the sofa cover, so make sure you read that step before you begin creating.

• To make an interior segment, take a segment made of two fillets and cut their outer flaps. The result should look like the letter 'Y' as shown in the third image.
• To make an edge segment, cut just one of the outer flaps and leave one as is for now (see third image again).

To assemble the sofa cover, we'll make a long chain of repeating segments (a polymer). The chain should will be made of interior segments sandwiched between two edge segments (edge-interior-interior....interior-edge).

• Connect the different segments at their interior flap using gaffer tape (see images 1-4). I photographed this process using masking tape, but had to replace it all later. Use some robust gaffer tape, trust me.
• Continue adding more segments to the chain until its long enough. Make sure the edge flaps of the edge segments face outwards (see the 5th image).

Now that's the sofa protection is made, it's time to use it. Deploy it so that it forms a zig-zag shape with a support beneath each triangle (kind of like a chain of patrol tents connected to each other) - see 1st GIF and the following image. This structure can support a lot of weight in case your dog ever tries to climb this uncomfortable thing. To secure it to the couch, wedge the edge flaps between the cushions (see 2nd GIF). If the edge flaps are too long, you can cut them at this point.

The sofa cover can be folded into a thin stack, as shown in the last GIF. There's no need to apply pressure, so if you find yourself struggling, you're doing it wrong!

That's it for today! I hope you enjoyed reading and that some of this article inspired you to make something of your own!

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