I have a male beagle and female foxhound that think they are people and deserve to be on the couch. Well, not anymore thanks to these mats! My family keeps an eye on the dogs while we're home and verbally discipline them when they jump on the couch. Unfortunately they think it's romper room when we leave the house and trample all over the couch (on top, on the arms, etc) and use the the couch as their personally command station to look out the window. Yeah, it's a problem. ANYWAY, these mats work well because they jump up and get annoyed/scared and jump down right away. As soon as we put these mats up they tried it once each and after a week no dog attempts to jump up anymore. One caveat is that the mats are not wide enough, hence the 4 stars. If the mats were 3 inches wider they would fit most modern couches much better. Also, if your dogs jump on the back of the couch consider purchasing 2 mats so you can put one up top too. My fox hound learned that she could jump over the main cushions and still sleep on the top headrest part of the couch (arrrrrrhhhh!!!!). So I put two mats on the couch, one on the main cushions, and one across the top - that did the trick!

Let me start off by saying it's a little smaller than I thought it would be. It works quite well on my love seat. I don't mind the length of it, but it could have been a little deeper. I have a Shiba Inu and a Pit. Anytime the pad is pressed and emits a sound, the Shiba takes off running. It doesn't seem to phase the pit, however, she hasn't attempted to get up on the couch since we've been using this. One day we left it off and we think the pit bull chewed the lower end of it. Pulled some of the insulation and wiring out from about the bottom 8 inches. To our surprise, the pad still works, albeit not if pressing the lower end where she chewed. I taped up the bottom with electrical tape. The fact that some of it still works, and just its presence now on the sofa seems to keep them from jumping up on it. We've had this now for about 2 months and I'm satisfied with how well it has worked. Runs on a 9v battery which we have yet to replace.

My gold lab has a round dog bed on an indoor trampoline and two very comfortable floor beds in different rooms in the house but when we go out, she gets up on my burgandy colored sofa and drools and sheds! I purchased the dog furniture covers and they are unsightly, slip down even though I sewed plastic strips and put nails on the back of the sofa to keep them in place. I purchased two stay off mats because of the Amazon reviews stated they were small which they are. As soon as I placed the mats side by side on the sofa and tested them, my dog ran out of the living room. She did not like the high pitch sound. Now I don't even have to turn them on, just placing them on the sofa and she leaves the room.

The mat is slippery so if you have a brave dog, it can be pulled off by the dog so I would suggest placing a sheet over the mat if your dog gets wise to the fact they can be pulled off.

I gave it four stars because I do like it but my friend has a six month old puppy that was soiling her sofa so she purchased one. The puppy not only pulled it off of the sofa but enjoyed the high pitch sound and ended up playing with it. So it will work for some pets but not all which really isn't a defect on the mat but I want consumers to know that there is a possibility that it won't work for all pets.

I have eight (yes, I am a sucker for unwanted pets) dogs. I did not do the "training" as explained in the packaging. They suggested placing your pet on the mat, letting the alarm go off, and shooing them off with a firm "no." I believe that THE DOGS should get THEMSELVES into the situation, not be forced into it and then punished for it. So, I waited with water pistol in hand for them to jump up on their own. First to try was the "devil dog." My smartest and most devious dog. He thought the noise was cool and a great new toy. I sprayed him with water, said "no" and he left it alone. A day later he tried again, and I chased him off. He has not tried a third time. But, it is still early. I suspect this mat will not be an effective deterent for him.

On the other end of the spectrum, my Aussie jumped on it, the alarm went off, and she not only immediately jumped off without being told, she was so spooked she ran out the doggie door and into the back yard. Didn't want to come back in the room. Three others jumped on the mat and quickly got off on their own. The fourth hasn't even tried it yet. I think she witnessed the other dogs and the noise and is too scared to go near the couch. (The littlest dog can't jump up that far, so he is exempt.)

The verdict? So far, after four days, it works like a charm with all but one of my dogs. Will it work with yours? Chances are good, but if you have a "devil dog" like I do, it may not be effective.

UPDATE: I have had this for about a year now. After the first few days the puppies all learned to stay off the couch. Now, even if I take the mate off, they don't try to sneak back on it. Works like a charm!

We've always enjoyed having our dogs up on the couch with us, until recently. We even gave the corner of our sectional where nobody sits to our largest dog. That was until he started to creep and take over more of the couch. When all efforts to get him to stay on his section, on his blanket failed, we reluctantly had to retrain him to stay off the couch. Not an easy task.

I knew products like this existed, but when I read that this one used sound, and that it was likened to the sound of a smoke detector, I immediately ordered one. Our dog very much dislikes that specific sound, so we were hopeful that this would be effective.

It was so effective, we only had to use it once! We laid it out on the spot normally reserved for him. He sniffed it, assumed it was some sort of new blanket, and hopped up. At 65lbs, he had no trouble setting it off, and immediately jumped down. He wasn't traumatized, but he certainly didn't like it. He instead went and laid in the new bed we'd provided. He was praised and rewarded, and that was that.

We left it on the couch for a few weeks, and he'd occasionally check on it, but never jumped up again. We eventually turned it off, since the small dog, who's totally unaffected by it, would lay on it setting it off.

We've since moved it to our summer camp, where we also needed to train him to stay off the couch. It's been just as effective there.

If you have a dog who's deterred by high pitched beeping (it's very audible, like a smoke alarm), this may be effective. Since one of our dogs it totally indifferent to it, I can't say it's effective for all pets.