This is not a game so to speak, it sounds to me like your dog is a passive dominant dog.

People tend to think of dominant dogs as always being aggressive but dominant does not mean aggressive, it means the one in command, the one with most influence and your dog acting in this way is definitely influencing the way you are acting because you are chasing her about etc....
If an aggressive dominant dog was to snarl and growl at you when you tried to remove them from the couch, you'd figure that they were telling you to get stuffed. Well, the passive dog is doing exactly the same thing but in a totally different way.

The reason is that you are inadvertantly telling them they are higher ranking than you. A dog that considered itself as being a lower ranking member of your canine human pack would not even try getting on the couch even if you weren't around. The fact that your dog does proves that she has the wrong idea bout her status within your pack. With rank comes privilege and being on furniture like couches, beds, chairs, are all classed as areas only for higher ranking members so if you allow your dogs in these places, you are telling them they are high ranking enough to be there.

Read this quote by a reknowned English dog behaviourist, John Fisher about passive dominant dogs. He has trained many behaviourists in the U.S and does seminars and talks all over Europe. He is one of the founders of the british association of pet behaviour counsillors.


"Whenever anybody talks about a dominant dog, it always conjures up pictures of an aggressive dog, but this is not necessarily so. Of course, a dog that has a dominant character is more likely to be aggressive if any person, or any dog, tries to challenge it's position, but this is usually seen in dog thst have inherited the dominant trait from their parents.
Some dogs exhibit what I call 'Passive dominance'. if challenged they do not necessarily show aggression; they become extremely disobedient and hyperactive - they act the fool. We really should examine what we mean by dominance before we pursue the subject any further.
The dictionary definition says: Dominate: Having commanding influence over; be the most influencil or conspicuous; have commanding position.
Some of the dogs that I see meet this definition perfectly. They are reported to be disobedient; overwelmingly friendly towards visitors; eager to greet all the people that they meet outside; always getting under peoples feet inside, but have a lovely temperament. Within the household, they are the most influential and hold the most commanding position because everyone's attention is taken up trying to control them. if you told your dog to get off your bed and it growled at you, you would recognise it as a dominant dog. With the passive dominant dog, you tell it to get off your bed and it sticks it's bum up in the air in a play posture. When you grab its collar to drag it off, it throws itself on its back and tried to wrap its legs around your arms. When it is unceremoniously dumped on the floor, it gets up and does three or four laps of the bedroom before jumping back on the bed with a playful 'woof'. It is hard not to smile and think the dog's an idiot, but in fact it has done exactly what the aggressive dog has done - it has said NO"

You need to demote your dogs within your canine human pack if you want to correct this behaviour.

There are a number of different things you might need to address in order to get the message across. If you need any advice about what these are, just ask.