Maybe you are granting privilages in other areas that make her think she can invite herself up onto the couch. It is possible.

Anyway, here are the things you should think about with dogs that test you in this way.

Rank reversal, again, from John fishers book, "why does my dog...?"

1.Make sure that you are the one who goes first through doorways and narrow openings. The simplest way of achieving this is to close all doors in the house for a few days so that the dogs freedom of movement becomes dependent upon the doors that you choose to allow her through. Don't tell her to stay, sit or wait - this is basically asking her if she minds if you go first. Ideally, she should grant you the right of rank by allowing you to procede her. If she tries to barge in front of you, slam the door shut - be careful not to trap her nose. Initially, you may have to repeat this procedure four or fine times at each door, but she will quickly get the message that when you open a door, she steps backwards.

2. Make sure that she does not occupy your beds or chairs. Many of my clients tell me that their dog is not allowed on furniture, but not being allowed is different to not even trying. You, however should be able to occupy the areas where your dog generally chooses to sleep. Besides her bed, there will be many other places around the house and you should spend a day or so mapping these out - you will be surprised how many there are. Deny her access to some and make a point of occupying the others.

3. Make sure you eat before she does. Either change her meal times to follow yours, or mix up her food in her presence and then make a point of sitting down and eating a biscuit. By going through the act of eating first, you are stating to your dog that at feeding time, the highest ranking eats first and therefore gets the richest pickings.

4. Do not allow her to occupy key areas in the house. Busy doorways, main entrances, top of steps are all areas that would be controlled by the alpha figure. Making these places inaccessible is the easiest solution, and although physical barriers might get in your way for a few days, it will be worth it in the long run.

5. Make sure that when you go from A to B you do so by the shortest route - in other words, make your dog move out of your way, even if she appears to be asleep. Making her wear a light trailing house line attached to her collar so that you can gently pull her to one side makes the point very clear that lower ranks step aside for higher ranks.

6. Make certain rooms in the house off-limits altogether, especially your bedroom. You dog should learn that although you have access to the whole den, she only has access to parts of it.

7. Do not allow her to demand attention. Dogs learn to do this in a variety of ways: nudging your arm for a stroke, pretending they need to go into the garden, especially when you are on the phone. All privileges should be earned first, even if it is only complying with a command to sit. All of her attempts to initiate some sort of interaction between you should be put onto YOUR terms.

8. Having earned the privilege of being stroked, you should only stroke her on her head, neck and shoulders. These are the dominant regions of the dog and careful observation in the park of two high-ranking dogs will show you that the most dominant will place his chin or paw on the neck and withers of the other dog.
Do not fall for the trick of a paw being placed on your arm in an attempt to get you to rub her chest instead, or for the trick of lying on her back for the same purpose. In the wild, the only way that a dominant dog would experience this sensation would be when he was on the back of a bitch.

9. Remove all her toys and possessions. Select one of these and keep it under your control. She should only be allowed to play with this toy when you want her to and even then she should earn it first by obeying some sort of command. Do not allow her to keep it afterwards, take it off her again until you want her to play with it again.

10. Only allow her 5 minutes to eat her food. Dominant dogs have a habit of leaving some or all of their food for long periods of time, almost as a visual display of their rank - this is my food and I know that no one else will eat it. Even if she starts to eat it after four and a half minutes, it should be taken up after five.

11. Make sure that she greets you first thing in the morning and not the other way round. It is surprising how many of my clients, who have dominant dogs, do this every morning without realising. It is the lower ranks that approach the higher ranks to greet them.

12. Increasing you control through regular obedience sessions, even if they only last five or ten minutes a day, will help tremendously. These sessions should be done on a lead and collar so that you are in the position of being able to insist that the dog obey.

These rules are not placed in any particular order, nor is one more important than the other. Neither is it important that every rule be established; in most cases, by making a specific effort on just a few, the dog changes its viewpoint about its role within your household. These rules can be laid down one at a time and, in this way, confrontation is avoided. It may take two or three days to establish the first rule that you decide upon, for example pushing through doorways, but you should persevere until this is well and truly understood before moving on to the next stage. As each rule is understood by the dog, the next becomes easier to establish.