My dog will be 1 on Friday...we have had her since she was a pup and she has been brought up with my son who is 4.  Recently she is starting to copy my son...wanting to do things he does and getting jealous of him, for instance when my son eats his tea at the table she goes underneath and tries to play with him by pulling him off the chair so he had to sit on the table and eat...after we finished tea i took my son upstairs for a bath and when i came back down the dog was sitting on the table!! Its quite high so i cant believe she got up there! when i told her to get off she looked at me defiantly..as if to say my son can do it so can she, i went to drag her off and she growled at me.

He cant even come into the living room without her trying to play with him.....if he touches something...such as the remote control, she wants it and she even pulls his shoes and socks off!!  I know she is only playing but she is destructive with things he has....she has chewed the table....chewed the computer cables, the remote and he can never play with toys around her as she will take it from him.

I am seperating them alot which i think is making it worse but am not sure what to do...will she grow out of this?  She is not allowed upstairs so he tends to have to go upstairs or i send her outside.

I wouldn't seperate them (unless you can't supervise) but I would spend more time paying attention to what they are doing, and what she is learning as a result.  One of my dogs will jump on the table if a chair is left out - so we make sure we put the chairs under the table.  If she starts to pull on clothing, wether at the table or not, then offer her an appropriate thing to pull - such as a ragger, and encourage her to bring that when she wants a tuggy game.  Try not to 'drag' her - firstly she could struggle and fall off the table and injure herself, and secondly it's pushing her into having to defend herself - you need to look at making it more worth her while to get off the table, then ask her for some simply obedience behaviours (so long as she already knows them ;)) and reward her for them, she's off the table (and hopefully not learnt that it's a rewarding behaviour because there was no food up there ;)) and she's learnt that doing as she is told brings its own reward....

What she's doing is being the doggy version of a teenager, and needs the same consitency and directing....

Make your kid act like a dog.....

To be honest your dog sounds quite normal.  I have given up trying to stop Thomas trampolining with my son.  I do limit how long but he loves it.  They sing along to the kids practising cornet and when they kids go in the sea they follow them.  Dogs in general do tend to love kids as they are on their wavelength.  Whether you had a child or not the dog would probably be destructive.  My two year old bitch constantly has something hanging out of her mouth whenever she is left on her own. 

As someone said she is going through the teenage stage and like most teenagers is being a pain in the bottom :) 

i dont know if its just me but it sounds like your dog is challenging its position in your household i know she is young and she is going through her teenage years but she is trying to estabish also where she belongs in the familiy pecking order. In my opinion when she starts playing with your son and he doesnt wont to i would say no to the dog until she realises that when he wants to play he will but not when she wants to, Get your son to play games with her with a toy then when hes had a enough stop but make sure your son takes the toy at the end of there fun. You hsve to make sure all your valuable stuff is far from the dog as they dont know whats valuable and whats not as soon as you leave the room they will chew it, its also dangerous as you dont want plastic getting lodged anywhere in there stomach,  good luck and enjoy

I agree with Frank. It sounds like your girl is trying to rearrange the pecking order. She is reaching the teenage stage and behaving like a typical 'KEVIN'. (Sorry all you out there called Kevin) but you know what I mean. She must understand that it is your son that calls the shots and play is when he wants to play. Maybe at meal times, put her outside or in another room.
I have between 4+5 dogs at home at the time and I always give treats in pecking order, saying their names as a treat is given. I find this avoids confusion and the animals seem to respond well and wait for their names to be called. Alpha always feed first in the wild. It is a natural way.

Sorry to disagree, but alpha dogs don't always feed first in the wild :)
Very often the pups feed first so that the genes can carry on.

I totally agree dogs need boundaries, training etc, and dogs prefer it if the humans are in control :)

Lindsay
x

Hi yes no in the wild the alpha female would go hunting with the pack depending on the pups age she would regurgatate the food for the pups until they where weaned then when food was foujnd the alpha females pups would feed first after they had there filling it would go in pecking order whether there where pups there or not

I would get your son to do some basic obiedence training with her like sit, lie down etc.. and titbit for good behaviour. It should help with other aspects like play. When hes had enough a simple command to stop with a treat will be easy if your dog is already taking commands like sit etc.... hth