I wondered if any of you experience this and know why.  Basically Bess is 2 years old and occasionally when my son who is 9 lies down on the sofa to watch tv, or has fallen asleep on the sofa she suddenly decides to jump on him.  I don't think she does it in an agressive way but it's hard to tell as we pull her straight off him so she doesn't have time to do anything aggressive.  It's gotten to the stage now that if we see him nodding of when watching tv that I put her in the dining room while we wake him up and take him to bed.  I was wondering if it could be a dominance thing, we've had her for 1 year now and she firmly knows her place in the pecking order ie it's me, my husband, my son and then she is last, but I wonder if because he is young she is trying to assert dominance over him?  Has anyone else notice their dog behave this way?  Or have any ideas on how to stop it.

I think by shutting her out of the room before she jumps on your son isn't going ot teach her that she shouldn't jump on him in the first place (allthough it should stop the habbit getting worse).
My Mastiff used to jump on my kids or my husband if they were laying on the sofa, he used to think it was a great game - jump on the poeple and they get a shock, and start making a noise "argh, he's squashing me GET HIM OFF, GET HIM OFF "- what good fun!! Not good fun for the people he was jumping on!! I stopped him by distracting him with a toy when I could see he was about to jump (to give him an alternative), if that didn't work and he tried to jump up he would be taken calmly out of the room and shut in the kitchen for a few minutes to calm down, then let back in the livingroom, if he did it again he would be shut in the kitchen for a little bit longer.
Now he doesn't jump on people that are laying on the sofa :)

I don't think the reason why she does it is very important, weather she wants to play or be dominant or just cuddle up to sleep on top of him, the important thing is teaching her not to do it. The calmer you stay the better as if you start shouting at her or pulling her collar roughly it's going to make things more exiting for her and give her a reason to keep jumping on him.

You can teach  her not to do this, but you have to be consistent - she needs the same reaction every single time. Good luck, I know what it's like to be sat around in the evening enjoying some qiuet time and BAM!!!! a doggy missile appears ontop of somebody!!

Ohh, one last thing, if you try to distract her with a toy and she shows some interest in it, give her lots of praise. Lots of praise &/treats for the beahvior you want, coupled with calm, minimal reactions for things you don't make it much clearer to her what you want from her.

Is the dog allowed on the furniture at other times? If she is allowed on the sofa, bed or a favourite armchair sometimes, then it will be difficult for her to understand why she cannot do it at other times.

I have heard of problems in families where the kids played with the pups on the floor, and used to lie down and let the puppies on top of them. When the dogs get older they don't realise the game has to stop. Is this something your son used to do?

I agree with Mastifflover, shutting her out of the room is not going to teach her not to do it. It sounds like it has turned into a game, i doubt very much it has anything to do with dominance, my 4 sheps will all nudge me if i fall asleep on the sofa, or whack me with a paw to see if i am ok.

We teach all of ours that the floor is a great place to be, hide treats on floor, give cuddles on floor, play games on floor. Mine are allowed on sofa if invited but also have to move if asked.

I imagine your girl just thinks it is great fun to jump on your son, nothing more sinister than that. Good luck x

When my daughter was off school ill one day she fell asleep whilst watching tv.  Our puppy who was about 10 months at the time kept coming to me from the room she was in and then returning to her.  I realised he was trying to tell me something and went to have a look.  I think he was concerned that she wasn't doing was she normally does, perhaps he was anxious about her?!  Could Bess be acting out of anxiety/concern?

Alternatively it's very exciting to make the kids squeal and giggle.  Often during the winter my children find it difficult to get out of bed and if I go in they wake up all grumpy and cross.  If I send one of the dogs to go 'duvet diving' in they wake up happy and cheerful - never fails :)  Now obviously we've created this habit so I'd only let the dogs in there if that was the outcome I wanted.  However it started though, your dog has now developed a habit.  Does she jump up if either you or your husband were to lay on the sofa? 

If you are in the room with your son when he falls asleep what does she do if you tell her no just as she is about to jump?  Is he on the same sofa as you?  Would she still jump up if you are there beside him?  Does she get off immediately you ask her to?  If she is normally allowed on the sofa when he isn't there is she watching him until he is 'off guard' so that she can sneak on?

I'd be interested to know how they get on in all other situations.  I must admit it would never occur to me that either of my dogs were being aggressive with the kids because of the relationship they have with the dogs.  For you to wonder about aggression is there an underlying concern?

Obviously you can exclude her from the room with a baby gate but I'm sure with a bit more information you'll get some great advice.

Bess is allowed to sit on our laps but only when invited.  If she jumps on me without being asked I make her go back down, my OH doesn't soI tell him  that he should never let her on without being invited first.  I'm relieved by your comments though because even though I'm sure she means no harm it did cross my mind.  I think after reading your comments that she is probably concerned.  When I'm asleep - I'm the dominant one - mainly because I'm consistant with the rules unlike my OH! she will bark which wakes me up, so maybe she is trying to see if he is ok.  When it happened last night my son was nodding off on the sofa and had his feet up on my OHs lap so he was sat there when Bess suddenly jumped on him.  Otherwise my son doesn't lie on the floor when playing games so I don't think that this has something to do with it.

"I'd be interested to know how they get on in all other situations.  I must admit it would never occur to me that either of my dogs were being aggressive with the kids because of the relationship they have with the dogs.  For you to wonder about aggression is there an underlying concern?"

I've just read this comment, I've not got any worries about Bess she's adorable in every way but she's our first dog and you read things in the press about dogs turning suddenly without any warning.  I just think it's my maternal instinct making sure that my son is ok.

> I've just read this comment, I've not got any worries about Bess she's adorable in every way but she's our first dog and you read things in the press about dogs turning suddenly without any warning.  I just think it's my maternal instinct making sure that my son is ok.

It's good to be aware of the fact that small things can indicate the start of potential behaviour problems - I'm not suggesting that because your dog jumps on your son it's a sign of future problems, but I think it's allways best to err on the side of caution and catch any small 'problem' or unwanted behavior before it has chance to escalate, it's also much easier to change unwanted behvaior sooner rather than later. :)

It's possible that the lack of consistency is a bit confusing for her.  She is allowed on the sofa sometimes, and with some of you, so she may just be checking rules and boundaries. 

My puppy was a three times trier: 1st time - cos he didn't know any better; 2nd time - just to check he heard me properly; 3rd time - just to see whether I'd forgotten the rules!!

However tempted I am I've always stuck to the rule of no dogs on the sofa - partly so that we can eat in that room if we want to without worrying about dogs in the way.  However, the kids do like to snuggle with the dogs if we are watching a film so they will bring blankets in and sit on the floor if they want a cuddle.  If the blankets come out then the dogs are 2 steps behind!!  If the kids decide to sit on the sofa then the dogs either wander off for somewhere more comfortable or sit on the kids feet til they give in and move to the floor.  The children and the dogs all consider this a real treat but oddly enough only ever do it in our room; the kids TV room doesn't seem to have the same appeal for the dogs but perhaps that's because I'm so rarely in there.

I did make one small concession when the puppy came last year - I was so desparate to get my hands on him but didn't want to allow him on the sofa - I let him sit on the large padded footstool that we have.  That way I could pull him in close for a snuggle and to do all those necessary inspections that you need with a pup.  Trouble is he's pretty big now and if he falls asleep on this stool bits of him have to drape off the sides.  Sometimes when he rolls over in his sleep we have to try and stop him flopping off onto the floor.

Perhaps you just need to reinforce the house rules with your family first - then be 100% consistent with Bess to show her what is acceptable and what is not.  Dogs will quickly learn if someone in the house is a soft touch and whilst that be may ok for your OH to handle it's not so easy for your son and jumping up uninvited on a sleepy boy can be a bit painful I understand! :)  My son says our 15month old / 25kg dog is NOT careful where he puts his paws!!

just to add to my first post, Buster has always been allowed on the sofa, teaching him that he wasn't allowed to jump on people that were laying on the sofa was not about stopping him getting on the sofa itself. I don't think by allowing the dog on the sofa, but not allowing it to jump on people allready on the sofa is confusing for the dog - there is a plain difference between a sofa cushion and a person, any dog is smart enough to know that :)