OK, so I understand that when it comes to dogs and furniture, people either have dogs that get possessive/dominant about being allowed on the couch, so they aren't allowed up at all, there's the group that allows their dogs to get up on anything they wish whatsoever, and then there's the group that allows certain pieces of furniture and/or the dogs can get up with permission only.

Truthfully, I am not particularly worried about the dominance thing, but while I realize between Sasha and our cat Dexter that I will never be fur free again with my black work pants (hurray for lint rollers in my work desk), I do not want to be covered in fur when I sit on the couch and therefore have pretty much decided Sasha will not be allowed on any furniture at all.

I let Sasha into my lap pretty much when she wants if I'm on the floor, but she understands and responds fine to if I have to get up, even if it's 2 minutes later, that I will carry her to her bed and say "good bed", whereupon she usually goes right back to sleep. My boyfriend does the same. I'm happy about that.

My boyfriend ALSO, however, has gotten into the bad habit of letting her in his lap while on the couch, saying to me "Awww, but she's such a cute puppy! Everyone loves a puppy!" I wonder if this contributes to when Sasha is in her "bratty" moods - we'll be on the couch or chair, and she'll look at us and start doing little lunges, barking, touching our legs and the furniture with an open mouth, but only will mouth on the furniture, not usually our legs (she does grab clothes sometimes though) and growling. If we try to reach down and pet her or ask her to settle when she's like this though, she WILL mouth at our hands. If we try to pick her up she'll try to mouth at anything she can reach and growls a little as well. Luckily it doesn't feel aggressive to me right now, but I worry about whether we're handling these situations correctly. We've been trying to tell her settle in a nice voice, off in a firm voice, or redirecting her with sit/down exercises or toys, but honestly nothing seems to calm these moods of hers except putting her calmly into her xpen for a timeout with a few toys, which leads to either whining/sleeping. Even after 5 minutes of the training she'll go right back to barking/growling/lunging

Anyway, I haven't figured out if she does that because he's up on the couch with her in his lap only all the time, so she wants to get up when we're up, or if she's having a tantrum because one of us won't sit on the floor with her. Maybe it's both? We're not really sure how to train her to "ask", but I do understand that if she's consistently and firmly told "off" when she jumps up that eventually "off" can be used to have her get off the furniture if we want to sit down or simply don't want her up there.

Read around this forum a lot and people seem 50/50... I just can't make up my mind, and if the boyfriend doesn't stop putting her in his lap while he's on the couch, I may not be able to have a say anyway! And I'm sure what he does isn't helping her current training either

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Gotcha 12/15/12.

all of my dogs have always been allowed on all of my furniture. They learn quickly that they are allowed up there but it belongs to me so if I say get down I mean NOW. I've never, ever had a problem with it and all my dogs have been rescues.
If I wouldn't allow a dog to sit on my DH's lap he would probably divorce me

As for the growling, barking, bratty episodes, No way. I would put a stop to it right now while she's young and that goes for 24/7 not just over the furniture.
I just never allow that behavior.

I recently put Bentley through my own "boot camp" although he wasn't acting like that he was getting bratty. He's super now. Actually the boot camp was more about me than him because no matter what I wanted to do instead I made myself train him 10 minutes every hour.
Good luck with your pup, sometimes it seems like the crazies will never end but it gets better

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Thanks! I guess we should just stick to using off for now when she acts like a brat, and if doing that and running through some obedience exercises still doesn't work, she will have to have a time out in the xpen. I just feel bad putting her in there since she usually ends up falling asleep and I'm not sure she's learning anything from it, but I don't know what else to do. Even following the advice from one of the training books we read that say to lightly place your hand over their muzzle and firmly saying no bite only seems to escalate the brattiness. Anyone have any other suggestions for how to handle these bratty episodes beyond what we've tried already?

I absolutely agree that putting a stop to the bratty behavior is a MUST, now when she's only 12 pounds and 10 weeks, and not 50 pounds and 6 months! We are starting puppy training classes, but the soonest we could get in is January 8th.

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Gotcha 12/15/12.

Being a "brat" is just typical golden retriever puppyhood, and will be there whether or not she is allowed on the furniture.

All my pets have been allowed on the couch, bed, etc. With a couple of the puppies, we had tried a "no furniture rule", but that lasted maybe a day or two. Them snuggling with us on our laps or beside us on the couch is just too much a part of our lives that both they and we enjoy.

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Some puppies are worst than others, and it will probably get worse before it gets better. I found that nothing but time really helped with Brady. He stopped with my husband first, then a few weeks later me, about a month or so later my then 4 year old. He was a year before he stopped with my then 8 and 9 year old. I think it had much to do with how he thought each one of us ranked.

Your crate will be your best friend, and I found many times when Brady was at his worst was when he needed a nap.

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You're probably right. Both about the furniture and the bratty stuff. I do love cuddling with dogs on the couch and thought maybe I'd try not to with this one since the breeder doesn't allow hers on the furniture, but we'll see how long that lasts I guess LOL.

As for the nap part, I usually put her in her xpen instead of the crate since I figure that will give her more room to burn excess energy if she wants, but if she ends up falling asleep anyway I guess a nap is what she needed (even if she was just napping for hours 30 minutes before she got all wound up)!

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Gotcha 12/15/12.

Yep sounds like a typical golden puppy! We used lots and lots of time outs for this.

Our dogs have always been snuggled and loved without the opportunity of trampling all over my furniture.

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We keep saying that we dont want to let Milla on the couch now because she will want to when she is older. I dont want a big dog on my couch. However we sometimes bring her up to snuggle. I think what will end up happening is that she will be allowed up, but by invatation only.

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There is nothing better on a chilly night than a warm dog on your lap. However, that was something that Cookie had to earn by showing that she would get off when I asked and also not chew on the couch either. Before that time, we spent our nights sitting on the floor.

Have you tried letting Sasha wear a short leash while she is roaming? That way you can redirect her from a bit of a distance without having to grab her all the time. Also, in the meantime, you can work on the "off" command, as well as an "on" command.

Couldn't agree with you more, there! Not sure why I'm stuck on not letting Sasha up at all, even with permission. Perhaps it's time to readdress my ideas

We haven't tried having her on a leash in the house yet, but since the episodes have started to become more frequent (pretty much whenever she wakes up after napping for a couple hours), it might be something we need to try. I know a tired puppy is a good puppy, but when playing/redirecting doesn't help, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do...

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Gotcha 12/15/12.