Who's really in control here?

Our dog Jager has started to take some liberties as of late.  She is a five year old Rhodesian Ridgeback mix who (as with many dogs) seems to think that, if she is not human, than she at least deserves to be treated like one. Although very hyper, she is generally well behaved.  She has started to actually follow directions when we tell her to go lie down, and she dutifully stays out of the kitchen (at least when we're home).  One of her rules is that she is not allowed on the furniture unless invited up.  Quite often, she will beg with big cute eyes until we invite her up, especially on the bed.  Once up, she successfully takes over the entire bed and flops around in pure doggy bliss until we get tired of flailing paws and send her off.  Usually she obeys right away, though sometimes she seems to think that if she curls up at the end of the bed, makes herself really small and looks at us with big pleading eyes then we will let her stay up.  I have to admit, sometimes this works for a little while longer.

When we're both awake, she almost never gets on the bed without an invitation.  Lately, Jason has been getting up before me and Jager has taken this as an open invitation to take his place.  I don't usually mind because she stays still and keeps me warm, so I let her stay.  She must have discovered that if she is quiet and stealth enough that she can get on the bed without us noticing, because the other morning Jason and I woke up to her curled up on the corner of the bed...neither of us had noticed her get up, though Jason did briefly think he had nerve damage when he woke up and couldn't move his legs...  See what I mean about liberties?

Well, tonight she topped it all.  Another one of Jager's problems is that she sometimes pees in the house when we are gone - in fact, we have lost many a rug to her daytime exploits.  Because we are gone so long, we don't like to keep her in her kennel all the time so we have taken to placing pee-pads in her favorite spots and she is now trained to use them should the urge require.  Up until tonight, she has politely reserved their use for daytime.  Tonight, however, as I am sitting on the couch working some things, I look over as she unashamedly squats on the pads and pees...right in front of me!  I yelled her name in shock, and she didn't even look worried.  

So, while our dog seems well behaved, I'm beginning to think that she listens just well enough for us to think that we are in control, when in fact she wears the proverbial pants in the household.  Hopefully we train our children slightly better...