issue with keeping dog off furniture

[dogmama]

Hi,
I am in the process of trying to retrain my dogs that it's not ok to be on the couch and bed. I have read on your site that some possessions fall back to the dog by default, when the human is not around, such as a bone or food, as long as the bone or food is reclaimed by the owner when they are present again. I was wondering if the same is true for the furniture. I have one dog that sleeps in the living room at night, the other three that could get on the furniture, sleep in crates. I like having her loose in the house at night for protection. She is very well behaved, and is the top dog out of my group. However, she really likes to sleep on the couch,(has for 7 years) and unless I confine her at night, I'm not sure there is a way to keep her off. I am wondering, since I am not out there during the night, is it ok if the couch "becomes hers", and then she is not allowed on it while I am present? Or does this cause confusion for her? One problem is that sometimes my kids sleep on the couch at night, and with them being human, I'm thinking this creates inconsistency with her about the furniture, and who owns it. She is never possessive to me or my family, kids included, of the couch, and will move if you tell her to. She is my most well balanced dog, with her only problem being that she hates the neighbors' dogs. They do alot of "fence fighting" as I call it. However, she is very accepting of dogs that I bring into my home to babysit, as well as dogs that we may come into contact with on our walks (loose dogs). She doesn't want to play with them, but doesn't get aggressive with them either. I don't mind having her on the couch at night, as long as it is not going against my goal of keeping them off of it during the day.
Thanks for any advice!

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

I would say it is OK, if it is only when the humans aren't around and she is not a source of any behavior problems. It all relates to the food and toy rules. Some dogs are hard to get off the furniture and it is easier to have those dogs break the habit for good mostly to make it easier for the humans to reinforce. With those dogs I usually start with aluminum foil on the couch when no one is around to make it noisy and uncomfortable.