Coping With Canine Aggression

I entered into a relationship w/ a wonderful man and recently I moved in with him and his canine family of 3. He (SB) is a kind gentle individual and loves animals. He has 3 English Springer Spaniels and one kitty. I Love the animal family and I am also an animal lover.

Kitty is no problem…he enjoys pets and loves from me as do the of the girls. The oldest Springer is mother to the other two which are also female. The mother is very jealous of any attention paid to me by my boyfriend. He is aware of the situation and is very helpful for the most part. They listen to him and to me, mostly when he is not around but when he gets home…the nughtiness kicks in from the mother (Freckles)

The biggest problem is that the dogs are quite used to sleeping in bed with my boyfriend and have been doing so since they were pups. It is causing some discomfort for me as I have a bad back and have undergone two surgeries. PLus I feel that it is coming between me and SB (my boyfriend) Freckles is not tolerant of me sleeping in the bed with him and is very cunning about making sure that eventually, sometime throughout the night; I am booted out of the bed. I have to get up at least once in the night to stretch and use the restroom.

Freckles is always patiently waiting for me to get up, she will sleep on the floor on the side of the bed where I sleep. She is very aware of my routine of getting up in the night. She sleeps there and as soon as I get up, she ceases the moment and makes her move up onto the bed…on my side taking up enough room and leaving me with no room to go back to bed. She will NOT move or even budge and has groweld at me at times. Her growling is because of a game she learned…she thinks there is something under the covers…you may be familiar with this game.

My boyfriend is a very heavy sleeper and it is very difficult for me to wake him plus it is my hope to be able to deal with this situation without having to involve him every time as she only listens to him and I want to develop a realtionship with her, a realtionship that she will be obedient and trusting towards me.

I seriously need some advice on how to delicately deal with this situation as I am very aware that nobody comes between a man and his dog and that has never been my agenda as I love the girls very much. We are a family but they think they are human. The other two (her offspring…Sassy & Lacey) are very obedient; they will obey when told to stay off of the bed and they will sleep in their kennels at night.

However… when they see that Freckles is not obeying, they will, at times, misbehave as she does.
Has anyone ever come across this type of disobedience before? If so, how may I handle this difficult situation?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.