ahh... let me clarify. My wife wants our bedroom to be the one room in the house that does not have dog hair or cat hair. So neither the cat or the dog is allowed in the bedroom. Lacy knows not enter the bedroom and will not pass the doorway. Also, if the front door or the back door is open, I do not want Lacy to charge through it. In part, this is for her safety (I don't want her running out into the street, for example). Other than that, Lacy has free reign of the house and she gets up and wanders on her own. Also, we never use any sort of punishment. Everything that we have taught her has been through positive reinforcement and she has been eager to please (at least inside the house
).
The rule about Lacy staying behind us when going up and down the stairs is for the safety of my mom. My mom is 78 years old and a large dog barreling past her on the stairs could easily knock her down and hurt her.