Barking and Lack of Respect

Question
Hi, My wife and I own a 8 year old Lab. she had him for 4 years before we met and treated him like a person (fed him from the table, let him sleep in bed etc.) I trained him to not beg and stay off furniture and the such which is great... however when I leave the house he takes charge, barks at my wife, jumps on people, etc. The main concern I have is when I leave the house at 6:30am and leave my sleeping wife, he immediatly starts barking constantly until she gets up. I feel like I can never leave house. what can we do to stop this behavior and get him to listen to her as well as me (ie she has to tell him to lie down 9-10 times before he will, then he gets right up and I point to the bed and he knows what to do). Thank you so much!!!!

Answer
The simple answer is that if she continues to treat him the same way, nothing will change.  If he barks constantly to get her up, she needs to invest in ear plugs and ignore the dog.  He may get worse for a bit (Google "extinction burst") but should eventually quit being obnoxious if it never gets him anywhere:-)))
Both of you can train the dog - I suggest the lessons at www.clickertraining.com.  They are hands off, no physical punishment, and easy to follow and do.  When a dog is working for a reward, they want to cooperate.  And, the beauty of clicker training is that you get the dog to do the behavior, THEN you name it.  So, your wife could elect to dispense with the command "lie down" (or more accurately, lie down, lie down, lie down.... etc.) and call it "rest" or "plotz" instead.  The dog would learn to do the behavior, but be outfoxed as to the cue:-))