I don't know HOW it happened - but my bullheaded Westie is very polite when it comes to getting on the couch. He will stand there and stare at you until you pat the couch and invite him to get up there with you.
Is that fantastic or what? Again, I'm not sure how that happened. I used to watch a lot of episodes of Cesear so maybe I trained him without knowing it?
Really, I just think it's the ONE THING that Ringo is super polite about and I have no idea why.
Lucy has no such self-control when it comes to getting on the couch. As you said, she will climb on your magazine, laptop, kindle - anything that takes attention away from her.