@Quercus:
This is a form of the dreaded 'resource guarding'. The dog is saying don't mess with my space, regardless of being awake or asleep. The problem with saying 'oh, well, it is instinct' is that it can be behavior that escalates to not just growling, but muzzle punching, and then snapping, and then lauching off the couch or whatever piece of furniture dog is on.
I can't and don't tolerate that behavior in bed. It disrupts everyone's sleep, and if you have multiple dogs in bed, it can erupt into a fight…not very good sleeping conditions. Depending on the dog, I might just say 'knock it off' and toss them out of bed...but some dogs with resource guarding issues are likely to take that as a threat escalation, and respond even more inappropriately. At the very least the offending dog should be not allowed to sleep in the bed for the rest of the night.
If it is just an occasional..'grr, you startled me' or the dog was dreaming, or whatever, that is not the same as a recurring pattern of 'waking up badly'.
If this is happening while the human is awake...a really easy way to retrain is to be armed with some treats; when dog is sleeping on your lap, start waving the treat in front of nose, and quietly saying her name. When she awakes toss treat off lap. Basically you condition the dog to jump off lap/couch/whatever and receive reward when they wake, rather than waking up defensive.
Exactly Andrea… I agree totally... I have "dumped" one or more of mine on the floor for being a "jackass" in the bed... like you I can't and will NOT accept that behavior in the bed... I have been in the situation that a fight started under the covers... and I got the worst of it... and as Andrea points out, it is not acceptable the say "oh that is instinct therefore OK..."