Lady Bug

Question
QUESTION: I have a three year old cocker spaniel named Lady. I do beleive she is mixed with a beagle (I think her grandparents were a beagle or something). She howls, constantly barks, growls, bites, lunges, and constantly is going the bathroom in the house. She is a mennace. My mom is at the point of wanting to get rid of her and I don't want to do that I don't beleive in that. She never used to do that when she was a puppy... Now she runs to her food and growls and barks but is also wagging her tail as if she is playing... Noone can enter the room when my dad is around she barks and growls. She respects my mother favors my dad. She sends all sorts of mixed signals.. shes dominantly aggressive and she shares the home with a maltese mix who is also dominantly aggressive. The weird thing is Trixie the maltese mix is a little younger and sometimes Lady will look after her like shes a baby other times she starts a fight with her. Lady is very unpredictable.. I am not worried about the two dogs not getting along because at the end of the day they work their issues out what I am worried about is Lady is aggressive and playful at other times her behavior is for both. I don't know how to break her of it. Shes finally learned not to potty in the house so much, and she knows when the family eats if she stays in her crate without being told she gets food after everyone is done. She always has to be first and will literally push you out of the way. Helllppp!! lol I love lady but her unpredictable behavior has to go!

ANSWER: How often is Lady walked?  And for how long?  Who walks her?  Who feeds her?
Where does she sleep?
What do you do when she misbehaves?



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Lady is never walked she used to be in a cage for like the first two years of her life. She was let out to play but most of the time she was kenneled. Now she runs around the house all day and plays with the other dog. Sometimes though my dad will walk her and take her to the woods were she likes to get all muddy lol. Lady is fed but anyone in the family its pretty much whoever wakes up first as far as feeding her goodies from the table well we all do that all day. When she misbehaves it depends on who catches it...and how bad the offense is... for instance if its barking we used to squirt her with a water bottle and then she did it more because she liked the water. So that didn't work. So now we put a muzzle on her and she still barks and growls through it. When she lunges or attempts to attack someone she is usually spanked and yelled at but we are moving away from that because that is not working either it seems to make her more rebelious. When she misbehaves I usually get down to her level and make her listen but staying persistent with her and not letting her ignore me and talking to her and stern not yelling tone after 20 min later she listens sometimes its sooner depending on how stubborn she wants to be. Lady usually sleeps in the crate and she loves her crate but since the other dog doesn't because she has anxiety we recently wanted to be fair to lady and let her sleep wherever she wanted at night as long as it isn't in the beds or on the furniture as is the other dog. Lady is trainable shes just different from any other dog I had to deal with... I have had a cocker spaniel before who was excellent, a chow mix, and of course the maltese mix and now lady. Part of the reason Lady stayed in the crate for most of her life was because of her aggressivness.

Answer
Was it you who kept her in a cage for two years?

She absolutely needs one hour of walking a day.  This is a huge part of your problem.
So start doing that right away.  A tired dog is a good dog !

Stop being physically punishing.  It doesn't work.

One thing to try which is easy is to use a waist leash (it goes around your waist) and where you go - she goes.  No chat.  The next time she begins to misbehave, snap the leash on her and let me know what happens.

And has she ever actually bitten or nipped anyone?