My mom has a half papillon half chihuahua male for about a year now. When you sit on the couch, he acts as if your his best friend and he'll sit on your lap or even cuddle up to you.

We have been having some issues with him being quite aggressive in certain situations though. In one situation, he will not allow anyone to let him outside unless my mom is home. Because of this, we have to lock him up in the entry way when she is gone or else he will go in the house somewhere and you will not know it. Now that he's locked up in one room, he will curl up in his bed all day long, growl at you when you get close to him, and then nip at you as you get your hands too close to him. Once my mom gets home, he's up and out of bed and begging to go out as if he were neglected all day. I have tried to let him out and wander around the house thinking it's behavior as if he were neglected all day, but then he would just curl up on the couch or in my mom's bed and it would be the same issue.

Just to show how extreme the dog gets, he was left home with only me over a weekend and he had gone a day and a half without going to the bathroom in the house or outside. I beleive at around that point, he finally gave in and went outside. But I'm sure this can not be good for the dog's bladder, and most of the family is getting annoyed with this behavior. Does anyone have any training lessons that could help break him of these aggressive habits?

In the other situation, my mom goes to bed early and lets the dog sleep in their bed. Then when my dad sleeps in the bed, the dog would then attack him as if his own life depended on it. Even if my mom were laying on the bed, he would growl at anyone who walks by the door. He use to have a habit of attacking someone when he was on her lap, but he's mostly broke that habit and only goes into a growl once in awhile when you try to pet him while he's on her lap. Usually I try to do this to show him that I'm not a threat and I'm not there to harm him or my mother. Unfortunately, my father is not the one to take such an approach in reaction to such behavior, and this approach does not appear to work in convincing him to go outside.

We have tried swatting him and telling it's bad, I've tried giving him treats for going outside, and I've even tried putting a muzzle on him when he bites to teach him that he can't bite. Nothing seems to work. Does anyone have any methods as to how to break him of this behavior?

Sounds like you have a shy dog that also is doing some resource guarding. You should learn about counter conditioning and desensitization, triggers and thresholds. You should also learn about resource guarding. The book MINE! is a good resource.

Do not use physical punishment! It can make the behavior worse, and only scares a scared dog more.

I have sceen this befor. Your mom will be the one to break his bad habits. Your little cuddaly pup feels that he is the dominent one.He rules the roost he does what he wants when he wants and he is not gonna listen to enyone except his momma. Your mom is the one that allows him this bad behavior. Your mom needs to show him she is the boss he is the dog. There will be alot of tough love when it comes time for this whole thing to be fixed.

Look up the dog nanny she has a program for pets with that typ of issue she has a non aggretional way of training.

Step one is for Mom to kick the dog out of HER AND HER HUSBAND'S bed. He is no longer allowed in it-- the husband needs to be given his rightful position above the dog.

And whatever forms of discipline you use, you've got to be consistent-- you can't use punishment one time, and treats another. It won't work.