I agree on the spanking only making her more aggressive and it might be a good idea to check out some of Caesar's training methods. That show "It Me Or The Dog" with Gloria Stilwell has some good training tips.
Your best bet, for now, is not to leave anything out on the table the dog might get into.
alpha male move shes in control of the house hold where you think she isnt. correct now .. pin her down and growl like a mother dog would do put a pillow in front of her and grab from behind quickly pin her down with 2 fingers on the neck flip the legs down till she submitts. you will notice her shaking about uncontrolable, that is normal its her controlnees comming out. but you have to do this move everytime you see unfit.
as above stated spanking will only aggrevate things more and worse. and then when she has done something good always say goood girl. say the words "quiet" and go stand to where ever she is when she barks at nothing and YOU claim that spot you will have to claim everything again as thats what shes doing claiming things hers.
when she is barking for no reason is because she is lonely and feeling not needed perhaps you have giving her less attention the past few mths due to being pregnant. she picks up on your emotions. if you start now it should only take a week for her to be back to normal,..
another thing is we adopt a standard daschshund he was red case aggressive would not allow me and husband to sit between him only on one person only .. he now allows us to sit between him as we kept sitting between him if he gets aggressive with growling wise we pin him down again... he was so full of dark blue eyes and a body order of stinkin aggression smell was unbearable,. it took us a week to rehabiliate him but he now allows us and others to pet him.
all of what i menetioned came from the show - the dog whisperer - check your local stations and times for that show. it may not be the breed of your dog but the moves are for ALL DOGS from lill to mastiffs.
good luck on your dog and your pregnancy.
The change thing makes sense. We just got home from a two week vacation. (We took both dogs with us) We've also have been setting up the nursery. Thanks for the advice.
Your dog had no idea why you spanked her, they have a memory of about three seconds, so she had no idea what she did wrong, plus, spanking will only make her more aggressive. I would recommend you get some Cesar Millan dvd's on how to disipline your dog, or watch him on TV. He's on National Geographic channel,( Fridays where I live) and he gets really good results
OK try again last one did not post...She knows that you are pregnant and if you have moved or changed anything around in the house, like set up a room for the children they know that too and get anxious. My dobe mutt starts doing things she doesn't normally do if things change in the house, ie someone has been gone for too long(like a vacation), there are boxes in the house(like for moving), or if we add another person or animal to the home.