We have recently adopted an eight year old bitch from a local pound. She was described as being of a good temperament although the pound couldn't advise us on her background or interactions with other animals.
She's a cross breed - not a clue what, but she's about a stone in weight and about two feet in length. Pound thought she might be a Papillon/Pomeranian cross but not sure if she's maybe got some Chihuahua in her.
'G' is for the most part a lovely dog, she's trained to a small extent (will sit, stay and wait) and displays no food/territory aggression - if we give her a bone for example, we can easily remove it from her when necessary with no problems.
She is very unpredictable however. If something happens that she dislikes, she snaps. This ranges from being bumped accidentally, being moved at all, even gently, (she hasn't been trained to move on command really, she'll shift if you persist but there's no immediate response), if she's touched from behind or whilst sleeping at all.
Her response ranges from stiffening and then biting the air, stiffening and then turning and snapping at a person, or touching the person's skin with her mouth. On two occasions she's caused pain, never bruised or drawn blood.
She also snarls and snaps at other dogs, usually dogs that are bigger than her.
She also uses her mouth a lot when playing, although "gently" - she seems to enjoy wrestling and play fighting.
We've spoken to our vet about her, although did not mention the snapping, who thinks she has a lot of anxiety and might calm down when she's spayed. Also spoken to the local dog warden who has offered to come to the house in a fortnight to see the dog and check things out.
We are getting reluctant to allow others to clap G as she has actually snapped at a visitor, however she's a very friendly girl and will happily go to anyone she sees if she gets the chance. Last thing we want is for her to snap at someone else, especially a child.
Is there anything we can do to help her - any specific training that would be good? Currently when she snaps we tap her lightly on the nose with two fingers (although when this was done today, she simply snapped again) and then having her go and sit in her bed. She knew today that she had done something I think, she sat in her bed for a good 30 mins and then when we called her, she approached with her head down..