Over protective dog!

[Gummygummygumdrops]

I have a 3 year old gorgeous dog. She is a chihuahua crossed with a Chinese Crested.
In the house she is a dream, follows every instruction/command (we say go to bed she trots off to her bed), never really barks, calm and loving and also loves a lie in!

However we do have a huge problem! She is fiercely protective of me and also my mum who dog sits her whilst me and DH are at work. When we take her a walk she snaps at every dog we walk past. She has never hurt another dog but she growls and shows her teeth followed by snaps. I always tell her no and walk the other way but it happens every time.

The problem is because she is so small and cute people always say 'oh bless her'. She has also recently started trying to bite people's ankles as we walk past them. She is also like this with new visitors to the house, however once she gets to know people she is fine.

My mum has 2 dogs who she spends time with daily without any problems. I just don't know what to do anymore and I am embarrassed to take her out the house and on lovely long walks. I know it is ultimately my fault, I totally spoilt her when she was a puppy.

Does anyone have any advice to help me over come this?

You need to muzzle her whenever you take her out and find a good one to one behaviourist to train her out of this.

She may be small but she's being aggressive and any dog that bites is dangerous, regardless of size.

If she bites someone badly you could be looking at the possibility that she'll have to be pts.

It's likely she's scared of dogs and strange people and it's her way of telling them to get away. But you do need help to help her before she does bite.

She is not protective.
Her aggression around you and your mum is resource guarding.

I also think that her aggression around dogs, and possibly people also, is likely fear.

You're right, fear definitely comes into it. In fact she showed no fear to other dogs until she was attacked by a boxer on a walk when she was 6 months old.

I have ordered her a muzzle off the Internet and looking into a dog behaviourist in my local area.