Why does our shihtzu get aggressive with my husband and i?

by Rhonda Grooms
(Blue Creek Ohio)

I got our shihtzu from my mother a few years ago he has always been pleasant and sweet but now he is very aggressive torward me and my husband.

For example my husband or daughter can be holding him and all i have to do is walk up to them and he starts growling, showing teeth,and lunges at me. Vice versa when im holding him he does the same thing to my husband. He also does this when we go to pick him up like when he is laying down, standing etc. Now the weird part about it say i go over to pick him up he startrs growling and all the stuff i mentioned, but at the same time he is walking up to me wanting me to hold him and even while i start picking him up he keeps on growling and even after a few minutes of me holding him he still does it.

Then all at once he quits and loves up to me vice versa with my husband. He just started this behavior all at once out of the blue and i really dont understand it we dont mistreat him in fact we baby him constantly maybe a little too much at times for example when he begs for our food we always have to give in cause of them sad little eyes, we talk to him just like he is a newborn, alot of times we will make his own plate at the dinner table, were always loving on him, giving him kisses and hugs, he sleeps right in bed with us under the covers or where ever he wants to go.


If he wants to steal our pillows we allow him to do this and sleep without one. Now for his history while my mom owned him my son lived with her which he is adhd and bi-polar so he did hit, kick and do other things torward him but he never did get aggressive since he has been with us my younger son likes to tease him and make him mad and of course we make him stop doing that. Ok even with my son doing this he is not a bit aggressive when my son walks up to him or goes to pick him up. He is also not aggressive torward my daughter.

He has actually bitten my husband a few times and tore his hand open,but even after this we dont jump onto him or anything in that nature. We couldnt live with ourself if we did i have talked a few times about getting rid of him,but that thought makes me sick to my stomach we love him very very much and it would break my heart to have to do it. So we decided not to, and just try to deal with it.

We're kind of poor people living on a fixed income so of course i cant afford to get him to the vet or where ever he would have to go for this problem. Can u help us with this cause we dont know what else to do besides put up with it any advice would be great. Sorry this is so long but i wanted you to know about the whole situation and thank you for your time.