I am new to Boston forums, I have had Sadie a spade female for 5 years, She lives with my
wife and I , we are senors and she is quite spoiled, Our problem is she is overly protective, and often for no apparent reason, snaps at people when they stick there hands thru the fence to pet her, or put there hands into the vehical window, she has already bitten two children, not severly but bad enough to really concern us, Is there a way to change this bad habit, ? also it would break our hearts to put her down, is there a chance that she could be safely adopted out. ?

Sounds like she is protecting her territory and possession (you). She needs to know this is unacceptable. When she does this, are you able to get her to stop and allow the people to pet her? There are things that can be done to change this. What have you done so far?

There is a GREAT book that I am reading right now, that I actually got for my other two dogs, who are labs. I seen the author on Oprah, and she has an AWESOME book called The Loved Dog. They talk about this over protectiveness in the book, you should get it and read it!! The author is Tamar Geller, and its a great way to teach and undersstand your dogs!

Good luck with Sadie!!!

Amber