Aggressive Jack Russel

Question
Hi,
It is so nice to find someone who loves Jack Russell - I have received a lot of negative feedback with this breed.

I have an 8 month old mixed Jack Russell/Beagle pup.  I adopted him from a rescue organization when he was 5 months old.  He is very smart and trainable, active but not bouncing off the walls.
His problem is he goes berserk when outside or going for a walk and anyone approaches him, actually even if they don't approach him he just goes wild.  He snarls, snaps and charges at everyone, including other dogs.  With us and anyone we allow in our home he is fine.
I am presently taking him to a dog training class hoping to break him of this unacceptable behavior.  
Any advice you can send will be appreciated.  He is a great little guy, but I don't know if I can keep him if I am unable to correct this behavior.

Thank You,

Answer
Hi Laura,
Congrats on your "new" dog, that was great of you to take him in. I can tell that you love Jacks too, they are VERY SPECIAL!  For some reason he is being extremely over protective of you, and it is probably because of something that happened in the first 3 months that was out of his control. You are doing the best thing by taking him to dog training class, but make sure they focus on his aggression and not just "sit, stay, come" training. The main thing to do when he is out with you is to turn his attention to YOU and not the people/dogs that are making him distracted and crazy. You can start this by bringing treats (cheese bits, something extra delicious) and make him sit and focus on your eyes (by holding the cheese up to your face) and
keep feeding him the cheese bits and praising him "good boy" while he focuses on you and not the others! You'll have to do it over and over and over, but as you know with dogs, consistency is the key to successful training. I have found this method works best so give it a try and see if it works. I wish you both the best of luck!