Aggressive Toy Poodles

Question
Our toy poodle grew up ouside with my ex-husband, he didn't take good care of him. We got him professonally groomed andbrought him inside at our home. Now he is very protective of me, If my son tries to hug me or come near my bedroom door, He attacks him. I try to get a book and smack him on the face. He has bitten me several times and brought the blood. We love him dearly, but no more abuse. What can we do?

Answer
Hitting him won't help.  You need to reeducate him about his place.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/ For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm