My 3 month old Shih Tzu/Lhasa Apso that was very loving for the last month that we had her has started growling and snapping at us. Just now I was just wiping under her eyes (have done this before) and she started growling, showing teeth and scared me. I pushed her off my chair. What can we do before this gets out of hand?

I would enroll in a puppy training class and work on getting a Canine Good Citizen certification. This process will teach the dog basic obedience and allowing for handling for grooming/veternarian. In the meantime, you should practice handling the dog: every day look in it's mouth, ears, touch every part of it's body including feet. If the dog is resistant, don't let it pull away from you, hold it gently but firmly. It needs to accept being touched.

By stopping the handling when it snaps at you, it has learned that by snapping, you stop doing what it doesn't want you to do. This is not what you want to teach the dog.

Read Cesar Milan's book on being a Pack Leader. You need to learn to set Rules, Boundaries, and Limitations. And remember, Exercise, Discipline, Affection -- in that order! Be a calm assertive Leader and teach your dog to be a calm submissive follower!

Yes, sign up for training class with your puppy! I would also like to recommend a couple GREAT books...

"Leader of the Pack" By Nancy Baer & Steve Duno
"The Dog Whisperer" & "The Puppy Whisperer" By Paul Owens (The ORIGINAL Dog Whisperer

These books use NON-VIOLENT training methods and work on the basis of building and strengthening the bond between you and showing your dog you are the leader without breaking his/her spirit and forcing her to submit.

Puppy starts training on Sunday! Thank you for your responses.

This is most likely a fear based behavior, not unusual in small dogs. You need to understand triggers, thresholds, counter conditioning and desensitization. Do not punish the dog or force the dog to deal with stuff, it just makes the behavior worse and you end with a dog that thinks it has to bite people to keep them away.

[CorkyMax]

A tdbit to take into consideration although probably not what it is---Rabies (and other vaccinations) can cause many side effects--right away and/or awhile 'down the road'---one of them being aggressive behavior.