Dog People - before I get a behaviorist here

[Carrie12345]

Our <4lb puppy is about 5 years old. We are one of those families that didn’t do *serious* obedience training because, eh, he’s a purse dog. 😕. He isn’t completely untrained; he sits and does a few basic tricks. His “stay” is iffy. He’s very well housebroken for a dog of his size, based on what I see from other tiny dog owners online. He doesn’t really get into things, bark excessively, try to bolt through open doors, bother with the cat much, or any of the other things a lot of people face. He’s mostly pretty chill.

I got him with the intent of making him my “baby”, but my daughter wound up becoming his main person instead. She is the primary walker, feeder, groomer, and he sleeps with her. When she’s busy or not home, he’ll take just about any of the rest of us to cuddle and play with and will perform basic commands/tricks for any of us.

The first problem is that he’s been starting to get growly/snippy out of the blue with anyone but dd.  Not constantly, and not with a trigger that we’ve been able to identify.  Well, that’s not entirely true. It’s often started when he’s just lounging around with people and someone suddenly moves their body, but it isn’t always the case. No special time of day, no food or potty connections, no specific person. People move about regularly, and it doesn’t always set him off. Just sometimes.
 

Then, when dd started working more (12-36 hour shifts 1-3 times a week), he started getting seriously aggressive when anyone would try to put him in his crate. He doesn’t hate his crate; we’ve used it from Day 1, he has great doggy beds, and he settles the second he’s in there, but he only goes in calmly for dd. I literally have to wrap him up in a blankie to contain his aggressive fit to put him in. Always.
This has progressed to sometimes also refusing to let people (other than dd) harness and leash him when coming out of is crate.  Because of his size, it’s physically impossible to harness him if he’s throwing an aggressive fit.  He can’t go potty unharnessed/unleashed (tons of birds of prey and other predators), so back he goes. Often he’ll eventually get desperate enough to give in, but still shows his displeasure.
And now that’s progressing to getting snarly when people (other than dd) go near his crate while he’s in it.

He’ll still happily cuddle/play after the fact, so he doesn’t seem to have a direct issue with any individual people, but he has huge issues with anyone but dd crating or harnessing him, or making vague moves that he doesn’t approve of. He’s usually apologetic afterward. “Please love me anyway!!!”

He is not highly food motivated, and he doesn’t even really play with toys. He prefers to play “tag” or wrestle a bit over balls and stuffies, so no real object attachment.  Mostly he likes to sleep under blankets and keep me terrified that he’ll suffocate or someone will sit on him.

We just so happen to have one of the few certified behaviorists in our state nearby.  She does in-home visits for $100/hr.  I am going to be contacting her for help, but I’m also looking for suggestions to start with, so that I can hopefully maximize the time we have with her. My husband is going to flip if I wind up having her here more than once or twice. (Over the cost, not the training, lol.)
 

[ktgrok]

1. Get the dog to a vet for a full work up. Exam, urine, bloodwork. You need to make sure there isn't a physical issue. Anything from an ear infection to joint pain to thyroid issues to a bladder infection. Any can cause aggression and grumpy behavior. 

2. You might be able to get by with a regular trainer, if you know of a good one. Cheaper. Even just on of you who is NOT DD taking the dog to an obedience class to work on that relationship might help a lot. But again, not until after a physical and bloodwork and urinalysis. Yorkies can get bladder stones, liver shunts, thyroid issues, etc. 

3. AFTER medically clear, a nothing in life is free policy, plus DD ignoring the dog as much as possible, might help. 

[Carrie12345]

He has had a full work up since this started. He had what seemed like a possible seizure not too long ago, so they tested everything possible. Everything came back perfectly normal. 
 

Our vet does not like us much though, because she recommended a behavior specialist at the very beginning and we didn’t follow through (yet.)