I am hoping that someone can give me some pointers to help Libby keep her happy home.  She is a little girl, around 8 pounds and she was listed as a minpin mix by the humane society.  My DH was part of the park crew who found her while mowing last May and turned her in with our name as interested in giving her a home if no one claimed her.  Our vet saw her in June when she came home with us and estimated her age at around 5 months/ gave her a birthday of Jan. 6.  so she is a little over a year old now. I actually found your site way back when her pic was on the stray pages and told DH I thought rattie and not min pin mix (the vet agreed )   I've always been owned by mid to big dogs so I've tried to work with her size and fears to train her. (she is an only dog)  She plays with other dogs ok on their turf, but becomes a beast if they are here to play, snappy and since she is the littlest, I give her a "no" and pull back on her leash and if she keeps it up put her away. Crate and housetraining, some simple commands (sit, down, wait, ok, and get in your seat    ) she still plays sled dog pulling with the leash sometimes but I'd consider those as successes.  The problems are at home.  She continues to bark at my husband and son even after they are in and she "sees" who it is.  If they leave the room and come back she barks, bounces at them on stiff legs then runs to her crate or pillow.  We have a gate across the hall to keep her away from the steps because I'm afraid she'll get  out and I never trust her off leash except in the back yard that is fenced.  She is so fast and once she takes off, I don't think she'd come back.  Did I mention the come here command is ignored so far?  She is starting to try and lunge over the gate when the guys step over it to leave the room and grabbing their pantsleg. If my daughters or women are visiting, they or I can step over no problem, just jumping to go along and huffing back to her pillow when we tell her down.  ANY men who come in get the killer dog bark, women are ok as soon as they talk to her.  I've tried having the guys do the feeding, walking, tried having treats at the bottom of the steps for them to give her when they come up IF she "sits" and "hush".  I thought the sit and hush were making progress, but the guys think she is learning that if she barks at them she gets a treat.  DH says she barks more when I am home and thinks she is protecting me.  They no longer want to feed or walk her /  and I've told them that yelling at her isn't helping ( she must think they are barking back because she gets louder and more snippy when they are loud).  My biggest concern is the going after them when they try to step over the gate to leave the room.  I feel like she has made some good progress since I've had her.  She goes with me every day to babysit my grandaughter and they are learning to respect each other (almost 3 years old - learning gentle, and how to approach dogs- HER puppies each weigh over 80 pounds - hound mixes and big babies) Obviously I never let the two of them alone, but Libby has never made an aggressive move toward the little one or her dogs.  I have been reading through the threads on barking, and training.  I'm just hoping someone can suggest something for the grabbing before it goes to real biting.   Thank you.  ( and I promise to do a real intro and pics as soon as I can get some to resize or take new ones) 

Kim has given you a good suggestion. Your dog will learn to stay away from the gate if the water bottle is hanging on it... after having been squirted with it a few times!  It works!  I would give a command with it though... such as "STOP" or some other command where the dog can make the connection.