I'd love some advice on getting Zelda less aggressive toward small children. I
know that it's common in chihuahuas, and maybe that's some sort of evolutionary
self-preservation thing, but I'm guessing she can be trained out of it.

I noticed you said you socialized your nervous dog to kids. May I ask how you
did it? I took Zelda everywhere with me for the first two years of her life.
She met adults, dogs and children and never would cozy up to the last two.
Other dogs she just hates. I think mostly she's protecting me (ha), and while
sometimes she can make a much larger dog submit to her, I've seen others lose
their patience with her aggression and bare teeth. She'd be an appetizer.

My mother also has a chi and she is not at all aggressive to kids. She's very
docile. Yet she and Zelda battle for alpha status when they're confronted with
each other.

Any thoughts?