Aww poor Copper. I would think that most people would understand about you trying to work with him with the snapping. However, most people can be kind of dumb sometimes (negativity is from working with people wo much!
).
However, I like the idea of picking up your furbaby is someone wants to touch him or her. Especially, since you can control the situation more. Gizmo has no problem with kids or adults stopping to pet him, so we've been fortunate. But, I still let little kids know that is they come running up to him that that can sometimes scare dogs, and even if Gizmo likes children that there are some dogs out there that can get scared easily. Some parents don't like me saying that to their kids, but most will agree and then tell their kids to ask first.
So, I guess it's just turning it into a learning experience.
Good luck though, I know Copper will get the hang of it. It's just training the people around him too that seems to be the challenging part.