u/IncontinentiaSally

We have an English Bulldog we raised and trained since a puppy. Has always been sweet and playful with myself and spouse including our two children. When she was a year and a half I moved out for a month to start a new job and then our family of four moved. The dogs attitude towards me was completely different when I came back and she became completely attached to my spouse during that time. Which was very apparent because she was considered "my dog" before because she was attached to my hip. She also became less playful with the children in that month. We've been in the new house for almost 6 months now and she has continued to be attached to my wife, which everyone is totally okay with, but she is becoming weirdly aggressive at times. Once she was laying on the ground next to my child who was playing. The child reached up and petted her and she snapped at her. It wasn't a mouthy play likes is common with the dog. My spouse said she raised up and snapped at her hand and then layed right back down. That has 100% never happened before and scared my child and spouse. She was told to get out and go to the kennel. We both refused to have dogs that bite and snap around children but we gave her the benefit of the doubt because she may have been startled, but we've never had a dog get startled at a pet and bite before. Which we've owned 6 dogs before, 3 currently. The next two times happened with me. The first time, she was sitting next to my wife in the bathroom like she usually is and I told her "out" as she was in the walkway. She ignored me, which is weird because she is trained to get out when told. I put my hand on her butt and pushed her forward and said "out" and she snapped at me multiple times before I pushed her out with my foot as she snapped at me. I was lucky I had shoes and long pants. The second time the dog was sitting with my spouse and I stopped by and petted the dog and then patted my spouse on the leg as I stood up. The dog immediately went into attack mode and came after my hand. We were both shocked. And now we are unsure what to do. We cannot have a dog in the house that will snap and bite at humans when we have children in the house...our other 2 dogs are older male lab mixes and have also raised since puppies and they've never had this problem.

We are thinking it may have something to do with the attachment to my wife but when she snapped at our child she was not next to my wife. The children are in love with this dog and we do not want to have to rehome her. We have read that it may be hormone related or something as crazy as the dog feels betrayed that I left for a month. We plan to contact her vet and a dog trainer in town for advice. We are also thinking about maybe doing back to the basics and us doing training sessions again. We're just looking for any advice if anyone has gone through something similar. Literally any information or advice is helpful.

We have an English Bulldog we raised and trained since a puppy. Has always been sweet and playful with myself and spouse including our two children. When she was a year and a half I moved out for a month to start a new job and then our family of four moved. The dogs attitude towards me was completely different when I came back and she became completely attached to my spouse during that time. Which was very apparent because she was considered "my dog" before because she was attached to my hip. She also became less playful with the children in that month. We've been in the new house for almost 6 months now and she has continued to be attached to my wife, which everyone is totally okay with, but she is becoming weirdly aggressive at times. Once she was laying on the ground next to my child who was playing. The child reached up and petted her and she snapped at her. It wasn't a mouthy play likes is common with the dog. My spouse said she raised up and snapped at her hand and then layed right back down. That has 100% never happened before and scared my child and spouse. She was told to get out and go to the kennel. We both refused to have dogs that bite and snap around children but we gave her the benefit of the doubt because she may have been startled, but we've never had a dog get startled at a pet and bite before. Which we've owned 6 dogs before, 3 currently. The next two times happened with me. The first time, she was sitting next to my wife in the bathroom like she usually is and I told her "out" as she was in the walkway. She ignored me, which is weird because she is trained to get out when told. I put my hand on her butt and pushed her forward and said "out" and she snapped at me multiple times before I pushed her out with my foot as she snapped at me. I was lucky I had shoes and long pants. The second time the dog was sitting with my spouse and I stopped by and petted the dog and then patted my spouse on the leg as I stood up. The dog immediately went into attack mode and came after my hand. We were both shocked. And now we are unsure what to do. We cannot have a dog in the house that will snap and bite at humans when we have children in the house...our other 2 dogs are older male lab mixes and have also raised since puppies and they've never had this problem.

We are thinking it may have something to do with the attachment to my wife but when she snapped at our child she was not next to my wife. The children are in love with this dog and we do not want to have to rehome her. We have read that it may be hormone related or something as crazy as the dog feels betrayed that I left for a month. We plan to contact her vet and a dog trainer in town for advice. We are also thinking about maybe doing back to the basics and us doing training sessions again. We're just looking for any advice if anyone has gone through something similar. Literally any information or advice is helpful.