I am hoping someone will be able to help me with a problem we have with an 8 month old Goldren Retriever. The dog is not normally agressive, but in the last couple of weeks he has snapped at our three year old son a couple of times. For info, we have three kids 7, 5 and 3. He has no issues with the two older kids. We have had the pup since he was 8 weeks old, he is a pedigree, and was acquired from a reputable breeder. He has been well socialised with other dogs and humans since he's been with us.
The first time he snapped at him was when the dog wasn't paying any attention and he didn't see my son walk up to him - when he went to stroke the dog, the dog was startled and snapped at him catching his finger.
A week later, my son walked past the dog (at some distance) as the dog was eating and the dog lunged forward and snapped at him, again catching his hand.
Starting this week, we have got our son (under close supervision) to feed him each morning and to make the dog sit before putting some of the food in his dish and adding further food after he has been made to sit again. We have also started to make sure that we are in close proximity to the dog whenever he is eating to get him to build up confidence that we aren't going to steal his food.
There seems to be two problems - slight food agression and a lack of trust toward my son.
The dog is fine with our other two children.
If anyone has advice on how to improve this situation I would be most grateful. Is another problem that at 8 months the dog is trying to assert himself?
Thanks