aggressive labadore

Question
We have an 8 month labrador female who has been spayed.  Up until now she has always been very friendly around our family and friends including children. We have only had her about 6 weeks.  She was found on the side of the road. Our vet believes she is full bread.  On Christmas day with a house full people a 5 year old child fell over top of her while she was sleeping.  The dog jumped up and attempted to bite him.  I know this has only happended once BUT we can not have a dog that may bite.  Is there anyway that we can brake her of this?

Answer
This is a difficult case.  Start with obedience training.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/ For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm  That site has additional material on dogs and children.  

One big point is that dogs and children need supervision.  I like larger dogs with children because they are sturdy enough to take accidents like that.  The dogs need to understand they are not to retailiate when things happen, but children need to be taught to be careful of the dog.  

You may need a private trainer too.