aggressive towards children

Question
I have a 9mth old mini poodle bitch who will not tolerate my 18mth old grandson anywhere near her. She has also bitten my 5yr old granddaughter and although "playing" drew blood and has left a scar.
I have the opportunity to rehome her with a couple with no children but my granddaughter really loves her.
I also have 2 new baby grandchildren and am worried about when they start crawling etc.
Also, if she steals something and I try to take it from her she will go for me and has bitten me on several occasions. I admit I am a bit scared of her. I am frightened of dogs in general but have had dogs in the past and not been frightened of them since I have had them since puppies.
Apart from this she is a good dog, doesn't yap, likes adults and other animals. She is clean indoors and isn't destructive.
Any advice you can give would be really appreciated.
Just to add, she was only 4mths old when she first "went" for someone.
Regards
V.Rowe

Answer
This is a very hard question to answer.  I don't think small dogs and small children are a good mix.  Without good supervision, it is too easy for one or the other to get hurt.  A larger dog will lick the toddler's face when it falls over on it rather than snap in self defense when the child approaches.  A puppy that comes into a household with children at 7-8 weeks is more likely to tolerate them and accept them as pack members and tolerate accidental mistreatment.  Breeding is another factor.  Even more so with smaller dogs, too many are bred for show or money with little regard for temperament.  

I can't say if the dog you have now could be retrained to be more friendly to your grand children or not.  It would be a shame for them to grow up afraid of dogs because of negative experiences with her.  To do so, you would need to start by providing her good leadership starting with obedience training.  You teach a dog to sit, not because it is important for it to sit on command, but because it is a way of teaching the dog it must do what you say.  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/  I will not promise such a program will give you the control and fix the problem.

If you decide to give her away, do you plan another dog?  If so, it is hard to pick out a puppy that will grow up to be what you need.  You might find an older dog know to be good with children.  One of the best sources for dogs with a predictable personality is the rescue dogs.  These are dogs that lost their home, but were taken into a foster home to be retrained as necessary and placed in the right home for them. You may find a rescue near you starting at
http://www.akc.org/breeds/rescue.cfm  The rescues charge a fee to help cover their expenses, but is much less than the price of a puppy plus all its medical expenses the first year.