Help!
My 3 year old son, other half and I am staying at my dad's house. There's 2 dogs here, my sister's dog (who is as sweet as anything) and my dad's small poodle. My dad's dog has always been very aggressive, snapping and growling frequently. He once bit my sister so hard that she was bleeding, and has done a "warning bite" on my son when he was 2. (It did not break the skin or anything). Now my son is absolutely not allowed to touch him, and is never close to him without me between him and the dog. It's pretty tiring, and he did manage to pat his back once, which resulted in a one second growl.
I have talked to my dad several times about how this is a problem, and whilst he does take it seriously, he doesn't know what to do. It's his first dog, and the dog is 7,5 years old now. When the dog is not aggressive, he is very sweet to everyone apart from my son. He loves cuddles, however he growls if you get close to him when he's eating, or if he's decided an item (mainly outdoor clothing for some reason) is "his".
However - last night my other half was the last to go to bed, and nobody had put the dog in his house for sleeping. Dog was following my other half around the house, growling and snapping, and standing in front of the stair case so he could not get to our bedroom! My other half is very nervous around dogs at the best of times, so understandably he was scared.
Sorry this is a wall of text, just trying to get all the details in. Please does anyone have any advice? My sister and her dog lived here 13 years ago when her dog was little, and that dog is never aggressive at all, so this is new territory for all of us. We don't have anywhere we can keep the dog away from us.