My dog bites me aggressively when I towel down after a walk, growls at my wife but doesn't bite her

WeaverEBT

Hi, first time posting. I have a 20month White EBT who we rehomed a year ago from a friend of a friend. He has a great temperament and is great with other dogs /kids/Adults. The one problem would appear with myself. We got him in Jan 2020 and I have been working from home since March 2020 due to the lockdown in the UK. I look after him and walk him most days and I am also the one who plays tug of war and other livelier games and we get along fine, he does not leave me alone. The problem which has now arisen is that he aggressively bites/attempts to bite when I am towling him down after a muddy walk. He growls at my partner but does not bite. He previously bit me aggressively when guarding his pigs ear. We have since removed all 'high prize' treats such as pigs ear and knuckles as it was very intimidating and replaced with kongs etc.. Since then his guarding/possession of his food aggressively has also gone. Things to note are that we sold our house in 7 Dec 2020 and moved in to a temporary house for 6 weeks until our new home is ready. We are now in the new home and he seems happy. He was also neutered in September. Therefore from birth to 20months he has had 5 homes (Breeder 1- First owner 1 - Us 3) . I attempted to positively reinforce the towel this morning by just rubbing him with it, click and treat. I did this numerous times then stopped and allowed my partner to take over. I continued to stroke him and which point he got aggressive and bit me fairly badly. Does anyone have any advise? My partner believes it is because I play rougher than her but I don't believe it is that, I think potentially I have dried him rougher in the past and maybe caught him on his dewclaw or a similar potential sore spot?

that1Boomer

Are you properly reacting to his bites? I mean, are you saying ouch very loudly and giving him the cold shoulder afterwards? Women usually have no problem with this and say ouch and ignore instinctively. Men however tend to try and be tougher than the dog and don't do it so abruptly. Making the dog confused if it is play or hurting or as in your case intimidation. This seems simple and people usually don't even realize they are not reacting enough. If this is not the reason for it, seek a professional trainer.
But this could be as simple as, OUCH and ignore for a few minutes. These dogs get their feelings hurt very easily. So they don't want to make you mad at them. You just need to convince them that you are upset. They soon understand that the negative feedback is avoidable by adjusting their behavior.
I hope this is helpful. All the best, he looks Great.

BulliesofNC

https://bulliesofnc.com/dominance-aggression-issues-bull-terriers/

Southsider

Mine had growled and sharply mouthed my hand whilst drying him. He seems not l ike getting his legs rubbed dry, but he did have a slight limp on his right leg a few weeks ago and so far seems to have disappeared ( fingers crossed )
I recently purchased one of those dog "cape like" drying towels, so I now just slip it over his head and let him dry out .