My typically non aggressive lab has bitten since we bred her and she had puppies. What advice can you give us?

I tried to find the answer to my question on your web site, but couldn't quite find the right fit from the previous questions. I'm really hoping you can help because I don't know what to do.

We have a lab that we've had since she was a puppy. She's always been an inside dog and has gotten along great with EVERYONE up until now. She's not been to formal obedience training, but we don't like unruly dogs, so we've got her pretty well trained. She's always had ear problems and, as a result, she's pretty much deaf, so we've got her trained to hand signals now. She hunts so it's important that she behaves, so she'll sit, stay, retrieve, lay down, etc. She doesn't have free reign of the house so we built her a kennel indoors for when we've got a lot of company or aren't home, etc.

Anyway, she's now almost 6 and we decided we'd breed her, since she's been so great and we wanted a puppy. Well, since probably her late pregnancy she's shown a few instances of aggressiveness, but nothing serious. She sort of showed her teeth and barked at a lady that was at the house for a party, but was in her kennel so there was no incident really and I didn't get alarmed. I was really surprised more than anything because that was a first for her.

When the puppies came she was a really terrible mother. (She had 9 puppies and only 4 survived her.) My son, who she just loves and slept with most nights for the past year or so, was trying to help her tend to them so she wouldn't kill any more and she sort of attacked him. I'd say she bit him, but she bit both of his hands so I know there were at least two bites. (I feel that's kind of like an attack, verses just a bite.) During this encounter she never barked or growled or anything. There was no warning that she would become aggressive. My son was in the birthing box/kennel with her when it happened and it was at night so we wrote it off to the new motherhood and the confined space/dark, etc... The next day she sort of snapped at me from inside the kennel, so we just kind of left her alone figuring it was a "mother dog" thing and that it would get better.

Well, the reason for my question is this; it's now 9 weeks after puppies and they've been separated from her for about 2 weeks. The puppies are outside and she's still inside. Last night she bit the neighbor boy when he put his hand in her kennel. Again, she never growled, barked, nothing. I can't say that this is just "mother dog" behavior any longer. I've never owned a dog that's ever bitten anyone and I don't really know what to do. We love her and don't want to put her down, but I cannot have a dog that I can't trust either.

Can you offer me any advice of a logical next step? The whole family is very upset because she's been such a great pet up until this point. I've even thought about extracting her canine teeth to at least make her less dangerous if she would ever bite again. I'm just so stunned that these events have even taken place that I don't know where to turn. We've always had her socialized to whoever comes to the house and have never had a problem. Now I'm concerned that she might hurt someone else.

Thank you in advance for your time.
Have a great day!
Aimee