Took Koda to my nephews house for the 1st time and their 18 mos old daughter was kinda chasing him when he snapped at her and thankfully just scratched her face a little. What is strange is he's been around little ones before but only at my place. could it be that he was nervous being in a strange place? or should I be worried that this might be a habit of him. He's never showed agressiveness before.

Since he's never been there it was a big deal going somewhere new with a new (possibly?) strange child chasing him around - he was probably a little (lot?) stressed at the whole situation and that was his warning. A snap =/= aggression.

I'm more wondering why you'd allow an 18 month old kinda chase him?

maybe I worded it wrong it wasnt like she was running at him just following him around and he went to my wife and sat down and when she got close it was then that he snaped at her. it was less then a minute more like seconds of following him. and he let her pet him minutes before this happened.

I can only assume since I wasn't there and didn't see it happen - but it sounds like he was very stressed. He sought out your wife seeking safety (because he didn't know where else to go where he could be alone and safe) and when the child (I don't mean to be rude in calling her a child, I don't know her name) got close to him he felt cornered and it was his way of telling her to back off.

It just sounds like he was well above his threshold with a new environment, people and a child following him around. It's not something I would label as aggression - just a series of events that pushed Koda over his limit and he did the only thing he knows to do when that happens - give a warning, and the biggest most easily recognizable warning that says "Hey, I need you to back off I'm not in the mood" is a snap.

I'd just avoid all of these situations/series of events. Don't let children follow him/chase him in unfamiliar places. Set Koda up to succeed, not fail - his introductions, meetings and interactions with children should all be very positive. If that means only 5 minutes of time that he is comfortable being around children for now - then that's fine. You can work up length of time as you go but it's easiest to just let him tell you when he's had enough by giving him an easy way to get away and you also have to teach the kids (ANY kids that he'll have contact with) that sometimes Koda just doesn't want to be bothered .