I have a 3 year old dog, who has been a loving companion for my family, especially my 11 year old daughter. The propblem is whenever my daughter or I  say my husbands name, he starts growling and starling, even if I touch him. Last night my husband fell asleep in front of the tv and I went over to hime and whispered his name and the dog went for me, going crazy. so whispering doesn't work either. My daughter cannot playfight with her dad unless we put the dog outside. Even in the next room if he can hear playing he goes crazy.I am due to give birth in 3 weeks and I am petrified for the safety of my baby, my daughter loves her 'friend' to death, I just don't know what to do.

You really need to have somebody in to observe this dog in its home environment - could you explain the situation to your vet and ask him to refer you to somebody - preferably a member of the UKRCB or the APBC.

I agree with Digger, but also would mention it's best not to let your child and father playfight as it seems to distress the dog - maybe it doesn't understand - I would advise they stop this :)

Lindsay
x

Alot of dogs don't like any playfighting as they don't understand whats happening, so i don't think you need to read too much into that other than to stop the playfighting. But i think as has already been said you could do with some sort of help with the rest of the situation.
Hope you get things sorted :)

Hi guest.
I have 2 toy poodles, 1 male and 1 female, with totally different personalities. The female, Lacy, is so quiet and timid, she shakes if you make a sudden movement and doesn't like new people. But the male - Oliver is totally the opposite. He is a nutcase, makes friends with anybody, really hyper. When I was pregnant with my son 18 months ago he completely changed. He was very protective of Martin (my husband), growling when the doorbell went, very suspicious. When I spoke to my vet about this, she said that as males reach around the age of 1 - 2yrs old they become more assertive (something to do with testosterone) basically he was challenging me. She said, like in the wild, they see off the smallest and least threatening first, ie me. Martin was the bigger member of the household so he was seen as more important.  The more I thought about it the more it made sense. (maybe I was desperate to believe anything) SO now I make sure that I put out all meals (and take away again), I do the first walk in the morning and I stroke him first when we come home. For a few weeks I took my time preparing his food with him at the side watching me, putting his bowl down on the floor slowly, at a pace to suit me. He started to look at me with very new eyes, as if I gone up in his estimation. So by the time baby was born I had a real pussycat.
Good luck X
Amanda