First off you need to teach your daughter not to back away from the pup when it growls at her. Teach your daughter to say NO to the puppy. If you or someone else bigger is into the room when this happens turn the dog over on its back and hold it firmly by the chest if you are comfortable doing this. If not, put your dogs choke chain and leash on until this gets resolved, if the puppy growls someon even your daughter can pop the choke chain on the dog and say NO.
This behavior needs to be addressed immediately. Your daughter can stop what she is doing, but backing away teaches the dog that it is winning a top dog over someone in the house and your dog should not be higher in status than anyone in your house.
You wrote you dont see a correlation between an interaction, but I guarantee you something is going on that watching will reveal. Please pay close attention and if you can post what you see both your daughter and the dog doing immediately before the dog reacts that would help in figuring this out. As far as the crate goes, your dog might be experiencing some seperation anxiety. Leave the crate door open and start interacting with your dog while the crate door is open - your dog is basically throwing a tantrum because it does not want to miss out on anything going on outside the crate.
I have some idea about what is going on, but I need more information. Can you give me a run down of your dogs day. Feeding time, outside time (what outside time consists of) etc...Please post again with more information and lets correct this behavior before someone gets hurt.

Thank you so much, I appreciate you helping me out here!

Beckham's day consists of:
- outside time as soon as he wakes up (about a 20 minute walk, he is 95% potty trained)
- inside for feeding (we feed him twice per day, 9am and 5pm)
- he is free for most of the time the kids are at school, normally follows me around. He has toys and a bed he likes to lay in and unless I go upstairs for something he is at my feet We have taught him not to go upstairs to the bedrooms, my thinking being we would allow him on that carpeted area once he is house trained. He is an intelligent dog and after being reprimanded a few times does not go up the stairs (no gate) but sits at the bottom until we come down.
- I take him out a few times during the day but when the kids get home from school they take him out and play with him in the yard. He also likes to tear around the house chasing whatever we will throw for him.
- About 9pm when we go upstairs he is told to "kennel up" which he readily does for a treat). He has his tantrum for about 30 minutes and we don't hear from him again.

What else can I tell you? He is good with the "give it" command relinquishing anything he has. Has never had table scraps so does not beg. Will stay when told. Is not allowed on the furniture. Has never chewed anything (unless it was through his crate bars). Rides nicely in the car. Is only a maniac with jumping on people (including the kids) during the first 3 minutes he sees them. He will bark and growl briefly when someone comes to the door or he thinks he hears a strange noise so feels some amount of "protecting" the house? Shows absolutely no aggression toward strangers or other dogs - his nub of a tail never stops wagging.

I agree with you on the crate and last night he somehow got a corner of the throw rug in the laundry room where his crate is and spent heaven knows how much time pulling it through the bars and shredding the corner! I think he loves his family so much that he can't stand being away from us but I am not backing down on the crate.

I am explaining to my youngest to be firm with him and have her work with him (commands and treats as well as being the one who feeds him) as I'm desperately trying to do just as you say and have him see her as superior. She was guilty of hugging him early on (which he didn't seem to mind) and I am watching to see if she is doing that again which might bring on the growling. He definitely goes belly up when I so much as raise my voice. Agression seems to be completely out of his sweet nature.

He seems to be the perfect puppy but I can't allow the growling to escalate to a disaster. I have only had golden retrievers so don't know the nature of a dog like this.

I so appreciate any help!
Kathy

Thank you so much, I appreciate you helping me out here!

Beckham's day consists of:
- outside time as soon as he wakes up (about a 20 minute walk, he is 95% potty trained)
- inside for feeding (we feed him twice per day, 9am and 5pm)
- he is free for most of the time the kids are at school, normally follows me around. He has toys and a bed he likes to lay in and unless I go upstairs for something he is at my feet We have taught him not to go upstairs to the bedrooms, my thinking being we would allow him on that carpeted area once he is house trained. He is an intelligent dog and after being reprimanded a few times does not go up the stairs (no gate) but sits at the bottom until we come down.
- I take him out a few times during the day but when the kids get home from school they take him out and play with him in the yard. He also likes to tear around the house chasing whatever we will throw for him.
- About 9pm when we go upstairs he is told to "kennel up" which he readily does for a treat). He has his tantrum for about 30 minutes and we don't hear from him again.

What else can I tell you? He is good with the "give it" command relinquishing anything he has. Has never had table scraps so does not beg. Will stay when told. Is not allowed on the furniture. Has never chewed anything (unless it was through his crate bars). Rides nicely in the car. Is only a maniac with jumping on people (including the kids) during the first 3 minutes he sees them. He will bark and growl briefly when someone comes to the door or he thinks he hears a strange noise so feels some amount of "protecting" the house? Shows absolutely no aggression toward strangers or other dogs - his nub of a tail never stops wagging.

I agree with you on the crate and last night he somehow got a corner of the throw rug in the laundry room where his crate is and spent heaven knows how much time pulling it through the bars and shredding the corner! I think he loves his family so much that he can't stand being away from us but I am not backing down on the crate.

I am explaining to my youngest to be firm with him and have her work with him (commands and treats as well as being the one who feeds him) as I'm desperately trying to do just as you say and have him see her as superior. She was guilty of hugging him early on (which he didn't seem to mind) and I am watching to see if she is doing that again which might bring on the growling. He definitely goes belly up when I so much as raise my voice. Agression seems to be completely out of his sweet nature.

He seems to be the perfect puppy but I can't allow the growling to escalate to a disaster. I have only had golden retrievers so don't know the nature of a dog like this.

I so appreciate any help!
Kathy

I was thinking about this last night. I have suspicions. First off you need to be observant and find out when your pup is growling. Is it at playtime, is he tugging at something - if so this is nothing to worry about, dogs "TALK" when they are playing, the more they talk, the lesss they are biting. In fact alot dog fights are all about close quarters yelling at each other. There is also a thing called a GRUMBLE. it is not a growl, but in fact more talking. I suspect your pup is only playing and if this is the case, your daughter is the one who needs to be taught that there is nothing to be afraid of, her puppy is only talking to her.

When you crate the pup, do you give him a peanut butter toy to focus on? That should get him thru the first hour of being left alone. He will probably settle down and sleep after that, expecially if he had a nice play time before going to the crate.

The growling is disturbing. One thing I would certainly do is STOP her from feeding the pup. She should not pick up his toys either. People are frequently bitten in situations where food/toys are involved. I know you are trying to establish a respect and bond here but feeding is a job for more mature family members. She is only 4 and she can't 'read' the pups behavior like an older person might. (If you do a google search, you will find tons of dog/child aggression topics--most involve food.) Good luck.