Wow. I'm sorry to hear you're going through all that.
If your father is abusing your dog, she's not likely to get better until that stops. He's giving her a reason to think people might hurt her and she's doing what any intelligent creature would do and becoming defensive to protect herself. In terms of the long term ramifications for her behavior, these issues are all fixable as long as the dog was genetically sound and social before, which it sounds like is the case here. It's a traumatic event - it takes a while but with enough counterconditioning the old outlook can come back, but only if the fearfulness is not being reinforced through further traumatic events. She needs lots of positive experiences - arranged meetings with dog friendly people who give her treats etc.
But, like I say, it sounds like both you and she need to find somewhere else to live.
If your father is abusing your dog, she's not likely to get better until that stops. He's giving her a reason to think people might hurt her and she's doing what any intelligent creature would do and becoming defensive to protect herself. In terms of the long term ramifications for her behavior, these issues are all fixable as long as the dog was genetically sound and social before, which it sounds like is the case here. It's a traumatic event - it takes a while but with enough counterconditioning the old outlook can come back, but only if the fearfulness is not being reinforced through further traumatic events. She needs lots of positive experiences - arranged meetings with dog friendly people who give her treats etc.
But, like I say, it sounds like both you and she need to find somewhere else to live.
