Fear of one person.

Question
QUESTION: I have an interesting issue. My dog is a 10 year old springer spaniel. She has always had issues since we brought her home as an 8 week old puppy. However our new current issue involves my 18 year old daughters best friend.Arielle, my daughters friend has been coming to our house for the past 5 years. In the last few months our dog "Oreo" has become very weird around her. The dog freaks out whenever Arielle comes to the house which is almost daily. She becomes distraught and does everything in her power to get outside. She will lay under the tree in the back yard for 5-6 hours at a time. When she does come into the house she is nearly inconsoulable. She tries to climb into our laps, tries to get behind the couch , under tables anything else she can find. During this time Arielle is doing nothing but sitting on the couch, She does not have to be moving or talking to have this affect on the dog.At first I thought that maybe Arielle had a different smell. She  currently has a boyfriend and I thought that maybe his smell(another dog from his house or whatever.)but, ruled this out when he came over to the house the other day. I asked Arielle to leave when he came in and Oreo was fine with him. He patted her and she even rolled on her back for a belly rub.I have tried to ignore her when the behavior happens, but she only gets worse. I have tried to comfort her by allowing her to sit between my feet with minimal petting. I have tried to get her to go to another room but, she will not relax at all. If I go to bed she will go upstairs with me, but continues to be stressed out. She will jump onto the bed or try to bury herself under the bed. This is getting to the point where I am considering having her put to sleep if I cannot find some way to prevent this absurd behavior.

ANSWER: You're going TO KILL THE DOG because she doesn't like your daughter' friend???? SORRY, no sympathy from me here.  PROTECT THE DOG.  When this girl comes to your home, calmly and gently take the dog to another room where there is a soft bed, water and a special toy or two she only gets at this time.  The dog is RESPONDING TO SOMETHING, perhaps a scent (maybe the girl has a medical condition that is undiagnosed) or a subtle behavior, or perhaps the girl is afraid of the dog and giving subtle signals that you don't read, but the dog does.  This dog has spent its lifetime AS YOUR COMPANION, to put it to death because the dog has  A LEGITIMATE ISSUE, which I can't determine (since I can't be there) is an outrageous and grossly unfair and unfeeling response.

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QUESTION: I am sorry that maybe you don't completely understand. I feel sorry for my dog. She is so distraught that I cannot calm her at all. She will not stay in any room in the house with or without me. It isn't that she doesn't like her, she has been coming to the house for 6 years and now the dog acts like she is having a nervous breakdown almost daily. So what exactly is the dogs legitimate issue?? I am concerned that my dog may actually hurt herself acting in an irrational manor. She is also attacking the other dog in the house which has been here for 6 years. Not when my daughters friend is here, but for no reason at all.This also started about 8 months ago. The other dog is totally submissive to Oreo. She leaves food in her dish all day long and the other dog will not eat it or even walk past her dish for fear he will be attacked. He will not walk into the living room. I have to physically restrain Oreo before Chip can walk into the livingroom. He runs past and hides behind a chair where he will lay for the rest of the night.Until I hold her again so he can walk to a different room. I was under the understanding that this site was to help with behavior issues. Although I guess it is just a site to pass judgement on me. My dog is very high strung and does not calm easily. She does not play with toys in the house and will not lick peanut butter out of a kong or any of the other distractions that people have suggested.She will not even eat unless I am home with her. I was hoping for some type of help to teach my dog to cope. Thank you for judging me and acting as though I don't love my dog. I would not be looking for answers to help her if I didn't care for her. I also am not looking for your sympathy. I was looking for answers to help her cope. It is really sad how upset she gets. I have tried to calm her for the past 8 months. I am upset by the fact that she won't come in the house and that I can't calm her. I am not looking for a response to this question. I would not try anything you would suggest anyway, because it is easy to see you are not here to help with behavior issues at all. I see now that a website is not a place to look for answers to behavior questions. You did not even ask anything about the dog, you just started right away judging me. So i will just try to figure it out on my own. I would not reccomend this site to my friends.

Answer
You need to take this dog to a sophisticated veterinarian capable of assessing her cognition and total health.  There's most likely something physiological occurring but you can't know without tests.  A veterinary behaviorist is where I would go, were this my dog; such a professional is perfectly capable of hearing your evidence of behavior and fully evaluating the dog, with blood chemistry, neurological evaluation, etc., in order to form an opinion regarding quality of life.  Elderly dogs can, just like humans, develop age related cognitive dysfunction and there are medications available.  Should the veterinarian evaluate the dog's quality of life as being poor and fearful, at least you can make an informed decision regarding her future.  Should the veterinarian identify a problem that s/he feels can be treated, the dog has the right to that effort, even though it may not succeed.  This is the most humane and responsible course of action, as I'm sure you'll agree.  The average veterinary clinician doesn't have the skill (most likely) to conduct such an in depth assessment (for which s/he must have extraordinary knowledge of behavior, not something most veterinarians get in any manner as deep as those whose practice is behavior).  You will most likely be able to find a veterinary behaviorist at one of the following links, even though some travel may be involved; these people understand that clients sometimes come from hundreds of miles and are able to do everything necessary in as short a time interval as possible.  If you cannot find one in your area in the following links, call the veterinary college in your geographical location and ask for referral:
http://www.veterinarybehaviorists.org/
http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/