Golden Retriever growling at our kids

Question
Hi! My husband & I adopted a golden retriever from the human society almost a year ago and he has always been a very friendly, fun loving dog until recently...Our youngest daughter who is one will pet the dog and attempt to play with him but he growls. I thought it was just the baby until today, my four year old was running her hands along his face saying aw your such a good boy when he was laying on the couch and he growled until she completely got off the couch. I'm really nervous, we live in a apartment for the time being until Jan. and I don't want anything to happen to the girls because hes grumpy. Should I get rid of the dog? If not what do i do?

Answer
The first thing I would do is run him in to the vet for a check up.  He could have some physical problem, and the children's petting maybe hurting.  

The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm  Be sure and follow the link there to the page on children and dogs.