dog growling at my 2 yr old

Question
I have a 2 and a half year old daughter and a 3 year old American pitbull terrier.  My dog growls at my daughter when she goes to touch him sometimes.  Not all the time and shes not always doing the something.  My mom thought she might be hurting him.  He was really good with her when she was little.  Actually he was really good with all kids, very happy and protective.  But when my daughter turned about 2 he started getting growling at her and he gets a look like he doesn't want her near him.  We have owned pitbulls my whole life and and my dad is a trainer and breeder.  So we have always tried to keep a stable environment and develop a pack order.  My daughter gives our dog commands and he listens she also feeds him treats and will put his food in his dish for him.  My dad said to make sure the kennel is always open for him to "escape" to and when he is bad to shut him in the kennel as punishment.  He also said that when he growls to make him submit to my daughter by rolling him on his back and having her stand over him and tell him no.  I've been doing all of this but it is not working.  I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if that just doesn't work for him.  I really love my dog and do not want to get rid of him but i need him to be good to my daughter, please help!

Answer
Unless you can say you are 100% absolutely sure your daughter has never hurt the dog, I agree with your mother and I would say you need to consider this possibility.

I do disagree with your father on a couple of points, and that is to put the dog in the kennel when he is bad.  You cannot expect the dog to continue liking his kennel and be happy there if it is also a place that he associates with punishment.

I also disagree with the theory of rolling the dog over on his back.  That is a very dangerous thing to do, especially with a powerful large dog like a pitbull.

Thanks to Cesar Millan, many people do not understand the true meaning of the "alpha roll."  Much of Cesar's programs are edited, and people are not getting the whole picture or see what happens when he guesses wrong.

The alpha roll is confused by many with the submissive posture a dog offers to its superiors.  This is something it does on its own to show it is not a threat.  The alpha roll is only done by a dog who is threatening to kill the other dog.  This is not the message you want your daughter to be sending to your dog.

I believe we can be our dog's leader without showing force.  I am including some information that I hope will be helpful:

http://www.marinhumanesociety.com/Behavior/Handouts/PEP.pdf
http://www.marinhumanesociety.com/Behavior/Handouts/NILIF.pdf
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/educated-dog.pdf

http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/dogbite_guide.pdf
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/kidsdogs.pdf

http://www.marinhumanesociety.com/Behavior/Handouts/Aggression.pdf
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/dog-agg.pdf
http://www.marinhumanesociety.com/Behavior/Handouts/PreventingAggression.pdf