Hello Pauline and Molly, Welcome to COL
There is no quick fix solution to your problem with Molly regarding her growling and barking. It sounds like fear aggression, her bad experience with the staffie at such a young age as left her defensive and scared.
I had a similar problem with my 2 and a half year old also called Molly, when she was 12 weeks old a border collie ran up to her at the park ( she was on her lead ) it barked and tried to nip her and she has never forgot it. For many months after she would bark at all dogs that looked like a collie ( small ones she was fine with ) What I did was ring my friend who has 2 border collie's and asked if we could spend some time with them almost to de-sensitize the fear. This worked quite well, also every time we saw another dog I would put her on the lead, distract her and give her a lovely treat if she didnt bark.
It does take time ,even now she is quite worried when she see's a biggish dog but she looks to me for her treat, that's more important to her!! :wink:
You could also try a training class, where she would meet many dogs, or perhaps just go on the ringcraft night to sit and watch just so she can see other dogs.
Sometimes depending on the severity of the fear a one to one training session might be benefical, it's something to think about, hope this helps.
Lizzy Molly and Evie
