You're a caring daughter to be so concerned about your parents happiness.

What is it that you think a counselor could do for your father? My own feeling is that you are way over-estimating what counseling can accomplish. Your father is maladjusted. The roots of that are deep. Your parents have worked out an arrangement that they are able to sustain. I totally understand you wishing they were different, but they're not. This is who they are. This is who they will be ten years from now. Your father's a man-child. Your mom doesn't really want a spouse who's an equal partner who'ld wrest some more control from her. I suspect neither of them was forced into this marriage. The best you can do is be pleasant to both and leave them to continue working out their own dynamic. It is not just your father who is impaired. The whole relationship is structured around his dependency and your mother's need to control. There's enough pathology to go around between the both of them. Focus on your life and your future.

Of course your parents are part of your life and will be part of your future. Figure out how to make sure your mom doesn't control you. Work on keeping your relationships with each of them healthy. That's really all you can do. I tried to play marriage counselor to my parents for a while. I was foolish to get drawn into that. It was an utter waste of my energy.

Invite your father to do things with you now and then. Visit a museum or attend a concert. He's intelligent. Something must interest him besides playing with the dog.

Your concern is admirable. But you won't change them. We use the "medical model" in describing human behaviors that seem unfortunate. We conceptualise that maladaptive ways of living constitute "illness." That suggests "treatability." Just as doctors can treat pellagra with niacin, we imagine counselors/psychiatrists can apply some intervention to "treat" problems of how people don't quite live up to their potential. I think we way over-estimate that. People can't be sat down and reasoned into approaching life differently. IMHO.