Why is my little girl scared of the dog?

[MyDogIsMeLIFE]

Everyone in my family love dogs. But when we go over to my brothers house, my four year old little girl gets scared out of her mind. My brother has a 260 pound English mastiff, the dog is really sweet. But for some reason my little girl doesn’t want to be anywhere near the dog. From day one, she has just been terrified of the dog, she was really hesitant to meet the dog the first time, she did it. But then I noticed that she was afraid. 

why is this? We have a border collie at home and they get along and play together just fine. When my brothers dog starts barking or stands up, or just walks near her, my daughter will run to me wanting to be picked up. She doesn’t even want to be in the same room as the dog, even when I’m holding her In my arms, she doesn’t want me to go anywhere near him.

of course I respect my daughter and I make sure she feels safe. But why is she like this?

My brothers dog has done nothing wrong. Why is she acting so scared of him? Like I said we have a border collie at home and they play together.

[Loving my Oldies]

Size, I would imagine.  Huge head.  Big jowls.  

 

260 pounds = VERY LARGE dog.  

 

Imagine a horse coming up and sniffing you.   

 

Hopefully you can turn things around, but the worst thing you can do is force it.   

[~Anne~]

You’ve asked this question of the wrong forum. You’d need to ask a child psychologist or child behaviour forum. 
 

I agree with Loving my Oldies statements above. It’s probably size. 

[Tassie]

I would just make sure she was able to be at what she perceives as a safe distance from the dog.  And wait as long as it takes.   We could surmise that the giant dog actually doesn't compute for her as a dog .. in the way your Border Collie does.    One thing that can help is if your brother can teach his dog some quiet ticks .. like paw lifts, or It'e game where the dog lying down or sitting, is able to play the shell game and indicate which cup a treat is under...... that sort of quiet game, where the dog is not moving too much, and your daughter can admire the dogs cleverness at a distance.  (You may be able to follow this up with helping your daughter teach your Border Collie the same game.    THe might help her to perceive the Mastiff as just another dog  . .... or it might not ... but in any case it changes the scenario a bit, and allowing her to keep what she sees as a safe distance, is a demontration to her that you indeed respect her fear and opinion.    Just a though.

[persephone]

That dog is huge in comparison to a small child, and looks very different to 'her' border collie

[coneye]

On 19/06/2022 at 9:40 AM, MyDogIsMeLIFE said:

Everyone in my family love dogs. But when we go over to my brothers house, my four year old little girl gets scared out of her mind. My brother has a 260 pound English mastiff, the dog is really sweet. But for some reason my little girl doesn’t want to be anywhere near the dog. From day one, she has just been terrified of the dog, she was really hesitant to meet the dog the first time, she did it. But then I noticed that she was afraid. 

why is this? We have a border collie at home and they get along and play together just fine. When my brothers dog starts barking or stands up, or just walks near her, my daughter will run to me wanting to be picked up. She doesn’t even want to be in the same room as the dog, even when I’m holding her In my arms, she doesn’t want me to go anywhere near him.

of course I respect my daughter and I make sure she feels safe. But why is she like this?

My brothers dog has done nothing wrong. Why is she acting so scared of him? Like I said we have a border collie at home and they play together.

Does'nt matter why she's scared of him , size , bigger teeth , big jowls , facts are she's scared so keep the dog away from her    not rocket science is it ,, If your brother  takes the attitude dogs doing nothing wrong  he's not moving it don't visit ,  she's a liitle girl she's scared  why put her in that position , i know adults who are scared of dogs , my father would never go in an house that had a dog  he was scared to death of all dogs ,, he said it stemmed from  being a kid  ,, way your going on your child will end up the same way .... Jeez my youngest lad was petrified of the ghost train at the show , we did'nt fix it by forcing him to go on it  ,