Grandaughter scared of my 2 dogs

I agree children before dogs.
It's always better for a child to be able to deal with life events such as dogs (or spiders ) and even better for the child when she learns to enjoy.

I'd keep the dogs and child entirely separate for everyone's sake, dogs included, until such time as the child learns to deal with or even enjoy your dogs' company. Put dogs in a cage in another room or shut them up where the child cannot see or hear them.

I wasn't kept away from dogs - my parents did exactly what some posters have suggested and got me a "nice little puppy" - god, how I hated the beastly thing! I used to go round to my friend's place to get away from it. It used to bite my ankles and get in the way of any game I might have wanted to play by fussing and jumping all over me. It grew to be a ten ton monstrosity.

I remember the relief when it died - and that I heard that naughty word beginning with F for the first time when the council men came to take the body away - it was jolly (f*******) heavy, according to them!

During my professional life, which involved home visiting, I have been slobbered on, bitten, had one sit on my lap (darn great thing), had one piss in my handbag etc. etc. I came to the conclusion that the more problematical the family, the bigger and more numerous were the dogs. I used to ring up families and tell them that if they wanted my help they must lock up their dog while I was there.

Dogs are definitely not your thing Lucky...do cats float your boat maybe?

Let's just hope the grandchildren don't stay too long then Alexa or the dogs will be incarcerated for days.

A very revealing post Lucky

I never thought of that, Sodapop.

Can the little girl be persuaded at least not to scream? The method is not to reward a child's counter productive behaviour, and ignore it, but to praise every little advance towards sensible behaviour. Everybody would prefer their child to be safe around animals, and hysterical behaviour makes animals nervous.

As a small child I was bitten in the face and had a lifelong fear of dogs. People would blame me for their dogs being aggressive (he can smell your fear). Years later I got less fearful but only with dogs I got to know and trusted. Being scared of dogs did really impact badly on me. When my husband got his first guide dog (several decades after he lost his sight completely) I knew I had to sort out my relationship with this dog (who was a cheeky one...first thing he did on first meeting was to goose me, which didn't bode well). I did, and he was a great dog. I still wouldn't take him for walks (not because of him, but because of other dogs that might approach). If kids visited, even though the dog was very calm and reliable I really understood that fear and would shut him in the kitchen. Put your grandchild first. Fear is an overwhelming emotion, especially for kids.