Why do little girls want to stare down my Akita?

My neighbor has her grand daughter out. Kid is 6ish, weighs about half as much as my Akita. Eyes are roughly the same height. As soon as she meets my dog she gets right in his face and gets into a staring match with him. He's pretty laid back and ignores her.

I wrote it off as a quirk of that particular kid, but...

I visit my brother and his two daughters. The 7 yo as soon as she meets my dog for the first time she runs over, gets right in his face and starts a staring contest.

Did I just run into two odd little girls in a row? Is this some new trend like tidepod eating I haven't heard about? Did a Disney princess stare down a dog recently?

My dog is nice enough, but it doesn't seem like a healthy habit.

Yeah sounds like a bad idea / something I would want to discourage in the future.

I try not to look a dog in the eyes too much. I also don't smile.

They're working on their Dominatrix skills, sounds like those 2 started early.
You better be extra careful.

Are Akita eyes "marbled?" Y'know, different than standard dog eyes? Might be the girls are curious at any mottling or unusual eye color.

That might be the why, but still prolly not a good habit...

How does this little girl have access to your dog to start with?

Tailhunter said:

How does this little girl have access to your dog to start with?

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They were out walking while I was walking my dog.

Kids do the same thing with my Rottie, she always wins the staring contests

Stout said:

They were out walking while I was walking my dog.

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So she was looking at him from a distance.

I dare any kid to try that with my Labs ... they’ll get licked by the wettest and stickiest tongue ever a half dozen or so times before the can blink.

Tailhunter said:

So she was looking at him from a distance.

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No, I walked over and started talking to her grandmother. Then I notice she's going nose to nose with my dog for a staring contest. Her grandmother noticed after a while and told her not to stare at dogs like that. I'm just wondering why she did it in the first place.

I’d be wondering why you let your dog get that close to the child to begin with.

Many people don’t teach a kid how to approach a dog. We taught our son from a very early age. He asks the owner, then approaches from the side so he isn’t in the dog’s face.

Tailhunter said:

I’d be wondering why you let your dog get that close to the child to begin with.

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I'd be wondering why you let the kid get that close??? I don't want kids, or anyone else messing with her unless I say it's okay.

Bailey Boat said:

I'd be wondering why you let the kid get that close??? I don't want kids, or anyone else messing with her unless I say it's okay.

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I don’t have any love for people and there dogs that have to be walked. I do for little kids. There in lies the difference.

concepthomes1 said:

Here folks...are the 2 different kinds of people in the world...

Those that love dogs and those that don't.

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There are people and dogs that I have shared my love with but as much as I try, I’ll probably never love all of either one of them.
To admit anything else would be disingenuous.

I'm not sure why, but I've noticed there's a lot of little girls that are aggressive to dogs. Both of my nieces do similar things. Makes me nervous when they're around my dogs.

Windini said:

Are Akita eyes "marbled?" Y'know, different than standard dog eyes? Might be the girls are curious at any mottling or unusual eye color.

That might be the why, but still prolly not a good habit...

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Normal Akita eyes...

If you want your dog put down when it bites the face off a little girl, this is a good way to accomplish that goal. Any control you think you have over an animal is an illusion my friend.

Tailhunter said:

I’d be wondering why you let your dog get that close to the child to begin with.

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My Dachshunds all react differently to being stared down. The longhaired males will flop on their backs for tummy rubs, while the female piebald will just stare you back down with a look of "and?" on her face. The male piebald, though, starts getting all wiggy & grumbling/growling & wants to start wrasslin' & playin' rough. That said, they're not used to small children & get all hyper/excited when they meet one, so wiener dog/child interactions are very closely supervised.

Maybe OP's Akita is good with kids & that's why he allows them to interact occasionally. Not every dog is a ticking time bomb & just maybe his dog is properly trained & supervised. Certainly doesn't seem to have aggression issues with children, so maybe all you "experts" can just chill TF out a minute & quit kickin' dude for letting kids "come see the doggy" from time to time.

Goofyfoot2001 said:

If you want your dog put down when it bites the face off a little girl, this is a good way to accomplish that goal. Any control you think you have over an animal is an illusion my friend.

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I have to agree, Lucy is as laid back as a dishrag, not a mean or viscous bone in her body.... I think..... I know she runs to Mommie when it thunders and shakes like a leaf in a hurricane. But since she's not around kids on a regular basis I can't totally trust her. My best move is to tell folks that she doesn't really like little people and I'd just as soon keep her distance.

I'm just glad this wasn't a euphemism.

The way kids are tought about animals is that they are all harmless Walt Disney characters. Fluffy little furballs that could never hurt you. Kids need to learn the truth about animals. Dog owners need to help educate them too by, “honey please don’t run up on my dog like that, he doesn’t like it”.
Goes both ways, if you are worried about your dog being starred at, then it is your job to speak up, not just assume every little 6 year old is a dog whisperer.

A few words from you can help eliminate future problems.

They just might have a crazy grandfather, who will go to jail to keep them from harm.