Big dogs, little dogs

[JES72]

I'm sure I've ranted about this before... ( I feel like I have too much to rant on about at the moment.)

Too many owners of little dogs let their little dogs get away with murder, or at least aggressive nasty bad behaviour.

Today, as I was walking with Homer on lead along the pavement just before we got to our house, I noticed a man walking towards us with a little Westie. The Westie was pulling forward towards Homer and as they got closer gave very snarly, teeth bared, growly barks. This little this has doing his very best efforts to have a full on go at Homer. The man calls out "He's fine!". Homer was walking on a loose lead just a step ahead of me so I held his lead shorter and stood in front of Homer blocking him somewhat from the little snarly fur ball. The man brings his dog closer and says to his foul mouthed little critter that is still obviously looking to have a go at Homer "Say hello nicely". I make sure Homer is not getting anywhere near to say "hello" because if given the chance Homer would tell off the little Westie in the best dog on dog way possible. The man, aware I was blocking Homer, calls out as he moves on "He's fine!" - "No he's not!" I said quite audibly as we went through our gate.

The man was oblivious to the fact that his dog was behaving aggressively towards my dog, nor aware of how any other dog may retaliate aggressively if given half the chance.

If anything had happened, Homer would be blamed for having the Westie's head in his mouth. Homer has never harmed another dog nor been aggressive. He can give a very clear warning growl when necessary. I'd hate him to ever feel the need to retaliate.

 

[Leanne]

We see this a lot. Little dogs snarling and barking and the owners cheerfully leaving them off lead even when I’ve clearly just put my dog on lead.. invariably they run up to us and bark at Mas’s Feet

 

[Aitch]

Bear used to be like that when he was younger. I used to feel mortified about it.

 

[kateincornwall]

Nelly is a tiny dog , and sadly I have this but in reverse ! I have off lead large dogs bowling over to her , on occasions knocking her off her feet which is worrying to say the least , then owners of said big dog treating me with disdain just because she is little and fluffy ! I truly believe that all dogs have the potential to behave like the Westie if they aren't correctly handled/trained/socialised ( so speaks she who will soon be unleashing the beast upon the unsuspecting public ! ) .

 

[Jen]

It’s because in reality they don’t hugely have to worry because their dogs aren’t going to do any harm.

So so frustrating. Us with big dogs have to act responsibly because as you say, if anything were to happen it would be our dogs that got the blame.

But because they’re not really going to be able to do any harm they just get away with it - people say to me “oooh they’ve got little dog syndrome” as their shih-tzu is hanging off Stanleys neck

 

[UncleBob]

There are two dogs that Harv and I meet on our walks on a regular basis that are at the opposite ends of the scale for dog size. There is a little terrier type dog that is smaller than most cats. And then there is Conan! I think Conan is one of the biggest dogs that I have ever seen - he looks to be mostly Mastiff but probably with some other large dog breeds in the mix too. His owner said that he gave up weighing him when he hit 60kg at 12 months old

Can you guess which of these two dogs snarls and lunges at Harv as if they were mortal enemies? The owner never takes any sort of action, no avoiding other dogs by crossing the road or trying to encourage alternative behaviours, nothing, he just says "Don't be stupid - he'll eat you for breakfast.", as if that somehow excuses the behaviour.

 

[edzbird]

Have to say here, it's not Little Dogs, it's many (and not all) owners of Little Dogs who have not trained because "they don't need to, they're only little", and worse, the ones that find it hilarious - it isn't!

 

[kateincornwall]

Have to say here, it's not Little Dogs, it's many (and not all) owners of Little Dogs who have not trained because "they don't need to, they're only little", and worse, the ones that find it hilarious - it isn't!

Absolutely spot on !

 

[Ashley]

I find this so common with little dogs, but we have a delightful little Pomeranian that has been socialized properly as well as trained and the little guy joins 3-4 big dogs most mornings and tries his hardest to keep up. All the big dogs (except Quinn because she’s just snobby) give a little play and are so gentle with him. He plays with the big dogs because there are no friendly, well socialized small dogs around...they are all “aggressive” and not trained to be off leash.

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

Although I do find little dogs to be snappier (probably because they've been bowled over by large dogs at one point), it's the medium/large dog owners who are more likely to say "oh my dog's friendly" as their dog is snarling/baring teeth/defensive body language. Those owners absolutely perplex me.

Like others have said, I dislike how so many small dog owners don't bother with training the basics - BLOODY JUMPING AT PEOPLE especially. It's always a joy to give a cuddle to a little guy who's not jumping up at me.

 

[FayRose]

We also have exactly the same thing round here. There are specifically 3 local litt'luns.

1 is the neighbouring farmer's JR. He is a lovely dog but has a strong personality and makes his feelings known. When in the mood, he plays happily with Molly but when he's not, he makes it clear. Molly has learnt how to recognize this and keeps clear (they are both mostly off the lead).

The other 2 belong to our neighbour and are JR/Shi Tzu (sp?) crosses and are right feisty aggressive little things. They have caused quite a bit of trouble attacking dogs, they operate a pincer movement, 1 at the front, 1 behind. Molly is anxious when she sees them on the loose and has decided discretion is the better part ... in other words, as soon as she sees them approaching, she goes upside down and cringes. It looks sad and awful - but works.

 

[Loraseal]

I think owner's of small dog's (in general) tend to think they do not need to train their dogs as they do "little" damage. At the puppy training classes we only saw 1 small dog (COCO the Chihuahua) who was amazing! When we go for a walk in the woods, the majority of aggression is unfortunately from little dogs. The owner's do nothing and try to shift the blame towards me and tell me Hunter should be on a lead! Hunter just wants to play and he does adjust his enthusiasm when playing with smaller dogs and/or puppies. Just plain ignorant owner's!

 

[Cupcase]

Google small dog syndrome. Wow nearly a million results. If I hear that one more time, I think I shall scream.
It's not a condition, it's a behavioural problem, the same behavioural problem I have with my labrador, but in all small dogs owners eyes, my dog is aggressive, he's not allowed to have small dog syndrome.

Owners of dogs are not aware of the damage their small dogs do. I'm left with a dog because of two jack russel and a border terrier, a dog that goes on the offensive because he was set upon by small dogs before he was a year old.

I keep my dog under control and I expect everyone else to do the same, but that doesn't happen unfortunately.

Sorry I've just ranted on your rant.

 

[JES72]

I agree it’s nothing syndrome about it at all. It’s just plain bad doggie behaviour and owners letting them get away with it. I really don’t think that the man thought his dog was being aggressive.

Quite rightly, there are many well behaved small dogs and badly behaved large and middle sized dogs too.

 

[M.F.]

I’m always amazed that Snowie does nothing when one of these little dogs goes for him. He usually stands deadstill, tail up and stiff, sometimes hair raised. But no other reaction. I don’t know where he learned to do that from. Interestingly, of late, I’ve noticed a lot more apologies for bad behavior of little dogs and attempts at preventing their attacks. Maybe there’s a movement afoot.

 

[snowbunny]

While I think there's a huge problem with owners not taking their small dogs' behaviour seriously, maybe it's worth thinking about why the dogs are behaving like that in the first place.

Small dogs live in a world where everything is so much more threatening to them, simply because they are small. They have a right to be more fearful because their size means they are more vulnerable. Not only that, their warning signals will be taken far less seriously than that of their larger counterparts. How many times have you seen people laughing at a small dog who is growling, when the same people would back away from a large dog doing the same? So, what does the small dog learn? Easy: they have to escalate a lot more quickly up the aggression ladder to achieve the same result that a larger dog would get simply by giving a hard stare.

I'm not saying it's right that the owners dismiss it, and we certainly shouldn't allow these dogs to harm our own, either physically or emotionally, but I think it helps to understand why it might be the case that small dogs sometimes seem disproportionately aggressive compared to larger breeds. Maybe some of these owners just don't understand what the cause is, and feel helpless about how to deal with it.

I know it's difficult, but sometimes a kind word can help to reframe the owner's perception. Not a small dog thing, but in the vet office the other day, a border collie had a go at Squidge after she barked at him - she wanted to say hi and was frustrated she wasn't allowed (because, stressed border collie!). She was sat nicely, asking me if she could meet him by looking at him - but this stare and the single loud bark that escaped turned the collie into a lunging, snarling, spitting beast. I got J to take her out to the car, as I was just waiting to pay, and the owner was really apologetic - "He's not normally like that, he normally likes other dogs, I don't know what's come over him". I just smiled and gently said, "Well, he just had a big dark dog he doesn't know bark at him in a really confined space, when he's already very stressed about being in the vet's office!". "Oh, I hadn't thought of that". Suddenly, rather than trying to manhandle her dog, she started trying to soothe him. It's hard, of course, especially when our own dog is under threat, but maybe next time she'll remember that his behaviour is being caused through stress.

Maybe there’s a movement afoot.

Maybe we can all help be a small part of the movement

 

[Selina27]

their size means they are more vulnerable.

There's that, and the fact that in the case of terriers they have been bred to be feisty and attack other creatures either several times their size or likely to fight back. It's in their genes, just as gundogs want to hunt and retrieve.

I'm not saying it's right that the owners dismiss it, and we certainly shouldn't allow these dogs to harm our own,

This too.