My Maltese was 2 pounds.
She was the cutest. Got lots of attention from people just seeing her. Cars would pull over in a dead stop and people running through the street to see her up close. Pretty dangerous...
But the practicality for a dog that small...is just too fragile.
Too tiny, as you're constantly having to be aware of where she is on the bed.
She was smart enough to figure out a way to slowly hop off the bed, but even then...you worry. (What would happen if you rolled over in your sleep or kicked in response to her being at your leg?)
Other issues. A tiny dog = tiny bladder. How does a dog hold their bladder for 8+ hours when you're away? You can't blame a tiny dog for having a tiny bladder.
Our Maltese was an escape artist from the very first day we got her. We have a backyard. There is a gap between the gate and the wall which is 2 inches. 2 inches! She squeezed her way outside the first time. Luckily, she loves being home. So she trotted up to the front door. We peek outside and she isn't there. We run to the front door,...and there she was wagging her tail at us, laughing at us. Then, she happily scampered inside. So another "normal" fencing is out of the question. You have to modify to accomodate for your tinier dog. But understand....that practically any hole/gap is a way of escape.
2 pounds. Cute size. But w/ that size, is constant responsibility beyond that of a more normal sized dog. At the dog park, we had to watch her like a hawk. Other dogs were interested in her. But she constantly followed us, partly in fear of their larger size. That,...and for her...SIZE matters. In this case, the Batmobile CAN be too large for the Batcave. (She was spayed). The other problem isn't so much dogs...but people. At the dog park, people constantly picked her up. Just because she is small and cute, doesn't give people the right to pick up a dog. We constantly saw random people picking her up. This is a problem due to people possibly wanting to STEAL your dog. This also affects the proper socialization of your dog. It was hard for our maltese to be proper socialized at the dog park.
Tiny dog also means other dogs have to be VERY careful when they play w/ her. Not so much w/ tugging. But when a larger dog gets overly excited and starts jumping around...that is when you have to calm down the larger dog immediately. All it takes is just the right pounce on just the right spot, and it will be fatal. Sadly, I'm not joking...I learned this the hard way.
We tried to get her to be 4 pounds, as that was more ideal/manageable. Due to liver shunt....she was forever at 2 pounds. This made her a larger target, because the reality was...she physically looked like a puppy forever. Thieves could easily say she was a puppy, when she was not.
IMO, 2 pounds is cute. But not practical and not really safe. We felt 4 pounds was pretty much the limit for safehandling. 2 pounds is too fragile for most people. 2 pounds makes them a bigger target for thieves. |