Quote:
Originally Posted by kezza  I know, it's so upsetting..how can people be so rude is beyond me...my baby girl IS NOT a disease ridden rodent!!  |
I just had to reply to this comment (and keep in mind that I am not meaning any of this reply in a rude way). All the people who have made unpleasant comments about small dogs are perhaps just uneducated about them and you are being given a chance to educate them. The reason I quoted this posting is that it sort of proves my point because, although I have cats and Yorkies, I have also had rats as pets. If you want to talk about prejudice, and about people being uneducated about a subject, try telling them you have rats as pets.
Now here is my chance to educate. All my rats have had different personalities but all of them have been sweet, highly intelligent, and endlessly fascinating. I have loved them and cried over their passing as much as I have for any of my other pets. It's a shame that more people don't know the truth about rats as pets.
Think of any of the unpleasant encounters that have been written about in this thread and think how they might have been different if they had been used to educate people about Yorkies. I have never had any incidents like some of you have mentioned, but I would try to get past the shock of anyone not realizing instantly how adorable our babies are and grab the opportunity to talk about small dogs. People get the wrong idea about a lot of things so let them know in a sweet way that they have bought into a stereotype that isn't always true. Humor goes a long way, too.
Granted, some people don't want to be educated, but I would rather do my best to leave them with an impression that challenges the stereotype than give them one more reason to dislike small dogs
and their owners.