[Rhetts_mama]

I wouldn't call it looking down their noses so much as being cognizant of the behaviors and capabilities of both young children and small dogs. As much as we want to say with complete confidence that we know our small kids will always be gentle with small dogs, we really can't. We can train them to not pick up the dog or what ever, but the young brain is truly not capable of foreseeing consequences of certain actions. Really, they physically can't because that part of the brain doesn't fully mature until our 20's ( teenagers and driving...need I say more?).

Small dogs also react differently than slightly larger breeds to some things. Little Napoleans. While we all hear about big dog bites on the news, the actual numbers bear out that the greater percentage of dog bites occur with smaller breeds. Part of that is, in my opinion, because kids move fast and smaller dogs interpret that as a threat. The dog then barks, nips or bites, the child reacts (as they are wired to do) and hits or drops the dog.

Small dogs like to be underfoot, they are hard to see. We see story after story about adults stepping on these small pups. Kids are even more prone to not looking down and
either tripping over or stepping on them, leading to potential injuries for both.

I do think that kids and small dogs can get along beautifully. But I think it requires extreme diligence on the part of the owner to make sure that both are always, always supervised. Unfortunately, I don't think the average pet owner is up to the task.