Funny, there are many things in this article that I flatly disagree with. What I found shocking, almost amusing was the recomendation of a Jack Russell Terrier for small children. Even the JRT Club of America makes a special statement that JRT are not great with kids! Furthermore, I find interesting the comment made about coats. Silkies and Yorkies don't shed and that is one of the strongest SELLING points of these breeds! This must have been written by a "big" dog person who isn't all that familiar with small dogs. When I speak to people with young and very small kids looking for thier first dog, I usally refer them to the Beagle/Shelite sized dog and AWAY from toy dogs and small (potentialyl pugnacious and/or stubbern) small terriers. A dog needs to be big enough that it can handle some man-handling of children without getting harmed or alarmed enough to bite. Corner any animal in a situation where it feels overwhelmed and threatened, and it will resort to aggressive behavior. That's more likely to happen when you have a 40 pound kid with a 4 pound dog as opposed to a 40 pound kid and a 30 pound dog. |