BIG Dog... Little Dog

[gemy]

We own small dogs. And whilst we need to be alert and protective for our little ones, I don't believe we should automatically pull pick up our little one from the big dogs. It sends a wrong message to our little ones, and may even bruise their big dog ego.

Our Razzle lives with two big dogs and a big cat. My challenge is to discipline Razzle when he goes over the top with the big dogs. They love him dearly but he has started to be quite nasty with them with respect to toys. I trust my large dogs (by the way they are 130lbs and 100 lb size dogs) how-ever this is not a good thing to let Razzle get away with.

Razzle got in trouble in a leash free park a couple of months ago. This when he was 9months old. He went after a Rottweiler as he would our two dogs, and well the rotty didn't take kindly to that growling n jumping.

He then sped away from the Rotty-he is amazingly fast little boy and straight to Zoey and Magic. Zoey danced up and away from the Rotty - rotty came forward still - our big boy turned his side into the path of the Rotty -turned his face to him and lifted his lip - the Rotty backed away fast. Razzle by this time was under Magic's tummy barking like mad at the Rotty.

So what I'm saying is we need to train our little ones how to behave around the big dogs in as safe a way as possible.

Gail in Ontario

[redvalaria]

I had a 170 pound great dane with my "bigger yorkie" and they were the best of friends. Hamish (my teapot) even taught Phantom how to "roam the fields" when we were living in Scotland. They were hysterical looking! This 17 pound yorkie between the legs of this massive great dane!

Now, my 5 pounder completely dominates my 100 pound GSD. He also attacks the cats who all outweigh him (especially the 18 pound maine coon) ! and he doesn't play nice! One day, its going to catch up with him...but he has no idea he's tiny!

[Maximo]

It is one thing if the large dog lives in the same home as the Yorkie, but it is quite another to encounter an off-leash, unattended Great Dane mix unexpectedly on the street as Max and I did yesterday.

The owner has zero empathy for my fear of large dogs, and zero understanding that my feisty Yorkie is going to start a fight with this normally nice dog -- and my Yorkie is going to lose.

It is scary for me and my dog to see an enormous dog pop out of nowhere and make a beeline for us, and jump around us.

[gemy]

Yes it is very scarey.

[LilMissy]

I'm "freaky paranoid" Mom. I do not allow Missy to be around other dogs unless I am holding her, except for the pets that live in our home. She plays with my 19lb senior Pug, our 11 week old kitten, and she has a new Yorkie sister coming home soon. I am getting the 2nd Yorkie for companionship for her because she can't socialize much with other dogs. I will not take the risk of her being injured or killed. A dog park would be absolutely out of the question for Missy.

*sigh* I know...such a mean Mom

[katy-yorkie]

I have no problem picking up my little dogs when the big dogs come running at us. Maggie does not like big dogs and if it makes her feel better for me to pick her up when big dogs are around then that is what I will do. There are big dogs in the neighborhood that are allowed to run off leash, they run at us barking and growling. I am not going to let them attack my dogs. I don't blame the dogs, I blame the owners. However, the owners only laugh at us. I will protect my dogs and if it means picking them up, that is what I will do. We will worry about their ego later.

[Mardelin]

I have absolutely no problem picking up my yorkies when there are other big dogs around. All it takes is one snap or a paw. There is a YT member who's yorkie just lost it's eye to thier pet lab.........

Yorkies don't realize that they are small dogs and at times provoke a big dog.

I have a Champion female that to this day whenever she see's an Irish Wolf Hound her main intent is to kill it........The reason behind that is because we were at a dog show, she was on a ringside table. A kid about 8 years old came through the show site with the Irish Wolf Hound....the kid couldn't control it. It's lead got wrapped around my ringside table, had I not grabbed my girl....she'd have been dead.....I won't place a yorkie in a big dog home.

[Mardelin]

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...ml#post2889217

Read the above post, if anyone should have any doubt about little dogs and big dogs.

[redvalaria]

you know, there are horror stories about everything...if every time there was a news story about a kid or dog being injured, I would have made everyone in my house walk around in bubble wrap and never leave the house....

yes, yorkies are terrors when it comes to other dogs some times...my little guy has no idea how small he is. But, I wouldn't trade the interaction Hamish and Phanom had (even with the 150lb. weight difference) for anything in the world. Phantom only had 8 years on this earth, and I am so glad he spent 6 of them with Hamish. They were absolutely the best of pals....and as for Fergus, well, Dante plays with him when he thinks we aren't looking, and its the most touching thing I have ever seen.

Do freak accidents happen? sure. Do we stop living because of them? no. Otherwise we would never drive in a car, fly in a plane, eat sushi, put up a christmas tree or venture out of the house at all.

Mardelin, your dogs are beautiful, but I am sure glad my breeder trusted MY instincts about MY dogs and let me have little Fergus. He has made me happier than anything in years...my oldest son went to college and started calling F his "replacement" all summer. And he was sort of right! I would do anything for my dogs.....including letting them be dogs....

[Mardelin]

My dogs are dogs....in every aspect...but, because I've put my blood, sweat and tears into my line and don't breed to fulfill a pet market , I'm very selective on where I place them. I've seen the law of averages and have studied canine behavior, so not placing one of my dogs in a large dog home is one of my rules.....I won't chance it.

[redvalaria]

Originally Posted by Mardelin

My dogs are dogs....in every aspect...but, because I've put my blood, sweat and tears into my line and don't breed to fulfill a pet market , I'm very selective on where I place them. I've seen the law of averages and have studied canine behavior, so not placing one of my dogs in a large dog home is one of my rules.....I won't chance it.

you said it all there: you don't breed for the pet market. and that's fine. I have no intention of ever showing again, and my big guy is used for search and rescue work by local law enforcement and is a sucker for kids, little dogs, anybody in need. I just get a little defensive when people talk about little dogs like they aren't dogs. I dress fergus (for warmth, in winter) and he wears a bow or "sprout" most of the time, but he also swims with us, runs in the park, terrorizes the squirrels in my back yard and is generally the "doggiest" of the three. I always say he is 40 pounds of dog in a 5 pound dog suit.

to each his own...

[Britster]

I completely agree. I am ALL for protecting my dog in any way possible and believe it or not, I am actually very overprotective of Jackson. But I've never once picked him up while crossing paths with another dog.... no offense, but it almost seems snobby to me. If I was walking Jackson, and someone picked up their dog when passing him, I'd be a little offended, to be honest. Now if the dog is wild and crazy and the owner doesn't have control... then yes, I would probably pick up my dog and not let them interact at all. I've done it before when a maniac Lab charged us off leash, I picked Jackson right up by his harness and into my arms. But if it's just a dog with an owner in control walking by, I'm going to walk by calmly going about my business.

That's the problem w/ so many little dogs... they have NO idea how to act around big dogs and get themselves in trouble. I've socialized Jackson around all sorts of dogs since I brought him home at 9 weeks old (beginning with my father and mother dogs) and once he was old enough (and it was warm enough) I began taking him to a nice local dog park to interact with other dogs. Jackson loves every dog he meets, he never barks at another dog passing by and is able to walk by calmly with a bit of interest and sniff, and he loves to greet every dog he meets and generally speaking, it's in a very calm matter. At the park, he initiates play a lot though and loves a good game of chase.

They are terriers by nature, so of course they're gonna be little "terrors" at times but you must correct them. Jackson is a full on dogs dog. Spoiled? Absolutely. But he loves to go camping, loves the great outdoors, loves running through our 90 acres of farmland behind us, loves the goats, donkeys and horses he's encountered in his lifetime, loves wrestling and running with other dogs (yes, in the SMALL dog park area!) He has never shown one bit of aggression toward another dog- big or small. He gets to live a wonderful dogs life and I can just tell every day how happy of a dog he is. He's not sheltered from the world by any means, he meets new dogs and people almost every day, and he's just a wonderful all around dog.

It just takes having simple common sense, really. I agree with redvalaria... you can't live your whole life in fear. Yes, you can try your best to protect your children, and your pets, and yes freak accidents DO happen. But it's all of a matter of being careful and being able to read a bit of dog body language. Would I allow Jackson into an unleashed dog park with 5-10 big dogs running around? No. I wouldn't risk that... he could definitely easily get trampled by then purely by accident. Would I let him sniff and interact with a big dog? Absolutely. If I put trust in the owner and the dog and most of all, I trust my OWN dog and I know what he can handle and cannot handle.

[gemy]

Originally Posted by Mardelin

I have absolutely no problem picking up my yorkies when there are other big dogs around. All it takes is one snap or a paw. There is a YT member who's yorkie just lost it's eye to thier pet lab.........

Yorkies don't realize that they are small dogs and at times provoke a big dog.

I have a Champion female that to this day whenever she see's an Irish Wolf Hound her main intent is to kill it........The reason behind that is because we were at a dog show, she was on a ringside table. A kid about 8 years old came through the show site with the Irish Wolf Hound....the kid couldn't control it. It's lead got wrapped around my ringside table, had I not grabbed my girl....she'd have been dead.....I won't place a yorkie in a big dog home.

Well I am glad my breeder who knew me and my dogs for three years decided to trust our Razzle with us. Yorkies should be trained like all other dogs to interact with other dogs and people. Just because a dog is small it should not exempt them from good social interactions with humans and animals.

I do wonder how many of our yorkies on this list work to have obedience titles suich Canine Good Citizen and other obedience titles.


Gail in On

[Mardelin]

Originally Posted by redvalaria

you said it all there: you don't breed for the pet market. and that's fine. I have no intention of ever showing again, and my big guy is used for search and rescue work by local law enforcement and is a sucker for kids, little dogs, anybody in need. I just get a little defensive when people talk about little dogs like they aren't dogs. I dress fergus (for warmth, in winter) and he wears a bow or "sprout" most of the time, but he also swims with us, runs in the park, terrorizes the squirrels in my back yard and is generally the "doggiest" of the three. I always say he is 40 pounds of dog in a 5 pound dog suit.

to each his own...

Ahh! But, I do place the dogs that I don't keep in pet homes. My dogs are dogs 100% and very well socialized. I don't put clothes on my dogs, like you only for warmth in the winter, especially when they've been cut down after they've obtained their Championship. My dogs all swim, and terrorized squirrels, rabbits in our backyard when we lived in Texas and occassionaly a black lab that happened to jump over our fence (fortunately the lab was frightened of the yorkies). They are treated as dogs. My point is I've studied canine behavior and have witnessed how fast canine behavior takes place. When that happens the smaller dog is the underdog. All it takes is a split second. I have several friends that show and breed yorkies and Dobermans. But, never are the two breeds allowed to play together. The Dobs are trained to lay down when the yorkies come into the room. But, the breeder exhibitors that I know will not place their yorkies in homes with large dogs.

It's wonderful that it works well for you, but it's not always that way. There are those that aren't as expert with big dog little dog situations and that's when the tragedies can come into play.

[ritzydaisy]

Originally Posted by gemy

We own small dogs. And whilst we need to be alert and protective for our little ones, I don't believe we should automatically pull pick up our little one from the big dogs. It sends a wrong message to our little ones, and may even bruise their big dog ego.

Our Razzle lives with two big dogs and a big cat. My challenge is to discipline Razzle when he goes over the top with the big dogs. They love him dearly but he has started to be quite nasty with them with respect to toys. I trust my large dogs (by the way they are 130lbs and 100 lb size dogs) how-ever this is not a good thing to let Razzle get away with.

Razzle got in trouble in a leash free park a couple of months ago. This when he was 9months old. He went after a Rottweiler as he would our two dogs, and well the rotty didn't take kindly to that growling n jumping.

He then sped away from the Rotty-he is amazingly fast little boy and straight to Zoey and Magic. Zoey danced up and away from the Rotty - rotty came forward still - our big boy turned his side into the path of the Rotty -turned his face to him and lifted his lip - the Rotty backed away fast. Razzle by this time was under Magic's tummy barking like mad at the Rotty.

So what I'm saying is we need to train our little ones how to behave around the big dogs in as safe a way as possible.

Gail in Ontario

Thank you, Gail, for bringing up this topic. Many owners lack dog etiquette. When in public, ALL DOGS should be on a leash and under control. Your dog should never be allowed to run up to a person or another dog.

We are always complaining about big dogs going after our little Yorkies, and that is of great concern to me. But our little dogs must have manners, too.

I would like to share the experience I had with my previous dog, a German Shepherd. She was very well trained to ignore other dogs on walks. However, there are some little dog owners who think their dogs are so cute and adorable when they run up to a big dog and tease them by barking and sometimes nipping at their legs. They will usually say something like, "HaHaHa! That big doggie will eat you for lunch"!

After putting up with this kind of assault many times, my well-behaved GSD could stand it no longer and started going for any little dog that came by. I had to use a Haltie to keep her in control and have a trainer work with her.

Daisy has only been around big dogs (in our extended family) and thinks she is one, too. I always keep her on a leash around them or in my arms to keep her safe. I would not take a chance of her being injured or killed. It's okay to be overprotective when it concerns your little dog.