How do you feel about larger dogs around your little one?
 

How does your Yorkie act around large dogs, and how do you feel about large dogs, unknown large dogs around your little one? Zoey was raised with my 125lb golden retriever, but isn't too fond of large dogs. She will either bark at them, or pay no mind to them. She has no problem sniffing and going up to little dogs. I think it stems from her puppy-hood. When she was about 4 months old, our neighbors Burnese Mt Dog puppy ran into our yard and pounced over Zoey. She was terrified and laid on her back for a few minutes, and didn't move. Leo is OKAY with them, but he will occasionally bark at them. Today in his puppy class he met a rather large, and stocky pit bull. The pit bulls head was bigger than Leo's body.

With bigger dogs all it takes to hurt or kill a little dog is one bite or one accidental getting stepped on. I know dog body language pretty good but there are certain big breed dogs I will not let Callie around. She loves big dogs though more normally then smaller dogs.

I don't let Zoey/Jackson around big dogs. They can break those little bones with rough play or one snap and shake and injure or kill a little one. It irrates me to no end when someone says that their big dog likes little dogs - great but not my dogs.

I think it, as with everything in life, depends on the situation and environment and dog.

My 75lb Shelby-Dale is an awesome big brother, but even HE has his moments (like rough housing play and running) when I feel the need to step in and separate Mandie from the situation. Not because he would ever intentionally hurt her but just his weight verses hers.

If it is a big dog that I don't know, I would monitor that dog's demeaner and go from there...

Gracie is not fond of large dogs. If we encounter a large dog on one of our walks she will show interest in getting closer but once they are right next to her she seems stressed. I am really very protective of her when we are out since I have been through an attack on one of my other dogs during a casual walk in the area we lived in at the time. If I do not know and trust The dog and owner I will likely pick Gracie up and go in another direction. I do not take chances anymore. I also carry a large pop up umbrella for use as protection and distraction should an aggressive dog get too close.

One of my sons has a Lab that comes to visit. Gracie stays on my lap throughout the visit and seems nervous even though the Lab sits like a gentleman the whole time.

Too many people have no control over their dogs so it is wise to only allow dogs that you know are well trained and under control near your little dog.

I have had both large and toy size dogs living in our home at the same time but they were not aggressive breeds and were trained to be gentle.

We have 2 basset hounds and our yorkie Zach loves them. We have 4 other smaller dogs and we have perfect harmony in our home. As far as I go, I love all dogs big or small however I amm a little leary of pit bulls

I am highly selective when it comes to my boys interacting with any size dog because in our area, dogs are generally not well trained.

Our neighbor's Border Collie mix is around 65 pounds, but looks much larger. He is the most mellow dog and his human is fantastic with dogs. I trust my boys completely around them. Max is fascinated with his big friend.

It would depend on the dog. Rasta is fine with our 60 (+) lb bulldog, but I think that mostly has to do with the fact that he was raised with her from 3 months plus she's really gentle. I wouldn't leave them alone unsupervised but that would go for any dog. Rasta doesn't like any other dogs besides her regardless of size. So I don't allow any interaction on his part unless he seems interested.

I don't allow Ian around any dog that weighs more than a couple of pounds more than him. I do not take chances with his safety.

In our home we have a 30lb limit and that is only because my grandpuppy is 30 lbs. Big dogs while we are out, I step between mine and them. I love most all dogs but big dogs are not allowed face to face with my pups. We are the ones in the family that have a big fenced yard and I have people ask if they can come run their dogs at my house. I don't run a doggie park so the answer is always no.

It's entirely dependent on the situation, the dogs, the environment, etc. In our agility class, most people are very well versed in canine body language, and know their dogs well. So occasionally after class, I will let Jackson play with the dogs. The trainer has two Border Collies who love to run with Jax after class. I am completely comfortable with that (and, in fact, want a BC someday). I've allowed him around big dogs, family members dogs, etc. He was around a gorgeous Dogue De Bordeaux one day who was the most gentle, kind thing ever.

I'm iffy with certain dogs and breeds around him. My uncle's German Shepherd for example is very dog selective. She can be rough, and he gets defensive. I don't want her to get defensive back. They do wonderful on leash together, and in public, but I won't bring Jackson over the house with her. Too small of a space, etc.

My grandma's 100lb Goldendoodle is slightly obnoxious but very friendly, and kind of 'dumb'. He would never fight back. Jackson has given him the what-for a few times as he's clobbered on top of him. We have to monitor them closely.

Jackson is not a fan of dogs, no matter what size, who are not respectful. He does not do well with most bully breeds.

We have a lab/border collie who weighs 95 lbs. When she was a year old we got Luke, my Cavalier. He was 2 1/2 lbs when we brought him home. Grace seemed to understand from the very beginning how fragile he was and she has never hurt him, intentionally or not. When Puff came home (Yorkie) she was 2 lbs and Grace has always gone out of her way to be careful of her. Grace likes to sleep behind our couch sometimes and to get out from behind it she backs out. She goes so slow and puts each foot down so gently it just amazes me. We couldn't have imagined a better dog with little ones--and we adopted her from a shelter.

On the other hand, when it comes to any other big dog, Puff and Luke are kept away for the most part. The way I see it, their lives are too precious to risk just to say hi to some dog they don't know. Puff's father was killed by a friend's dog when Puff was 2 weeks old.

I am also leary around pit bulls, well pretty much any breed, no matter the size. I've watched a few documentaries on Pit Bulls, and from my understanding they cannot be fully trusted. Although, I tend to watch body language, and if I don't feel it's safe then I will not allow my dogs near the other dog. My neighbor had a Pit Bull, and she was the sweetest dog you'd ever meet. She loved everyone, and everything. She was extremely smart too. My friend had 2 pit bulls, and they were extremely kind, and gentle dogs.

YIKES! Sorry about Puff's father. I don't always allow Leo to sniff large, or even small dogs. Most of the time I just walk past them. I do want him to get socialized and accustomed to all dogs, no matter the size. The puppy class we're in is only for small puppies.

I am very leery of pit bulls around my little dog. It's not a breed-ist thing. I don't have a hatred of them, or even a fear really, not with humans anyway. But I don't trust most of them around dogs. Pits have a tendency to have DA (dog aggression) and that's not a knock. It's just... in their genes. The highest regarded pit bull rescues and breeders will advise you NOT to bring a Pit into a dog park, and that aggression between dogs may occur once the dog fully matures. Lots of Pit owners are prepared to crate/rotate. I've seen first hand some Pits that people bring into the dog park, and they can seem great, and it can change in an instant. It's something I will not choose to risk anymore. My aunt's Pit is 12 years old and has always been great with other dogs. The odds of him changing at this point in his life is very low. He's the only Pit I allow Jackson to be around, but he's so seldom around him anyway so it's not a big issue.

The only dog I fully trust Lola with is my aunt's westie. I don't trust my cousin's american eskimos, one is neurotic and the other very friendly but I'm afraid he'd hurt her by accident.

With strange dogs I'll let her sniff some big dogs, if the owner says they're friendly, has a good grip on the dog, and the dog is calm.

My maltese is best friends with our rottie so much so that she us the boss and will take the rot ties bones pig ears and chew toys we have to scold her the poor rottie will whine.

I completely agree with this. I have seen this happen on the big dog side of the dog park we visit. We are always on the small dog side, but I've seen pits that I've seen for years suddenly change and act aggressive towards dogs that they have known forever. It's just not worth risking my dogs' lives.

I choose to only visit the small dog park and avoid big dogs that I do not know. It only takes a second for things to go wrong, and it is not worth it.

Couver is the same way! He does not enjoy large breed puppies that try to come into the small dog park. They do not have the respect yet, and whenever we see a large puppy come in, we leave or pick Couver up. He does not like it when dogs are in his face and don't get it when he tells them to buzz off :p

For me it totally depends on the other dog. Blazer is 7.6 # and Buddy is 58#. Blazer plays with his mom and "aunt" next door who are 8# and 5#. He also plays with Yoda, a lab mix of a friend, who weighs 60 something. Of course, Blazer has Buddy looking out for him and if Buddy thinks Yoda is getting to tough he puts him down for a while. I have yet to introduce Blazer to my brother in laws two Britany Spaniels, they're both a little hyper so I'm not sure how that will go over. Really though, I just take each situation one at a time.

I don't want my dogs playing and roughhousing with big dogs, but I do want them to know how to handle interactions with them. I allow them around big dogs at the dog park regularly for that reason.

I'm always right there to supervise and step in between the dogs if I don't like the way either dog is behaving. If I don't like the way a dog looks or approaches, I don't allow any interaction. I either pick mine up or gently let the other dog know they're not allowed to approach.

I've seen changes in how they behave over the years. Jillie was crazy puppy who wanted to pester dogs of any size. She learned not to do that. She'll say hi, but she doesn't want to romp with them. And she knows not to run away. If she's scared, she'll tuck into a little ball until the dog loses interest.

Eddie doesn't like dogs in his face, and he used to snap at them regularly. He would have fought if I'd have allowed it. But he gradually started snapping less. He just lets them sniff and waits until they leave.

Here's a picture of Eddie today. I was very proud he didn't snap at the dog, but I was ready to intervene if he did or the meeting didn't go well.

Pit Bulls were once known as gentle dogs. They were loyal dogs that would give their lives to protect home and family. But like many breeds that come to the attention of a certain group of people they have fallen into the hands of irresponsible breeders that have chosen to increase their size and to breed for more aggressive temperaments. That is why we hear so much about the breed being so unreliable. It is truly sad that humans are allowed to destroy a breed of any kind.

We have a family member that has two well bred and well trained Pit Bulls. They have 3 grade school age children in the home. I have no problem with the dogs. They are friendly and well behaved, certainly better behaved than many other more acceptable breeds of dogs I have encountered. But I never take Gracie over there just because she is so much smaller and could easily get stepped on accidentally. Besides, she is not comfortable around bigger dogs so I am not going to deliberately subject her to the situation. Maybe my own memory of a previous dog attack causes me to be over protective.

Due to their size we haven't allowed big dogs around Caleb (Pippi is too young, and hasn't had all her injections yet, so it's a no no) If we had good friends or family with large dogs, maybe we'd do an intro, and supervise, but we don't.

We have a large border collie ourselves, we supervise their play and interaction. Ishmael (Border collie) is SO clumsy, the clumsiest dog we've ever had. He's friendly but could hurt the smaller dogs, occidentally or thoughtlessly. When he sees a ball, he thinks of nothing else some times. If Ishmael is lying down, we let the smaller dogs go over to him, or if he's outside, he'll play with Caleb.

That pic is so cute.

Bailey is interested in bigger dogs, but as he gets close then he turns 'Kugo'. Big dog mentality I guess. Anyways, I pick him up now as we get closer, as I am familiar with his stance on this. Having said this, I can't really blame him as he has been bitten a couple of times by other bigger dogs (Spaniel included here - really, any dog IS bigger than he, at 7.5 lbs haha) along our walks. When I see big dogs, I see vet bills, and even worse, Bailey being their play toy.:eek: I couldn't forgive myself if anything mortal would happen to him. Bailey shys away from dogs as a rule, unless they are not interested in him. In that case, he likes to take a sniff at their back ends as they are walking away. As a pup I never took Bailey to any socializing classes due to the fact that he was so small and I didn't know what germs/viruses the other dogs were carrying and would feel terrible if he got sick. Having said that, right from the start he took a bigger interest in people... and I'm good with that:)

I always pick Morgan up when there is a bigger dog// it only takes a second for something to go wrong

Great photo! I think there is something unique about Alaska. We all know you are an amazing dog trainer, and I get the impression from your photos of your meetups that many people in your area are better than average.

Where I am, dogs are generally unreliable and out of control. I trust their humans even less. The lack of opportunity to interact safely means my guys are not adequately socialized. We have to make due with living in protective mode.

Pit Bulls were actually bred for bull baiting originally.

Here is a good article explaining (from a reputable rescue):
Pit Bull Information | Mid-America Bully Breed Rescue

It is just scary to me. I have seen some Pit Bulls that "grew up" at the dog park. And then all the sudden, one day they decide to latch on to a dog and not let go. You really need a break steak to get them apart if they are with intent to kill. For a small dog though, that one bite could be the end.

The thing is though, like Yorkies, a lot of BYBs got their hands on pits, so often times they're very waterered downed pits, and will be fine with other animals throughout their life. And then again, human aggression started creeping in because of stupid people who want a dog like that.

But I just feel like a lot of TV shows and people have this "It's ALL the way you raise them!" mentality and that can be JUST as scary as the "All pit bulls are evil monsters" view! Just because you have a Pit with DA doesn't make them a 'bad dog'. They just need to be managed well. I would never release Jackson into a fence full of rabbits with no protection. He would probably kill at least one. Why put him through the stress, as well as allowing other animals to be in danger on purpose?

Meeting for the first time
 

Hello everyone and thank you so much for letting me join this amazing blog. I have a question I just got a new York ie puppy she is about 3 months old, my daughter has a 2 yr old York ie male. See snuggles (male) is been getting very aggressive I know is due to the non neutered but when we introduced these two he smelled her and then he tried to bite her. What do I do? We are getting snuggles neutered but we wanted him to get daisy pregnant before that, but what do we do in the meantime bc even though snuggles don't live with me I am going to be watching him more due to my daughter's schedule. Please help
I love both of them so much and don't want to be mean to snuggles it breaks my heart but I also don't want daisy to get hurt.
TIA

We live on a 1 acre fully fenced piece of land where the girls can get plenty of exercise right here without going outside of our yard. I don't take mine to any dog parks and when I take them out with me somewhere I rather them not socialize with very large dogs just simply because of the size difference which could cause a potential danger. I would just rather be safe than sorry later.

I take Gizmo to our park on our street right at the beach every day, and during the day they are all leashed, but I have yet to meet a mean dog there. There are dogs of all sizes and they all gt along well. 3 evenings a week we all meetup down there at sunset and let them all off leash, all sizes and they have a blast just running and playing till their pooped. One of Gizmos best friends is a giant schnauzer who is huge, named Charlie, he's a total gentle giant and lays on his side and all the little dogs (majority at the meetup have small breeds, with the exception on a couple large dogs) use Charlie like a jungle gym. I watch and follow Gizmo everywhere he goes though, but he's so much faster zooming around ten all the other dogs that might be bigger. The dogs at our evening romps are all pretty bulletproof when it comes to being friendly :-) Gizmos girlfriend Lilly is actually a German Shepard that lives 3 town homes down from us. I know all the ogs that come to our evening meet ups though and have been around them for a long time as they are all my neighbors. With strangers during our walks during the day, I always ask their dogs temperament and am very cautious when letting him greet them, if I don't like the way a dog is acting I will not let Gizmo near it. I don't judge a dog by its breed, but rather by its personality, and its owners. If I feel the east bit uncomfortable, I keep him away.

One weird thing is, I have never even seen a pit bull down at our beach here, although I have to say I would be Leary, but I'm also Leary of Chihuahua’s :-) I've seen more aggressive smaller dogs then larger dogs in my life though. I actually owned a pit once and it was the biggest baby ever lol.