I think they can see a difference in humans and dogs. I don't think they see people as dogs.

You know, its not just dogs that do it to. There are some people that tend to be leaders or control freaks even and think they need to run everything and boss people around ect ect. Sometimes those people have to be taught that they are not the ones in charge and have to learn to play nice with others. That some behaviors are acceptable an some aren't.

I dont think they see people as dogs either, but as members of their pack. there is a difference.

Well with the pit thing, again, you ahve been told, an dI respect your going by what you were told, but I have been told different again by people who are also responsible pit owners and trainers ( more then one trainer). So again, how do we know who is right? Im not saying your people are wrong and mine are right or vise versa. I can tell you what I know from working with pit bulls myself. But we ant say that your people are more responsible then my people or mine then yours. we dont really know do we.

I get what your saying an agree that perhaps taht little dog was being worked on. but in this case, that little dog was acting very badly, the woman laughed and did NOTHING to try to correct the behavior. I dont think that was a make a joke out of it situation, but she really tought it was funny. but even if she did, or in your case where you laugh because your embarrassed and making a joke of it. You have to understand that the other person doesnt know. all we know is what we see and are being told by you and your behavior. if your laughing, and not doing anything to correct the bad behavior, or apologizing or anything of that sort, then yeah its going to be upsetting and not ok.

I really don't nessisarily have anything against any certain breed of dog nor do I have any actual experience with pits. Any dog is capable of reacting bad so I obsessively tend to watch body language when around any dog even more so when Callie is involved. I fear more of the puppies of breeds with strong jaws then the adult dogs because puppy's don't often know there strength so I think an accident is more likely to happen. I do think little dogs tend to "get away" with more. Sammy's issue was he was picked on by other dogs a lot.

That would certainly explain her behavior.

I can say that with my own experience the pits arent any different then any other dog, but YES, you are right they do have very strong jaws, that combined simply with the fact they are a bigger dog, obviously they can do a whole lot more damage to a small dog then a small dog ever could to them. It is for this reason I keep the FOUR Pits i have in my house right now (fostering them) separate most of the time from my little dogs. The Pits have NEVER shown any kind of aggression what so ever towards each other or my little dogs, even when my little Shih Tzu shows aggression towards them. but, as a responsible pet owner I know that dogs will be dogs and thigns can sometimes happen that you would never expect. All it would take is ONE bite from one of those pits and my little dog could be dead if done in the right place. Obviously im not going to risk that happening, especially since my Tzu does act aggressive towards them. Likely, it would be his dumb butt that started it. Love him to pieces, but yeah, he isnt being too smart there. He just doesnt seem to know he is a little dog.....lol.

but thankfully our dog park here does not discriminate against dog breeds and I have taken all four of my fosters to the park, as has my friend/ trainer who has three pits, one Sheppard and a boxer. We have never had any problems at all, an we go there at least once a week.

Thanks for posting this!
 

The most common complaint I hear from folks who for want of a better descriptive are medium to large dog owners, is that the small or toy dogs, usually are very poorly behaved. They got the nickname ankle biters for a pretty valid reason. And of course many owners do nothing to control the bad behaviour.

And yes there certainly is a pack leader and all humans in the family should be shown to be in charge, and not the dogs!

There are a couple of more dominance behaviours that might seem silly in a way, but trust me they are dominance actions. Your dog always wants to go up the stairs ahead of you or out the door ahead of you. The leader of the pack always goes first, or gives permission for the other member(s) to go first.

Now I never say never ever let them do that, but every so often once a week sometimes more often, I make all the dogs wait at the bottom of the stairs while I go up, or vice versa while I go down. Tripping over a small dog is fun for no-one, and having a large dog bowl you over can be pretty painfull not to mention dangerous on a long flight of stairs.

Another good skill to teach your Yorkie puppy is to move out of the way of human feet. You should not be walking around your dog, but move slowly through your dog, they need to move out of your way!

Second is to teach your Yorkie awareness of doors. That they open and they close, and they don't want to get caught in a closing door.

The head butt especially to your rear end is another typical large dog behaviour that should not be tolerated.

We have a practice that places the dogs outside of the kitchen when we are eating, or when I get tired of them being in my way when I am cooking. All my pups love to be in the kitchen when I am cooking, partly that is my fault, as often when \I chop veges fruit etc, I will give them a piece for an obedience command. Not to mention the wonderfull smells from the oven.

My dogs are trained to accept obedience commands from any-one. Many working dog owners don't feel the same way I do. But living in a family, with a sister who is brain damaged they had to learn to obey her too! And not to mention she is not too steady on her feet!

I like the rough rule of thumb, of if you would not accept this behaviour in a 100 lb dog, then don't accept it in a Yorkie!

I agree.

I dont think every undersirable behavior has to be trained out of the dog it is up to the owner to decide if it is a behavior they can live with or not. I know we would probably do different with a bigger dog but we are not dealing with a different dog. An example of this is chachi humps his teddy bear. Now someone else may think that is a very undesirable behavior and need to train their dog not to do it. I dont see a problem with it it doesnt effect anyone but us that have to see it he doesnt do it all the time and I dont see the harm in it. If he were a bigger dog though I wouldnt allow it. IK know there are other examples of this this was mine. I dont think people should sweat the small stuff

I think there are certain things you NEED to train your dog to do for safety reasons, like not running out the door. Lexi is not perfect by any means, but when I say "sit", she sits, when I say "stay" she stays. I do make her sit and wait before going out the door until I give her permission, but she goes out in front of me. But when walking she always walks ahead of me, mainly my fault for not trainer her, but my point is I don't think just because she walks ahead of me, she thinks she is "in charge". She knows I'm in charge and when it counts, she will do what I say. She is also still young (8 months) so we are still working on some behaviors like getting over excited when the neighbor comes over to play with my son outside. He likes Lexi to chase him around which is fine for a few minutes, but Lexi has a hard time stopping and coming to me when I call her because she is having too much fun playing.


I think it's up to the owner on how much training they want to do with their dog. Some things should be done for safety reasons (your dog and others), but some things are optional. If you don't care that your dog walks out ahead of you, then so be it!

I saw a very happy pit who I think was not a puppy but very young adult and he got really excited to see me and my mom in the pet store and is owner had a pinch collar on I felt so bad for him he was takeing that thing so he could come say hi. I hate choke collars and pinch collars.

That's so funny! Because I was just thinking, "I thought my puppy was just trying to see out the window!" LOL

Pinch collars and choke collars do have their uses, and pretty important ones as well.

Unfortunately most pet owners do NOT get the requisite training on how to use them well, like most pet owners do NOT get the requisite training on how to use and when to use a Flexi Lead.

I will still walk Magic on a pinch collar, if I am in a very busy and strange place, in fact he is double collared. One pinch, one regular collar. And he is a CDX trained dog. The leashes are held on loose but short lead. It is my responsibility to control my dog under any and all situations! Magic used to weigh as much as I do, and he now weighs less, as he is a senior boy. This boy can pull 800 pounds! That pinch collar can turn his head right quick if an aggressor dog comes in. I have rarely had to use this, but it is there if I need to. And I know how to use it!

That pitbull owner of the young dog, was doing her best to insure she had her dog under control! A large breed dog, can not be allowed to walk up and greet any-one they see. It is the owner of the dog, that determines who and when this dog will meet any-one.

And again with choke collars, they are mis-used and mis-understood by the general public. All show dogs are shown under some form of choke collar. The exception being Afghan Hounds and some other sight hounds.

You need to know how and where to place the collar, and how to keep it in its right place. It is the same with pinch collars.

It was a guy who looked like he regularly worked out. I still do not agree with those to types of collars but we will just have agree to disagree on that.

I do agree with this. If your dog walks out ahead of you, but immediately obeys your command to come to your side, that is fine. At some point in time you will need to reel in your dog very quickly.

But small dogs or not, they should not be jumping up onto strangers or friends legs, nor snarling, gnashing teeth, and or growling at passerbyes on the street. Nevermind their family!

Sorry, but FFS....pit bulls are absolutely NO different physically or mentally than any other canine in the world. Lock jaw? Myth. Human aggressive? Myth. Harder to train? Myth.

As I am very, very, very well-versed in APBT behavior and breeding, I can't even take this post seriously considering all of the negative connotations involving Pits. It is insane, and insulting, and ignorant (in the true definition of the word).