Small dog syndrome
 

SMALL DOG SYNDROME:

I have been watching a pet re-homing site on facebook an have noticed a lot of things. But one thing I have noticed most with little dogs are of people getting rid of their pets because of their behavior, which from description, seems to be bad cases of small dog syndrome. It really makes me sad because in truth, its the owners fault not the dogs.

It is a common mistake many people make with small dogs, especially toy breeds. They are so cute and little, we tend to baby them WAYYYY to much. They do things like jump up on people, bark and get possessive over their owner, and a whole lot of other acts of dominance and we say....awwww, isnt that cute. He is protecting me, or he likes you or whatever. But you have to stop and as yourself something.....


If my dog was a Pit bull, not a yorkie, would I still think thats “CUTE”??

If my dog was a Pit bull, not a yorkie, would I let him do that?

If the answer is “NO”, then you shouldn't be letting your yorkie do it either.

My first little dog was / is a Shih Tzu. I was lucky that someone warned me about small dog syndrome before I even got him. This being the case I started researching it right away. I did not want to make those mistakes that cause it. I was very surprised actually on all the different things dogs do that are “Acts of Dominance” that before my reserch, I never would have thought of as being so. For example,


*Sitting / laying on the back of the couch: this is an act of dominance. They are putting themselves up higher then everyone else. Saying, I'm the boss/ alpha of this house.”

*When sleeping or sitting an cuddling with your dog, you should never move yourself to fit around them, but instead get yourself comfortable and make them fit around you. Fitting yourself around them makes them feel more superior according to research.

*Apparently jumping up on your leg is an act of dominance.
Bull kicking is an act of dominance ( especially if they do it at times other then going potty.

*Some experts say that at meal time, you should feed the humans in the house before the dogs because the alpha of a pack usually eats first.

The list goes on. Now mind you, I do not believe in disciplining your dog in a ALPHA manner an showing them who is boss in that way. I believe in positive re-enforcement. This being said, there are still things that I feel you shouldn't let your dog do that do relate to being the one in charge, the alpha of the pack. I admit that although I know about Small dog syndrome, there were many things that I did allow my shih tzu Zeus do that I shouldn't have. But once I got Athena , my yorkie I realized letting him do those things were bad and I had to correct them. He was too possessive over me and didnt want me to pay any attention to Athena. He never got aggressive over her thanks god. In fact they got along very well and played. But whenever I tried to play or love on Athena he would try to get in the way and make me love on him instead. He thought he owned me, and it was my fault that he thought that ad I had to correct the behavior. I stopped letting him sleep above my head on my pillow, I stopped fitting myself around him when sleeping, I stopped letting him sleep on the back of the couch above everyone else. Yes, even with knowing those were acts of dominance, I let him do it before because I never thought it would really be a problem, or that he really thought he was the alpha of the house, until I got another dog an saw it for myself.

I had an experience that I admit heighten my reason for wanting to post this just the other day. I have two small dogs as I said, my shih Tzu Zeus and my little Athena who is a yorkie. But I also work for a Pit bull rescue. The other day I was walking my Pit Bull foster. He was very well behaved. We came in the same area of a little dog walking her small dog, a chihuahua. Her little dog started barking like crazy at us and using very aggressive behavior. Caesar, My foster Pit was however very well behaved and didnt even react to it thanks god. The lady owner of the little dog LAUGHED and thought it was funny.

EXCUSE ME?

I had to say it. “Mam, now if my dog, a pit bull, was acting an doing all of the same things your dog is doing right now, would you think THAT was funny?”

She just kin of looked at me funny and confused, so I went on.

I said, “ I dont think you would think that was funny. In fact, im willing to bet you would fear for yours and your dogs safety. You would probably at least THINK if not say out loud that I need to control my dog better, that I should keep him locked up at home. Possibly even go as far as to think my dog needs to be put down. But yet when YOUR dog does it, ITS FUNNY???”

“Im sorry, but I strongly disagree. Its NOT funny in the slightest. Although, yes, it is true that my dog could do a lot more damage then yours could, that doesnt make it any more ok. In fact, your lucky that my dog is so well behaved and I do have such good control of him. Otherwise your dogs behavior may have made him feel threatened and cause him to act aggressively towards your dog. Then Your dog could have very well gotten hurt or even killed. But yet I guarantee that its my dog that would be made to look the villain here and likely would get put down. NO, Its not funny”

the lady just hmph and walked away with her little dog.

Moral of the story....

People PLEASE, whenever your babies are doing something and you stop and say, “Awww isnt that cute”. PLEASE PLEASE take a moment an ask yourself, “Would it still be cute if he was a pit bull?

I dont want to see anymore babies being re-homed for the mistakes their owners make.

Also look up online and research SMALL DOG SYNDROME. I only barely touched on it here.

I agree that to many people don't train there small dogs but I disagree with the alpha thing. I doubt my dog thinks she is alpha because she lays on the back of the top of the couch. I do think dogs sometimes try to dominate people but I do not think my dog sees me as another dog. I baby my dog like crazy but I still train her and she is still a good dog. I disagree with comparing pits to yorkies as well there is a whole lot more training that does have to go into pit as well as the owner then a yorkie.

my last yorkie was killed by a large dog because of his own behavior. I tried for years to correct his killer instinct towards other dogs but was never successful. So for the most part I kept him away from other dogs and would just pick him up when we would encounter other dogs, but he would fight me tooth and nail to the point I was afraid he would snap his neck from fighting me so hard. Training classes helped a little, but even the trainer said he was one of the most difficult dogs he ever worked with. Because he was only four pounds you could not use things like restraint collars and he lacked any desire to please, so no matter how hard we worked on things like sit and stay, he only did it when he wanted to, he was not food or toy driven and cared little for praise and attention, in fact he did not even enjoy much petting and cuddling. If he had not come from a good breeder and I got him at 4 months of age I would have thought he might have been abused or something. Also had he been my only dog I would have only blamed myself, but I had three before him and one after him and they were all trained and socialized the same but he was different. You are correct though regardless of the size dogs should be trained and for the small ones it's often for their protection more so than the other person or the other dog.

I think one of the reasons dogs can be trained is most are driven by things like the desire to please, or be praised or the reward of a treat, but when a dog is not driven by any of those things I think training is so much harder. I often notice when members here are complaining about the difficulty of training their dog they will also say that they don't care much for treats. Lola will do almost anything for a treat or a toy, she has been so easy and does almost nothing wrong so she has required very little training and almost no discipline, but Kirby the pup I had before her seemed like every day he was in trouble for something

I just used a Pit as an example, perhaps I shouldn't have. I mean BIG dogs.

Also perhaps im using bad wording by saying alpha. Im not sure how else to describe it. but there are things that pack animals do that show dominance over other pack animals. that is just natural. But that doesnt mean you have to use the ALPHA or PACK leader means of training. I would in no way recommend using training methods such as turning them over on thier back or anything lie that to show your dominance over them I dont agree with that type of training.

As for the disagreeing with sleeping on the back of the couch as showing dominance. Well first of all "I said this is what experts say, but there are alot of controversy in what experts say. I can only speak for myself in that I saw a huge difference in how Zeus acted towards letting me play with athena after I stopped letting him do these things.

It doesnt necessarily mean that they think they are superior over you, but the otehr dogs as well. It can go both ways.


As for difference of training for say a BIG dog verses little dog, Other the the fact that the dog is much more powerful, so yes you do need to know how to handle that power, im sorry, but I do not see the difference.

But were allowed to disagree. I respect your opinion.

Oh I agtree completely. I in no way am trying to say all problems are the owners faults......lol. Sometimes it is the dog, an the owners do everything they can to correct it, seek professional help ect.

But there are certainly cases where it is because of the owners letting them get away with too many things and not training them properly.

The whole alpha thing has been debunked. Hopefully Brit will see this and post her links for that. There are certain situations and things I have heard from responsible pit owners that you just don't risk and don't do with a pit that you would say with even a lab. You have to know what could set these dogs off and you have to know what there breed responds poorly to.

The biggest thing that bothers me with small dogs is the potty training.

I also want to add that I think threes degrees of like "Sleeping on the back of the coach." If I fall asleep on the couch, both Zeus and Athena want to lay next to me. but often there isnt enough room for them both to do so. So one of them will sleep on the back of the couch. but typically they dont sleep there, only in cases like that when there isnt enough room. When its a case like this, I allow it.

Oh heck yeah. thats the hardest one. they are a pain. although my Yorkie is much better about it then My Shih Tzu.

As for the alpha thing. You agree im sure that there are things that dogs do that is" just being a dog". Do you not think pack animals do pack related things?

I know many responsible Pit owners to that say they are no different then any other dog. Its how they are raised, but they have a really bad rep because of the people that raise them to fight or dont train them at all as you should any dog. so whose right?

Let me ask you this, do you think it was ok for that lady to Laugh at how her dog was acting on our walk and think its funny and ok for him to do it?

And all this time I thought my dogs were using the back of the sofa to see what I was doing in the kitchen, or to see out the window. Heck, they get up there just so I don't have to bend down to love on them. Now I see I've been trained. :p:D

I certainly will read those links if she post them. but does this mean you dont think pack animals are going to do pack type behaviors? I mean Im sure you believe ogs are going to do things that are "just being a dog" Like marking and bull kicking to spread their scent. thats just being a dog. so wouldnt dominance be another thing that's just natural to do for some dogs? Wouldnt they see their family, both human and animals alike as being a part of their pack? Im just trying to understand what your take is on it. Im learning to an like to keep an open mind.

ROFL....thats funny

But I do not think dogs see us as another dog. There is training that I have been told is much more important with pits then other dogs. I have also heard it's not nessisarily good for them to go places like dog parks although here they are not allowed at the dog parks. I don't nessisarily think it's funny but for all you know that dog was a rescue that had previous issues that maybe being worked on. Sammy my moms rescue yorkie would occasionally bark at and occasionally snap at another dog and there was one or two times it was slightly embarrassing or that it was so much of a larger dog we laughed because we deal by making a joke of things instead of getting upset and we could not figure out what was causing it. When we did we took the right actions to try and fix it. There is always two sides to a story though. There is not always a certain right and a certain wrong there is lots of gray.

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).