cats vs small dogs vs big dogs

[Casey09]

[QUOTE=threedogpack;6850412]
I have a good friend who bought a Chi for her daughter. Friend is a dog trainer and a good one. Chi has been raised with dogs, as a dog and Chi will still threaten people.

I really think it’s just because he’s small the most of the world towers over him. People are stupid and don’t always look down, so he’s been taught to sit between Daughters feet…and still had his tail stepped on. It was unintentional each time, but still painful. When she picks him up to get him off the ground, people seem to swoop in to pet him. That makes him uncomfortable too. Daughter does what she can to stop people from getting all up in his grill but she’s young, only 13 and many adults don’t take her seriously.

it’s not always just about the dog being a POS, mvp, sometimes it’s learned behavior because of people too.[/QUOTE]

I think these are very valid points. The other issue that I’ve noticed is pain tolerance. From what I have noticed, little dogs don’t have nearly as high of a pain threshold as bigger dogs. It may just be the particular animals I have owned, but the bigger dogs have had much higher pain tolerances than the smaller ones.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=threedogpack;6850412]
I have a good friend who bought a Chi for her daughter. Friend is a dog trainer and a good one. Chi has been raised with dogs, as a dog and Chi will still threaten people.

I really think it’s just because he’s small the most of the world towers over him. People are stupid and don’t always look down, so he’s been taught to sit between Daughters feet…and still had his tail stepped on. It was unintentional each time, but still painful. When she picks him up to get him off the ground, people seem to swoop in to pet him. That makes him uncomfortable too. Daughter does what she can to stop people from getting all up in his grill but she’s young, only 13 and many adults don’t take her seriously.

it’s not always just about the dog being a POS, mvp, sometimes it’s learned behavior because of people too.[/QUOTE]

I don’t think I understood all of your post. But being mean and all, I did allocate some blame to people as well. I should have been more clear: I’m a big fan of selective breeding for kind animals that Take A Great Deal Of Crap From People. A a minimum, they should be “honest” in the sense that they give us fair warning that we are pissing them off. Their behavior and motivations should be “legible” to us. IMO, failing to select for that kind of mind is bad breeding.

[threedogpack]

[QUOTE=mvp;6850582]
I don’t think I understood all of your post. But being mean and all, I did allocate some blame to people as well. I should have been more clear: I’m a big fan of selective breeding for kind animals that Take A Great Deal Of Crap From People. A a minimum, they should be “honest” in the sense that they give us fair warning that we are pissing them off. Their behavior and motivations should be “legible” to us. IMO, failing to select for that kind of mind is bad breeding.[/QUOTE]

my apologies then, I misunderstood what you were saying. Chi does warn, but again, many people ignore that when they would not if it were a German Shepherd Dog.

[saddleup]

My neighbor was bitten by a chihuahua and ended up with a really bad infection, stitches, and ugly scar on her calf. Don’t be fooled by their size…they can get you.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=threedogpack;6850586]
my apologies then, I misunderstood what you were saying. Chi does warn, but again, many people ignore that when they would not if it were a German Shepherd Dog.[/QUOTE]

That’s sad for your Chi. It ain’t fair and what’s a little dog to do if she said her piece and people ignored it?

[Bluey]

One of the worst to handle dogs at our small animal vet for some years was a chihuahua.
You may make fun of his growling as diminutive as he was, but if you were the one that had to do anything with him, it was not so funny any more, he didn’t take prisoners.:eek:
If he had been bigger, I expect he would have been euthanized long ago as dangerous.

The only time I was almost bitten was, many years ago, assisting in a beginner obedience class, this one fellow was having trouble with his 2 year old big male alaskan malamute, that acted quiet but kept growling when asked to do something.
The instructor send both of us to a corner to work without being in the middle of the class.
As we got there, the dog really started growling at the owner, that was half dragging it and the fellow handed me the leash saying “here, you have him!”.
The dog may have thought the owner was directing him to attack me and he did.
I was lucky that I caught the leash short and was able to keep the dog at arms length, even if he was pawing and trying to bite me at face height, he was taller on his hind feet than I am and I think outweighed me too!

The instructor had been seeing that developing and was running to us and grabbed the leash, she was twice my size and age and calmed the situation down nicely, surprising the dog by walking it around asking it to heel and changing directions very fast, the dog had to keep up with her.:lol:
Fabulous handling that.

The fellow and the dog were sent to a special trainer for aggressive dogs, but really, we think the owner was the problem there, the dog just clueless and trying his growling for size, or he could have been easily more aggressive and dangerous.

Any dog of any size, if it needs to or wants to, can bite and the bite be serious.

[aurora171989]

[QUOTE=Bicoastal;6850477]
OP, what is the purpose of your thread?[/QUOTE]

I’m not sure there was any real purpose, I had been simply curious about the potential of small dogs as I can’t simply google it. I don’t really care much for small dogs myself, they’re tiny little yapping things, now I don’t mind well behaved ones and will pet them.

[wendy]

they can do a LOT of damage. Small dogs have removed people’s noses and ears, severed tendons in hands, and killed infants. One of my co-workers has a nasty scar on her face that was caused by a Chihuahua. I know a child who had to undergo extensive plastic surgery after a little cocker spaniel tore his face up.
Small dogs can and do kill cats and other animals. I’d rather be attacked by a cat than by a Chihuahua, the cat would be less likely to cause serious damage.
People who think small dogs are harmless and therefore you can let them be aggressive are being extremely irresponsible.

[Bicoastal]

[QUOTE=aurora171989;6850682]
I’m not sure there was any real purpose, I had been simply curious about the potential of small dogs as I can’t simply google it. I don’t really care much for small dogs myself, they’re tiny little yapping things, now I don’t mind well behaved ones and will pet them.[/QUOTE]

The potential of small dogs to…serve as companions? service dogs? therapy dogs? sport dogs? or “tiny little yapping things” in a thread that dredges up bite stories.

Sorry if I’m totally misreading your intentions. It seems to me this thread is intended to beat up little dogs.

I have two. Both CGC-certified therapy dogs, one titled in OB & AG. Yes I’ve known my share of ill-tempered ones. Now I know my share of great ones.

[aurora171989]

the potential damage small dogs can do, sorry just didn’t want to hijack the other thread. My intentions were completely neutral

maybe I just haven’t met enough nice ones, but 95 percent of the ones I’ve met are tiny little yapping things, but then again my sample size has been pretty small so far.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=Casey09;6850568]
IFrom what I have noticed, little dogs don’t have nearly as high of a pain threshold as bigger dogs. It may just be the particular animals I have owned, but the bigger dogs have had much higher pain tolerances than the smaller ones.[/QUOTE]

That’s a really interesting idea!

But I have met a couple of (generally very nice) small dogs who had very painful pinched nerve-type things go wrong with them. Both impressed me with their stoicism.

Otherwise, it seems that stuff hurts small dogs badly. or surprises them, causing them to appear to have hair-triggers.

I really like your idea. It might help all of us interpret little dogs better.

[vacation1]

Little dogs can bite just fine, and they can be damned scary while they do it. But there’s no question that they’re not remotely dangerous. Sure, you can get an infection and die, but you can also get an infection and die from being scratched by a rose thorn, and that doesn’t make roses dangerous. Tiny dogs have seriously hurt newborns or people who were uniquely helpless - I think there was one case of a paralyzed adult being killed by a group of small dogs he/she owned - but realistically, they aren’t dangerous to a healthy adult human.

And yeah, the OP is a bit odd, but so many people are jerks about small dogs that it’s not that surprising. Pibbles give kisses, Rotties are all like Carl, but I’m a vet/tech/trainer/groomer/blahblah and the only dog who ever really hurt me was a Chihuahua/Yorkie/MaltiPoo yapper/dustmop/ratonarope/little thing, so that proves little dogs are monsters and it’s really big dogs who are safe.

[Casey09]

vacation1,
Big dogs are not harmless either. All dogs can bite - little dogs and big dogs. The original post sounded like it was asking if small dogs were harmless if they do bite, which isn’t really the case.
Dogs, regardless of their size, require a couple of things. They require training and socialization. It is important to teach puppies bite inhibition so that they learn that human skin is more fragile than the skin of other dogs. Even when they are trained and socialized, and whether they are small or big, it’s important to remember that they have teeth and exercise some caution around dogs.
I currently have big dogs, but I like all dogs. Some day, I will go back to the little guys. They are lots of fun. At the end of the day, though, I think that animals are animals and there are risks.