Small dog frustration

[TwoNewfies]

Yesterday we went to our nieces 5th birthday pool party with our gang - always an event.  Before we walked in the door we noticed several people rolling their eyes and said, "Oh no" as soon as they set eyes on our gang.  Rocco and Bella are very well trained, have excellent manners, do not beg for food and are just pleasant to be around. They just want to love and kiss you. So, as soon as we walk in, our brother-in-law's father's dog, Molly (Beagle) barked and challenged our gang.  Our gang hung back, didnt bark or challenge back just looked at her like "Hey, what's your problem? We just came  to swim in the pool."  Well Molly charges up to Rocco and bit his face.  Rocco was stunned but wasnt  hurt, wasnt phased, showed no aggression at all.  Over the course of several hours, Molly harassed our gang, barked and challenged and of course the owner did not correct her, just said, "Oh Molly." Molly did also tried to nip Bella.  Later on I overheard the owner saying to Molly, "You have to protect us from this big mean dogs."

 During dinner, Molly was jumping up on chairs, stole someone's hamburger, and later stole a whole hot dog bun with hot dog in it and chowed it down.  She constantly barked, begged for food, jumped on chairs to steal others food and the owners thought this was so cute

Meanwhile, our gang played in the pool, sat in the shade next to us, showed their manners, and never barked or challenged Molly.  Sad to say there were others at the party that shared this sentiment that we have big, uncontrollable dogs.  It was disappointing how big dogs get branded as  the bad guuys and smaller ones, are able to get away with murder. 

As always the Newf temperment and personality shined through

[Nicole]

Its just insane, isn't it? That happens whenever I bring Cabeza somewhere...pe ople are like, "Oh, look. There's crazy Nicole that just insists on bringing her BIG UNCONTROLLABLE dog everywhere!" Its so dumb because Cabeza is the BEST dog ever. Well, of course besides all of the dogs at BPO...hehehe! He doesn't beg, he doesn't jump, he doesn't bark, he doesn't do much of anything, really. He just lays down and naps. It really gets me how people and their little dogs can get away with absolutely appalling behavior just because the dogs are little. WhatEVER.

[brigid67]

Well that was a very bad beagle....  Not all small dog people are like that though.  I have small dogs with bad manners and nasty tudes (but I love them anyway).  I am always taking complete responsibility and seem to always be apologizing for something they have done...  they don't really listen to well..  But I am always correcting them and giving them trouble for their actions...One reason is because I would rather have them be ok with big dogs then to just let them be aggressice toward the big dogs because when it comes down to it...one bite and my little dogs would be a goner...

[mastiffmommy]

Im with you on this one totally.... it seems like no matter how well behaved our big dogs are the pure size is somehow making them uncontrolled in a lot of peoples eyes.

At the beach the kids saw a mojo sitting on a mans lap and Malin who is wanting one, asked if she could pet it, the man said ohhhh sure, Jennifer went and petted too and my kids are good with dogs, they hang around them all day long and have learnt what to do and not to do. All of a sudden the little mojo launged at Jennifers face with the typical "little dog bark" Jennifer who didnt get afraid took a step back and looked at the dog looked at the man and said "that dog is not too nice is it?" The man didnt say a word to the dog, other people who was standing there didnt say anything, and I was thinking WHAT if a big dog had been going for a person like that, in no time flat would that dog AND the owner been made to a puddle of hate words and anger.

I just took Jennifer and said to the man "it would be good if you told kids they cant pet because the dog might bite" he said well it probably got afraid...... as if that was explanation and also made it totally okay. 

Marit

[jabear]

It is always the same story....big boys with manners, little dogs who lack them and still the general population prefers the little ones because they are smaller. What is wrong with the world? Sometimes I just wish they would count statistics on how many times a little sog has bitten a person or other big animal just for the sake of doing so. I bet that there would be a staggering number reported where as the number for big dogs would be minimal. Grrr.........

[Kiahpyr]

That's why I love big dogs! I took Kiah to the park and she let every kid there pet her and was perfect. She doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body. She's a big time cuddler! Here's a picture of her at the park wearing my daughter's hat.

[LuvmyMal]

Reminds me of a little dog story. Growing up we had different types of dogs, little to big. Well one day our poodle decided he would show is rear. My mom had made steaks for the adults (my parents and neighbors) and hotdogs for us. Well we thought that Cass could not get on the table, guess what he did and ate the steaks and left the hot dogs! It was not funny then but thinking about it now sure makes me laugh. some small dogs have what I call the small dog syndrome, even the ones we owned, so the big dogs had to make up for it by not being aggressive to them.

[Moni]

What a horrid little dog.   

As far as little dogs, I find that Kida is harder to train then the bigger pups.  She can be more sneaky and devious with things.  I tend not to notice as fast if she is doing something wrong since she's such a pipsqueak. Things like a potty accident or Kida is able to hide under furniture and destroy things, both would be very noticeable with a bigger dog.   Also her body language is harder to read since its so miniscule.  Things like a glare or a sneer which we could see further away with our bigger dogs can easily go unnoticed in the minute sized pooches, therefor can be harder to work with(but still must be done!).   *apologies again to Sanity*

HOWEVER, all of that doesn't mean its cute or funny and I can't stand owners who think it is.     I actually find it highly annoying and prefer working with bigger dogs since they're so much more obvious... with everything!  I love Kida to death and its great having a "portapup" but I'm not sure if I'll ever get another little dog.  They're SO many differences in raising them then with raising our big paws... and not many for the better. 

[Anky]

Things like a glare or a sneer which we could see further away with our bigger dogs can easily go unnoticed in the minute sized pooches, therefor can be harder to work with(but still must be done!).   *apologies again to Sanity*

Oh knock it off Honey.  His sister's done much worse and you know it.  Don't worry about it.

Ang

[Nina]

So true, there are small dogs that I like but certain ones that I would NEVER get as they are the ones that I always see at dog parks being agressive. And it is usually the same breeds that we mention in BPO too. hmmm you have to start to wonder.....


Nina

[Kermit]

Ain't it the truth??? People always assume the worst when they see a big dog. We took 3 of our dogs to our friend's house for a cookout a few weeks ago, and we were shocked at how they were treated by the other guests! The people there were like, "WHY are there DOGS here???" Some approached the gate from the outside and stopped, "Oh my god am I going to get bitten???" This other guy was asking me all these questions..."You mean they live INSIDE your house??? You even let them SLEEP inside???" Our dogs love everyone they meet, but they were shunned. We are getting to the point where we are going to have to be really picky about who we hang out with, because our dogs are our kids of course. If I went to party with a child and people were shunning him, I certainly wouldn't associate with those people anymore!!! People who don't know dogs don't know what they are missing!!!

[Nina]

That is sooo true! And when they bark people get annoyed, well if my kids were screaming what would you do? To me screaming barking same thing isn't it???


Nina

[lins_saving_grace]

Yesterday we went to our nieces 5th birthday pool party with our gang - always an event.  Before we walked in the door we noticed several people rolling their eyes and said, "Oh no" as soon as they set eyes on our gang.  Rocco and Bella are very well trained, have excellent manners, do not beg for food and are just pleasant to be around. They just want to love and kiss you. So, as soon as we walk in, our brother-in-law's father's dog, Molly (Beagle) barked and challenged our gang.  Our gang hung back, didnt bark or challenge back just looked at her like "Hey, what's your problem? We just came  to swim in the pool."  Well Molly charges up to Rocco and bit his face.  Rocco was stunned but wasnt  hurt, wasnt phased, showed no aggression at all.  Over the course of several hours, Molly harassed our gang, barked and challenged and of course the owner did not correct her, just said, "Oh Molly." Molly did also tried to nip Bella.  Later on I overheard the owner saying to Molly, "You have to protect us from this big mean dogs."

 During dinner, Molly was jumping up on chairs, stole someone's hamburger, and later stole a whole hot dog bun with hot dog in it and chowed it down.  She constantly barked, begged for food, jumped on chairs to steal others food and the owners thought this was so cute

Meanwhile, our gang played in the pool, sat in the shade next to us, showed their manners, and never barked or challenged Molly.  Sad to say there were others at the party that shared this sentiment that we have big, uncontrollable dogs.  It was disappointing how big dogs get branded as  the bad guuys and smaller ones, are able to get away with murder. 

As always the Newf temperment and personality shined through

Just goes to show you it's all in how they are trained/raised.  It's seems to be easier and more 'acceptable' to let the cute LITTLE dogs have the run of the house.  To say "oh, Molly" isn't doing the dog any good and isn't teaching her any manners. 
Coodos to you Rocco and Bella and great work in teaching them manners. 

[Scootergirl]

Just goes to show you it's all in how they are trained/raised. 

And the same goes for people!

[lins_saving_grace]

Just goes to show you it's all in how they are trained/raised. 

And the same goes for people!

Oh I can't deal with unruley children.   good point.