Sick of ‘little dog’ owners.

Fear.

I have an eight year old big dog. He gets barked at by little dogs (who are presumably scared of him because of the size difference) but he’s never been attacked by one- I think you’ve just been unlucky OP.

I've not found it's just small dogs. I have a Patterdale so she's always on the lead if we're around people or other dogs, she's a fighter. I don't want vet bills, so I keep her away. But other people with dogs of all sizes will let them wander up to her, whereupon she lunges and snarls. So I don't think it's small dogs per se, although, yes, people with the 'decorative' breeds do tend to think they can't hurt another dog! They aren't cuddle-cushions, they are still dogs!

I don’t live in a cave. I walk miles everyday and have done for decades. I have never been tripped by a lead or had a “muddy paws” incident and I haven’t seen an increase in the amount of dog shit, can’t remember the last time I trod in one! None of my many dogs have ever tripped people with their lead or jumped up at strangers and I pick up their shit.
The only thing I have seen is an increase in stupid people on pavements with extendable leads. They stop but the dog keeps going straight into the road and I have to slam my anchors on to avoid hitting it.

I now cross the road if I see a smaller dog coming towards us. It probably gives the impression my dog is aggressive, he's not, he rarely even barks but I know if he ever ever retaliated in the way yours did like you poor lad he would be seen as the dangerous dog and blamed without question.

I’m a small dog owner and completely agree with you a lot of small dog owners think they are somehow exempt from training their dogs because they are small and apparently can therefore do what they like.

It really irritates me! Socialise your dogs and train them properly fgs!

I dislike dogs.
I increasingly loathe their owners.

Why do the little dogs all yap so much?

My maltipoo is little. He is always on a lead and wants to say hello to every dog we meet, but it's not his choice, it's the owners. If they don't want to engage, we just say hi and keep walking.

Your problem is not little dogs, it's bad mannered inconsiderate dog owners.

I feel your annoyance. I have a couple of greyhounds and a Lurcher. All muzzled on walks because of happy, snappy little shitbags who are off-lead and away from their clueless owners. I get a bit concerned in case a Grey makes a random grab at a tiny terror. They are well behaved, my lot, but I don’t want to risk it especially with the 2 greyhounds being very recently retired.
The little dog’s owners always arrive, very nonchalantly and say ‘oh, he’s only playing’. I pointed out ‘play blood’ on my hand the other week and got the other trite ‘oh he’s never done that before’ rubbish, sadly no tags on the dog and the owner refused to give me her address and buggered off.
I had a £900 vet bill from a smallish dog who attacked my elderly lurcher and took a chunk from his face. Owner couldn’t have been less fussed. The police have visited him. I wonder how fussed he was then.

Many people seem to think that small dogs don’t need training. I used to have Jack Russells. All well trained and would recall reliably, it’s not hard. Sorry for rant.

Our big dog once retaliated having been chased and lunged at and yapped at for a good part of the walk by a small dog. Our large dog gave a firm nip to the small dog and all hell broke loose. With our dog being seen as aggressive.

But it doesn't make other people happy does it.

Agree re pp re all owners.

1. Taking up the entire width of a pavement human-lead-dog.
2. The jumping up repeatedly.
3. Favourite was standing there gormlessly while a dog pissed on my friend's pram (with baby inside). Not even a sorry!

I think you should take today to think about why you are putting yourself and other dog owners to all this trouble and why you can't just get a better dog.

I agree. Our big dog has been snarled at by so many little dogs.

The worst of the yappy dogs around me are yorkie terrier size/type. They're noisy and viscous. My extremely motherly Huskie has a bad habit of treating them like puppies, this includes picking them up, carrying and cleaning them. Funnily enough most of the usual suspects now avoid her like the plague 🤣🤣🤣

As the owner of a bigger hound this is 100% accurate! If I let my lad do even half the things smaller dog owners around me do on a daily basis he'd had been put to sleep for being an aggressive out of control monster years ago.

What a horrible op. I have a reactive small dog it's really tough, I pick her up and always explain and apologise to other owners. It's really worrying that you feel you are better than other dog owners because your dog is non reactive and big. There's so much wrong with the world and pets for most people are a little piece of love and affection that make our lives better, if not always easier. I think you take today to think about what's important to people and what actually makes people happy.

I’m more inclined to believe people who don’t have to exaggerate to make a point.

I agree you with - the little dogs are generally the aggressive ones. They only get away with it because they’re small.

You would have to live in an actual cave not to know that all of the above happens every day. Whenever I take my grandchildren out I spend half the time saying " Mind the poo". Dog owners are entitled arseholes these days. We live near the Malvern hills and spend a lot of time on them. The amount of dog shit is horrendous.

I'm sick to death of all dogs tbh. Every turn there's a dog or even two dogs. It's small dog syndrome. Even I have heard of that. Quite amusing really.

Thanks for proving my point.

Wonder if we can have one thread where people don’t completely exaggerate about muddy paws, being tripped and pavements flooded with shit. Oh, too late.

This. My husband plays golf. He came home on Friday and said that there was a discussion at the club about dog owners being allowed to take dogs around with them when they play a round of golf. One of the members pointed out, very loudly that, since dog walkers can already walk around the edges of the course, there was enough bloody dog shit everywhere now without adding to it.