Sick of ‘little dog’ owners.

[Ratdoghater]

Every damn walk! Every sodding walk without bloody fail a little dog attacks or lunges or snarls or chases aggressively my large (retriever) dogs.

I am sick of it. Today’s dog was a cockerpoo. Yesterday it was a JRT. Day before it was a chihuahua.

Every fucking time the useless piece of crap owners say ‘he’s just playing.’ Newsflash, if your dog is snarling, lunging at my dogs, curling their lips or jumping up and snapping it is NOT playing. If my dog is backing away, my dog is not happy. If my dog is screaming, it is not happy

Big dog owners also often suck, but at least they have the decency to say sorry and put their dog on a leash. Or often leash their dogs before we meet. Little dog owners just laugh…and say ‘well he’s little so he won’t do any damage’ and then once I’m past let their dog go again - which 9/10 times means their dog chases mine!!! Honestly, do they not understand that being attacked for most dogs, when it happens near constantly, does affect their confidence and is a prime reason why so many dog do suddenly snap and turn aggressive?? Its basic common sense.

I know this thread will make no difference - little dog owners will continue to be entitled and incompetent. And little dog owners will pop onto this thread and say ‘my dogs not aggressive.’ Great. BUT disproportionately little dogs are the main instigator in most dog fights or dog on dog attacks I’ve seen.

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.

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.

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.

Why do the little dogs all yap so much?

I dislike dogs.
I increasingly loathe their owners.

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 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 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'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 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.

Fear.

Are you sure… mine are lovely 😉

I have a tiny dog and always keep her on her lead outside because big dogs can get aggressive. Especially those off the lead! Large dogs also pull at their leads and bark or run up to me when I'm pushing my baby in her pram. I scream and the owners just laugh and say their giant dog is just playing. Keep your dogs on a lead so they won't be chased. I think owners should be fined for letting their dogs off a lead (unless it's a large field).

I have two tiny dogs, they weigh less than 7kg between them. They were rescued from a horrible puppy farm last year and both needed surgery, other treatment and some training before being rehomed with us. They are still finding their way in the world and do get a bit happy with other dogs, but we are continuing with the training. One has had to have all his teeth out so can’t bite anyone. I’m sure we would be judged by the anti dog brigade if you saw us out. I’m saddened by this.

Surely you'd just kick the tiny dog away or pick it up?

Keep them on a lead?

What a ridiculous post - “big dog owners” vs “small dog owners” rubbish.

There are bad dog owners and good dog owners.

I’ve had big dogs and small dogs run up to my small dog and intimidate her - mostly they are wanting to play but she gets easily scared and would cower and back away unless they approach gently. She is more scared of the big dogs. I don’t start stupid threads though saying how sick I am of the owners or categorise “big dog owners” as “useless pieces of crap” - how rude.

How about confronting them on your dog walks when it happens rather than starting nasty ranting threads like this?

Oh that’s interesting. I’m a small dog owner. Where I live I had to change where I walk mine because everywhere we went I was the ONLY person who had their dog on a (non-retractable, for the record) lead, and we kept getting large dogs off lead running up to my dog aggressively. I had to keep picking my dog up because he was terrified, and then I would get scratches down my legs and back from the unleashed big dogs jumping on me to try and get to my dog. ‘Oh they’re just wanting to say hello,’ the owners would all say.

So yes, you’re being unreasonable for saying it’s the fault of little dogs when actually it’s the fault of twatty owners of dogs of any size who have no consideration for others.

Your post proves exactly what the op is saying. Train your small reactive and until it is trained keep it on a short lead. You and your dogs happiness shouldn't impact others.

Mine is a bossy little git. If I stop to talk to someone, he yaps at me to hurry up. It’s something I haven’t been able to train out of him.

In his defence, I don’t think he’d been walked by his previous owners (he’s missing a leg, so it appears they thought he wasn’t capable), and walks are his favourite thing now.

You’re actually so entitled that you think you have the right to tell people what to do with their day and their thoughts

yes there is a lot wrong with the world and one of the things that is wrong with the world is that too many people own dogs and haven’t trained them.

training classes should be compulsory before dog licences are issued and harsh fines for those who allow their dogs to touch other people or dogs

that would make the world a nicer place and if people need that affection that comes from dog ownership they won’t have a problem with it

I kind of agree with the OP although not her way of expressing it . As the now owner of two small dogs , frenchies , for the first time ever I am amazed at the aggression shown by other small dogs trying to get at them particularly dachshunds who seem really snappy , snarly and straining on their leads to reach us . My own two are really non aggressive love everyone types . Having only owned bullmastiffs before this is new to me seeing small dog behaviour . Maybe Bm's just give off a different energy being such goofballs.

100% OP
I have a retriever. Thick as pig mince. He has been attacked before and just stands there crying with another dog attached to his face. Awful.

I am always looking 90 miles ahead and will turn completely off course if I can to avoid them. I'm at the point I can't be arsed with it and will end up being really rude to someone very soon.

There are good owners & bad owners obviously. But the difference is that owners of small dogs don’t always put the same effort into training because they are easy to physically restrain. For example owners of big dogs tend to put a lot of effort into getting the dog to walk nicely on a lead, whereas toy sized dogs aren’t going to drag you anywhere if they do pull.

And owners of big dogs don’t respect that small dogs can be intimidated by dogs so much larger than them and will then react out of fear.

Twice this week I’ve gone to an undercover area outside a cafe (country park, no dogs in cafe) to order from the hatch. First time 2 owners, 3 dogs who went mad at my German Shepherd. He did not react at all. Good job too because he would get the blame. The other dog owners did nothing to address their dogs behaviour. It was aggressive but I understand it’s fear based. Something the owner needs to sort out for their dog’s sake if nothing else. I know it was fear based because they ignored an off lead chihuahua who is a very good little dog and quiet.
Happened again with a border collie. Quite possibly under exercised and understimulated so highly strung.
If I allowed my dog to behave like that I’m sure I’d be reported due to his breed. He’s not perfect, training is on-going and I’m paying for additional training too. I also pick up his massive poos, put his lead on when other dogs are on lead and also around children so as not to worry them. None of this is overly difficult.