To strongly dislike small dogs

[Cappuccino5]

Full disclosure: golden retriever owner of 30+ years… never had and never will have another breed.

I just don’t understand the fascination with little dogs. So many are horrible, yappy little things that get away with murder because they’re small. Only breed that I’ve ever been bitten by is a dachshund (x 2!!) and it always seems to be terrier or schnauzer types that launch at DDog. Generally they seem to attract people who haven’t got a clue re: dog ownership or can’t be bothered having a ‘proper’ dog - they don’t train properly and seem to just leave the tiny dog sitting at home all day barking at windows.. lacking mental + physical stimulation.

I have a JRT/Chihuahua cross. On paper she's awful. In practice she's perfect. I moved house recently and the neighbours were surprised when I said I have a dog because they never hear her (theirs is yapping in the garden regularly).
Sees off boisterous big/small dogs with a firm bark, friendly to every dog that comes over to her.
We often get comments about how lovely she is when out on walks.

Calms my youngest child's tantrums, tolerates all my little nephews and nieces roughly patting/poking her until she's had enough then she hides from them, loves lie ins and long walks.
Added bonus - she's easy to carry and her poos are tiny.

My giant breed gets barked at by small dogs snd she just walks past quietly. She never responds to them.

I, on the other hand, cannot understand why anyone would get a dog that's much stronger than them. It's the big strong dogs that maul their owners, not chihuahuas, toy poodles or pugs etc. A small dog can be overpowered in any given situation, you won't have such luck with a big one.

Gorgeous. I have a 13 year old lab, and my neighbour has a cairn. I'd definitely consider one as she is a fantastic dog.

I used to look down a bit on little digs until my last labrador died and I ended up with a little ratbag I found on the street and then adopted another little ratbag. They eat less, produce less poo, use the cat flap to nip out for a wee and smell less. When they are being disobedient you just pick them up and carry them. We fly a few times a year so it is also easy to take them. It is the difference comparable to owning a human toddler vs a dog in hassle in my opinion.

My miniature schnauzer seems like a wise scholar compared to my DM dimwit Golden Retriever. I mean he's a nice boy but so, so dopey. And all the hair and drool everywhere, I CBF with all that! And the bigger the dog, the bigger the turds!

My Westie is only 14 lbs, but she has the heart of a lion. Huge bark for a small dog, not yappy at all, and only barks when necessary (she thinks she’s security). Training her was easy, she’s super bright, and was the best company for our then 7 yr daughter through lockdown. The only downside is she really prefers my husband.

I think big dogs can be great but really I want medium to small dogs. Much more portable and easier to fit in with lifestyle - think sitting on my lap in the evening.

I do have a small dog that barks at bigger dogs, only because when they were a puppy, lots of out of control spaniels and labs/retrievers (all whom seemed to be called Luna) wanted to “play” with them. Problem was these dogs were big, scary and had no recall so my poor little pup was terrified. Since then, my dog barks at anything bigger than they are. If only the bigger dogs had been controlled and trained.

My lovely “proper dog”on a beach adventure

The only dog I’ve ever been bitten by is a golden retriever. I spent far too long being terrified of anything bigger than a staffie and yellow. The owners were irresponsible, and allowed their off lead dog to bite a 13 year old because it had zero recall, I still have a scar, it’s been over 25 years.
Big horrible nasty dogs that bite.
However, my Nan’s next door neighbour had two Shitzus which I was fine with as they have never barked, jumped or even acted like they knew I existed. Same for my best friend growing up and her staffie. Anything smaller I could get away from or kick if they bit me, a retriever or a lab was too big and powerful.
YABU. Smaller dogs are not necessarily all disobedient, but at least they can’t inflict the same damage that bigger dogs can!

I'm I agreement here. I have a Finnish Lapphund, all fur, just masses of it.
This has proved useful as small bitey dogs get nothing more than a mouthful of hair. My darling floof looks confused and wanders off.
Thing us small dogs are often picked up when their owner sees a large dog.
This exposes the small dogs tummy which makes them vulnerable and terrified.
There are only bad dog owners.

The problem with smaller dogs is all too often people just don’t invest enough training and socialisation into them because they don’t think they have to. They think it’s just bigger dogs that need that time invested in training. Often they get bought for children who then don’t want to play with them when they realise puppies bite, then they spend the rest of their life shut in the garden yapping all day. At out training club it’s almost always the smaller dogs being brought in that have all the behavioural problems because the owner thought they could just bring a puppy home as a toy and it would train itself with no input whatsoever from them. There’s also the misguided belief that it just doesn’t matter as much if small dogs are badly behaved because it’s just cute and funny. Nobody would find a Rottweiler behaving the same way cute or funny.

Small dog breeds—such as Chihuahuas, Jack Russell Terriers, and Dachshunds—frequently bite humans, often ranking high in reported bite frequency statistics even though their small size limits the risk of fatal physical trauma. 1, 2, 3]
High-Risk Small Breeds for Biting

• Chihuahuas: Often top statistical lists for defensive or territorial aggression toward strangers and delivery workers. 1, 2]
• Jack Russell Terriers: Bred as high-energy hunting dogs, they possess a strong prey drive and can react aggressively if under-stimulated or mishandled. 1, 2, 3,
• Dachshunds and Poodles: Studies on canine behavior show these breeds frequently display snapping or biting behaviors when startled or mishandled.

Well that’s ok then…

Wouldn’t you object if you were mishandled?

You don’t seem to know much at all about dogs if you think that a Mini Schnauzer doesn’t like the beach, forests or walking!

That's right St Bernard's are really into mauling people...mine just lies there or licks people to death. She doesn't do a lot.

Small dogs are too fast for me. I cannot keep up with them if they run off. Too much hard work. My giant breed just plods along with my arthritic self🤣

St Bernards are gorgeous dogs and Beethoven was my favourite childhood film 😍however, if one was to turn vicious for whatever reason (pain, fear, bad socialisation etc) I wouldn't fancy my chances against them whereas a small dog can be easily overpowered. If you google, there are recent news stories about attacks by St Bernanrds on both humans and livestock. It's an absolutely wonderful breed of dog - don't get me wrong - but it's still more dangerous if it decided to attack than a small breed.

I don't think it's the dogs themselves, or responsible owners of any breed.

However, it is possible that the type of person, who fancies owning a dog but doesn't want to put much effort in, might be more likely to choose a small breed in the mistaken belief that it will require less effort? So you get a preponderance of bad owners having small dogs.

Owner of a golden retriever here too. I'm not particularly fond of small dogs but the well trained ones can be quite sweet. My issue is with the owners who usually have multiple small dogs because they're 'easy', walk them off the lead with no recall and allow them to run circles around my on lead GR while growling and snapping at him. It's always small dogs that do this and there's something about those owners who don't seem to care, or think their dogs are playing when they're clearly not.
Untrained large dogs is a whole other issue but so far they've been easier to avoid, at least in my area.

Why do you feel the need to post a picture of your dog? You like to THINK everyone loves him. News flash. They dont

A lot of people do if the number of loves my little dogs received is anything to go by. ❤️

I hear you OP. I was leaving a cafe once with my large exceptionally well behaved dog who barely even glanced at other dogs. An out of control yappy little shit started lunging and yapping aggressively at him and scared the shit out of him. While the owners just sat and laughed. I asked them to get their dog under control and the dog's owner came chasing after me yelling "how dare you, my dog was attacked". Like that's got anything to do with anything. The majority of little dog owners think their dog can do as it likes and that it's funny when they are aggressive. Boils my piss.

I like little dogs fine. There are certain breeds though… if we are going to have an issue with another dog (I had until recently one very friendly and one quite reserved but placid medium sized dogs), it was usually a Jack Russell. And yes the other dogs we had issues were small too - I think the owners tend to pick their dogs up which doesn’t help them with socialising. When I say issues I mean we’d be walking past and the other dug would snarl and growl and strain at their leash - my dogs would just look at them and go ‘ok just walking by here…’ But we’d meet plenty of lovely little guys too! Even friendly breeds can get aggressive if not socialised properly.

Thank you to everyone who shared a pic, you all have the cutest dogs 😍

Op your post sums up my dog.