adventures with little, nasty, yippy dogs

so in the last couple of days, we have encountered:

2 little white terriers types that went savage barking at Jelly even though we were walking on the other side of the street and she didn't even clock them. the staffie standing with its owner, who was talking to the little yippers owner, wasn't barking at them either or even paying them attention but when we moved on, they turned their yippiness on him.

a little puffball sort of thing that showed teeth and barked at her for no apparent reason

and a Jack Russell at the vet who, while she submissively as always was on her back and letting him sniff a bit, had a go at her ear and grabbed on while snarling and giving it a good, toothy shake. Luckily no skin broken or blood, but I'm sure it couldn't have been pleasant having her head used as a chew toy


Don't you just wish the ban the breed lawmakers were around for stuff like that?

Those little terrorisers can be a pain in the butt at times. Sadly it is usually the owners at fault though for not training correctly.

yes, absolutely - it's not the dog's fault, and that's a 2 way street - with "dangerous" breeds that are banned or suspect, or not.

As irritating as they are, Biscuit is also very reactive to other dogs and I've been working with her for 6 months to correct it, so I can't help but think there might be a reason behind why they're like it, could be a rescue or attacked in the past for example? The difference is, I keep Biscuit under control and don't let her approach unknown dogs!

I don't always let her go up to other dogs, but if I do, it's only when I've asked the owner if they can say hello and if their dog is nice. Apparently the Jack Russell wasn't so nice. The owner didn't really seem bothered though LOL

Oh no I wasn't talking about you I was talking about the owners with reactive dogs that readily let them interact with other dogs when they know they're a problem!

Which is usually small dog owners as they know they can't do much damage, therefore they won't get in a lot of trouble

haha it's OK, I know! I was agreeing with you and I agree with you again lol

Oh haha god sorry I'm half asleep!

no worries LOL I wasn't very clear anyway

I've never had any bad reactions with small dogs. I'm more worried about Loki being too rough with the small dogs than their reactions to him. Two Staffs and a Rottweiler have gone for him or growled at him, so for some reason he doesn't annoy the little ones. I feel sorry for small breed dogs to be honest, because their owners are more likely to be the ones who let them get away with behaviours you'd never put up with in a bigger dog. So they themselves end up with a bad reputation because of the owners.

I really think that small dog owners can have a strange mentality because their dogs are dinky. Well trained small dogs can be wonderful, I will be honest and say there are only a couple of breeds that I would at a push say I don't 'like' and even that isn't the right description just can't find a better way. They aren't small breeds though (one is a dalmatian..never taken to them but perhaps one day i will meet one that softens me ). We are constantly yapped at my the little dogs, usually yorkies or jrt - I roll my eyes now as I have come to expect it, and they are kind of funny with their "I'll have ya scrappy dooesque yammering". The owners never seem to correct the behaviour though and this is what the problem is for sure. The bull breeds so far haven't been a dot of trouble when we are out, again down to owners though. Bloody humans!

ANattyRat wrote:I've never had any bad reactions with small dogs. I'm more worried about Loki being too rough with the small dogs than their reactions to him. Two Staffs and a Rottweiler have gone for him or growled at him, so for some reason he doesn't annoy the little ones. I feel sorry for small breed dogs to be honest, because their owners are more likely to be the ones who let them get away with behaviours you'd never put up with in a bigger dog. So they themselves end up with a bad reputation because of the owners.

I agree here Tara, JRT's have a reputation and are called all sorts of derogatory names. I have always quite liked them, give our staffs a run for the money in the stubborn stakes though

I actually do like little dogs generally - we even thought about getting a JRT or the like before we decided on Jellybean. It's the specific ones really, the ones whose owners don't discipline them. The "ban the breed people should see this" comment I made was not about them, but about seeing how my bull breed is the one getting barked at and that they aren't (all?) dangerous, that it really is down to the owner.

Most definitely, it's such a shame that there are so many irresponsible and silly people out there!