Raising A Small Dog

I always loved big dogs. They give great hugs, keep your whole body warm in bed and you don't have to worry about stepping on them.

When I ended up taking in Mini Cooper, who surmounts to a whole 11 lbs, I started being filled with anxiety.

At the barn I am worried about a horse stepping on him or a car rolling over him. At the park or the beach I am scared about bigger dogs attacking him (which happened on one of our first outings.) On a not as tantamount issue, he can't keep my body warm on the couch. On a good day he covers one arm, but seeing that he is now a teenage boy at eight months old, he doesn't really care for cuddle sessions and usually prefers to claim a whole couch for himself. So here I am, left alone on the couch, with just a blanket to cover myself up. Definitely moments when I miss my big cuddle buddy Bailey.

Big dogs are different in their temperament

But getting back to the title of this story, raising a small dog is much different than a big one. Their temperament is different and they seem to go through their phases at a much faster pace. Right now, Mini Cooper is a typical teenager always testing how far he can get, pushing boundaries, moping when he doesn't get what he wants and just generally letting me know whenever he can that he'll do just fine without me.

I've been putting a lot of extra hours in training lately, which I could have avoided if I had started early and stayed consistent with the training. Bailey, my Rottweiler, just seemed to pick things up much faster. He took learning much more serious and once he knew what I wanted, I didn't have to explain the command to him over and over. Mini Cooper on the other hand often just goes through his whole bag of tricks until I finally give him the treat. I am as firm as I can be, looking at the cuteness in front of me, but he challenges me on at least one command at least once a day.

Confident is not equal to aggressive

After Mini Cooper got attacked by a big dog on the beach, I decided to give him as many positive experiences with big dogs as possible. I didn't want him to be scared of big dogs and definitely didn't want him to run away and turn into a hunting target for them. When he initially started getting brave and approaching them rather confidently, I didn't think much of him running into their face. I got a good laugh out of the big dogs looking very surprised and running the other way. However, I missed the signals when Mini Cooper started turning into the aggressor. I never really liked him running towards other dogs, especially on a leash. But I waived it off to him being young, enthusiastic and excited and soon had to admit that it was a lack of training and simply just bad manners. I would never allow a big dog to run towards others at high speed like that. I would want them to approach respectfully. I should have corrected that behavior as soon as I realized it, but failed to do so.

I noticed him a couple times in the park being somewhat more aggressive towards a few big dogs. Mini Cooper was baring teeth and snapping towards the big dogs face. They usually were so surprised that they would run off, and Mini Cooper walked off like a little king. What I mistook for confidence, however, was clearly aggression. He never behaved like this to a small dog or any person, but big dogs had it coming if they weren't obviously and extremely friendly with him. The last straw was when I was at the barn and Mini Cooper had a conflict with a bigger dog that he had met before when he was younger. The big dog was dominant with him and scared him at their first meeting and Mini Cooper clearly remembered it and decided 'not this time, buddy, I'm the big dog now."

I remembered the dog as well and decided to let them meet first before tending to my horse to make sure that Mini Cooper got along with him as I would soon not have 100% of my attention on him. The other dog came with a semi relaxed frame. He was just in the middle of playing with one of the barn dogs, a pitbull mix that Mini Cooper gets along with great, and he took the time to come over to check out the new guy. As soon as Mini Cooper saw him, he ran towards him to check him out up close. That's when he must have remembered the previous incident and he immediately bared his teeth and snapped towards the bigger dogs face. While the other dog owner didn't think much of it, the barn owner immediately instructed that if my little guy was the aggressor, which in that incident he was, he needed to get back in the car. She rightly stated that claim and I was embarrassed, not only because my dog behaved like that, but because I had let his behavior get to this point. I guess even though I realized the issues my dog had, it was different to hear it being said out loud, that my cute little dog was the aggressor.

It doesn't matter how big the dog is, s/he can't be the aggressor

Long story short, it's of course not acceptable for any dog to behave aggressively in any circumstance. It should not be allowed, accepted or ignored. It's a behavior that will get worse as s/he grows older, and is ultimately a safety issue for you, other dogs and, worst case, your dog if he ends up biting and really hurting someone. But at the end of the day, it's plainly no fun to be around a dog with aggressive behaviors towards other dogs. You have to constantly watch him or her, or keep them away from other dogs, you can't let him enjoy life off the leash running freely where you could run into other dogs and it just doesn't look or feel good.

So after the barn incident, Mini Cooper's been back on the leash. He has to pay attention to me, stop, heel, sit, shake and when I see other dogs I will let him approach slowly and with respect. Any sign of aggression is immediately stopped. Jumping up on anyone out of happiness or excitement is not allowed. When I enter or leave a room he has to sit for me to walk over the threshold first before he's allowed to follow.

Since this little guy unfortunately doesn't ever get tired and I no longer let him run freely (which he usually utilized to run full speed back and forth and even that he could do for hours before deciding he could take a break) I now have to go running with him in the evening in the dark. But I know he needs to run not only to get tired for the evening, but also to help him focus for his training afterwards. I have to find a good mixture in the beginning of making him listen to me, but not expecting too much in terms of attention span. Because my teenager has a hard time paying attention before he got his energy out.

My Rottweiler was able to listen and pay attention as soon as I was ready for sessions. He was easy to get in a calm and relaxed state, ready to listen to my commands and signals. Mini Cooper on the other hand is pretty much the definition of ADD (Squirrel....) He's also one of the most stubborn dogs that I've ever met.

Breed can have an impact on how fast and how the dog can learn

I'm not sure what breed Mini Cooper is. He came from the Rescue organization Paw Works (Kaley Cuoco from "The Big Bang Theory" is a supporter) and was labeled as a 'Terrier Mix.' His two brothers looked completely different and from his look my best guess is a Papillon/Dachshund mix. There could be some Yorkshire Terrier in there, but he certainly has the coat of a Papillon, including frilly ears, tail and back of the legs.

The character of this dog is a mixture of friendly and adventurous, prone to have allergies (don't I know that!) but also very family friendly, and easy to train, high prey drive, mixed with the Dachshund's stubbornness both breeds are highly intelligent, don't do well with cold weather and have a medium to high energy level. What I've observed so far is that while the Rottweiler just wanted to please, our little Papillon/Dachshund mix just wants to get it over with and get on with his life. Maybe that's the puppy in him, but to me, that seems to be his attitude so far. He's doing pretty well once you find out what treat he likes, but that can change day to day. He gets tired of the same treats and will not really do the 'tricks' aka listen to commands, if there's not a good reward in it for him.

So make sure you consider your dogs breed. It can be challenging when you have a mud, but do your best and read up on the potential breeds that make up your canine companion. It can help you better understand his/her behaviors and help you find the best way to train.

Don't give up! Consistency is key.

I knew this, but was either to tired or plain to lazy to be consistent in the beginning. I took my time doing some basic training with my dog at first, but soon found it easier to just let him off the leash at the barn so he could explore and tire himself out running while I took care of my other responsibilities. Of course, I was still responsible enough to always have him close to me and keeping an eye on him, but there was no expectation to walk by my heal and pay attention to me at all times and I didn't follow through every time I called him to make sure he came all the way back to me and payed attention. That's a big mistake. You must mean it, like all leaders do, and you have to follow through once you give a command. Stay consistent with your cues, verbal and body language, and most importantly, repeat the commands and exercises daily until the dog is grown up or reacts appropriately to them no matter what the distractions are surrounding him or her.

Because the truth of the matter is that if s/he has to think about coming back to you after you called him 3 or 4 times when there are no other dogs or distractions around, you can bet that s/he will ignore you in a more serious situation such as an aggressive dog approaching the area, a car coming down the street or even just backing out of a drive way, or while they are chasing after a rabbit, completely getting lost because they forgot about you. It's important to consistently train your dog, so you can enjoy him/her on your walks, hikes, runs and visits and to keep him and others save. There's unfortunately no substitution for training. You have to put in the time. Even if you leave it to an experienced trainer, you will still have to enforce what your dog learns and make sure they don't forget what they learned and most of all, that they listen to you and respect you as their leader. Remember, out of sight, out of mind. It's no different with your dog. If you don't expect and demand of them to listen to you and repeat commands regularly, they will soon think they are on their own and think it is optional to do what you ask them to do when you have visitors and suddenly don't want them to sit on the couch or bark at them or jump up their leg.

Happy training! A trained dog is a happy dog is a happy owner is a happy world