From the time he was a pup, my mini has been exposed to dogs (friendly ones) of all sizes, and plays pretty happily with most, including a lurcher two feet taller than he is. For obvious reasons, his best mates are a Border Terrier and a Jack Russell ... they can wrestle and chase each other comfortably.
He's been run over (inadvertently) by big dogs in the past, and now can be snappy with big dogs if he feels they are in his space. But always telling them off with lots of vim and attitude. I don't correct for this, he's not being aggressive, but setting boundaries for the bigger dog.
There's a guy in the park with two big 6 mo. GSD pups, nice dogs, but in the boisterous puppy stage. The other morning, they were playing with Vasco, and sort of tag-teaming him, past the point where he was having fun. I went to his rescue when he tucked his tail and started snapping for real. Unusually for him, he stuck right by me, mostly between my legs, for a good long time after, while the other (bunch of morning regulars) dogs were romping happily.
Absolutely nothing the GSD pups did wrong, they were truly playing, and their owner called them straight away when he too saw V wasn't having fun. They are just big teenagers.
No question it was the right thing in that situation, he was really uncomfortable, but I also don't want to be overprotective. I think I lean towards being a bit overprotective anyway; he's the smallest dog I've ever had, and his skull is disturbingly the size of a tennis ball! A big dog that meant him harm could actually do serious damage.
So how do you balance the need to protect your small dog with their need to learn to deal with bigger dogs?
He's been run over (inadvertently) by big dogs in the past, and now can be snappy with big dogs if he feels they are in his space. But always telling them off with lots of vim and attitude. I don't correct for this, he's not being aggressive, but setting boundaries for the bigger dog.
There's a guy in the park with two big 6 mo. GSD pups, nice dogs, but in the boisterous puppy stage. The other morning, they were playing with Vasco, and sort of tag-teaming him, past the point where he was having fun. I went to his rescue when he tucked his tail and started snapping for real. Unusually for him, he stuck right by me, mostly between my legs, for a good long time after, while the other (bunch of morning regulars) dogs were romping happily.
Absolutely nothing the GSD pups did wrong, they were truly playing, and their owner called them straight away when he too saw V wasn't having fun. They are just big teenagers.
No question it was the right thing in that situation, he was really uncomfortable, but I also don't want to be overprotective. I think I lean towards being a bit overprotective anyway; he's the smallest dog I've ever had, and his skull is disturbingly the size of a tennis ball! A big dog that meant him harm could actually do serious damage.
So how do you balance the need to protect your small dog with their need to learn to deal with bigger dogs?