Dangerous Dogs

We have all types of dogs in our rescue - including pit, chow, and rottie mixes. But the most dangerous dog here now is a purebred Pomeranian. Why? Because she BITES! And we don't know why or when she will bite, which makes even experienced handlers cautious. This pretty little dog is not available for adoption. She is in permanent foster care because of her poor temperament. We have more problems like this with small dogs than we ever have with large dogs, no matter what breed. And judging by my conversations with other rescuers, the problem with small dogs is pretty common.

I have a friend who is a dog trainer. Her opinion is that small dogs develop these nasty dispositions because they are spoiled by their owners. Little dogs get carried around, coo'ed over, allowed on the furniture. If they growl at their owner, they don't get corrected, and they learn they can get away with that. I think my friend is right; people will put up with behavior from a toy dog that they would never tolerate from a larger breed. The owners don't take the aggression seriously enough to get training advice. But the end result of this lack of training is that eventually the family will get rid of the nasty little dog and if it goes to a shelter quite likely it will be euthanized. No shelter will re-home a dog that is not trustworthy, no matter how cute it is. And that is a shame, because the dog is not at fault. Really the owner has failed it.

If insurance companies knew half as much about dogs as they do about profits, they would base policy decisions on training and temperament of each individual dog. They'd be safer insuring most pit bulls than some of the small dogs we've handled here.