Sandy the Unstoppable Lion-hearted Attack Dog

It never fails.

When I take my beautiful little miniature Chihuahua Sandy Lee out for a walk around the neighborhood, we invariably cross paths with some dog 6 to 10 times Sandy's size.

And there she goes...barking and growling and tugging on the leash, trying her darndest to "go and get 'em".

Generally, the other dog (who could probably swallow Sandy whole with a single gulp) doesn't even bother barking back. I figure they just don't feel threatened at all, and are actually pretty amused themselves.

Maybe Sandy was a wild, rabid Tibetan Mastiff in a past life, roaming the open plains?

Gosh, I love her.

Is it cute when she does this?

A lot of the chis I've seen are like that. I can see where it would be amusing/cute, but be careful. You don't want to come across a large dog that takes offense. It might be a good idea to try and train her out of it.

That was my point Gem. Too many people think that this kind of behavior is acceptable for a little dog, when in reality, it is not. She shouldn't be allowed to go after dogs like that, for her own safety and for the safety of others.

Yeah

Oh yeah, I keep her safe.

I don't let her get anywhere near the other dog. I make sure we get to the other side of the street and I even pick her up and carry her if she won't give up.

I just admire her indomitable spirit.

Honestly Cindy, your dog needs training.

That's not really indomitable spirit, it's leash aggression. If your dog was any bigger, it wouldn't be so admirable. Dogs have no concept of size anyway. To her, she's the same size as the dog she's aggressing after.

Please do enroll in a training class to work on this issue.

My friend with a pug, his dog does this kind of indomitable spirit thing.
He'd bark at neighbours Rotweillers and other dogs who leave bigger poops then him.
He regularly brought his pug to my house or I brought my dogs over there so he could figure out that he shouldn't bark at every dog he sees and get some socialisation.
He doesn't bark at other dogs anymore, but he went sprawling across the floor a fair number of times before he figured out that we was not the toughest dog alive.

My friends biggest fear was that sometime his pug, being the mighty defender that he is, might someday manage to get away from him and run at one of the many, much larger dogs who lives in the neighbourhood like the labs, rots and other such breeds that his neighbours prefer.

His "indomitable spirit" could get your dog badly injured some day.

I'd prolly agree with everyone else when I'd say try and find a trainer to help. My 5 month old Rotti/GSD/Collie has started becoming lesh aggressive and I have a trainer helping me with it. I agree size of the dog or not all should be well behaved in public, things like dog aggressiong,lesh aggression are comical to see in little dogs but in reality we know that it is unacceptable. It's not as big as deal as big dog because it can't do much harm but you deffiently wouldn't want him to challenge a large dominant dog like that.

It also makes play dates with other dogs hard as well because of potential fights that may be started by a dog who dosen't want to put up with that type of behaviour.

Kayla

I agree with the posts ^^^^. I don't find this behavior at all charming . Whether tea cup or giant breed , it's just not acceptable .

There's no way that behavior would be accepted in my house. Unfortunately some people with small dogs don't seem to mind until the day something happens. I can't stand owners that have that mindset, and it's one of the reasons that give small dog owners a bad name imo.

Hopefully you will work with her on this - especially for her.

Would you find it funny if your dog was around me doing these 'cute things' you mention and I kicked it to get it away from me and mine (as you stand there smiling, beaming proudly at how cute your little one is)?

Probably not.

It's NOT cute. Love your dog by all means, but for its sake and yours- train the poor thing!

I agree with the above posts. I don't mean to sound harsh, but that kind of behavior problem is not cute or acceptable just because the dog in question is small. I recommend you working on training with her.