Look up "hearing dogs," most of them are small breeds. Hearing dogs are a type of assistance dog, who alert deaf people to sounds. They don't have to be big to do the job, and small dogs are usually easier when you're taking your dog on airplanes and restaurants and such.
*brag* Today I pulled a shih tzu from a high-kill shelter, to start training as a hearing dog. If he works out and finishes training, it'll be our first shih tzu hearing dog. Fingers crossed!
*brag* Today I pulled a shih tzu from a high-kill shelter, to start training as a hearing dog. If he works out and finishes training, it'll be our first shih tzu hearing dog. Fingers crossed!
Izzie can't heel well like that... She doesn't seem to get the looking at me thing. She's fairly good at the position, but the attention we're working on.
Of course, we have Andrew the maltese! an amazing performance maltese who is owned by Laurie Williams! Andrew has tones of agility and rally obedience titles.
He also proved in the Greatest American Dog that a malt can be as good as any other big dog in the challenges and competitions that they were in. Andrew was the only small pup among another two bigger dogs.