Small dogs and larger dogs living together

[Cali Mae]

Just as the title suggests, I'm looking for some tips on having a small dogs and large dogs living together... as eventually, I would like for Cali to try coming to live with me at my dad's after my first year in university. Dooly is pretty well socialized and trained, however, at almost four months old, he's already past knee level (I'm nearly 5'8") and pushing fifty pounds, at least, even though he is pretty lanky in build. Cali is a little bit less than five pounds. It would not be surprising if Dooly ended up in the eighty pound range, or even heavier... he is huge for his age.

I am just wondering if anyone has experience with dogs of such a huge size difference living together. As of right now, I don't think I'd be too comfortably with the idea, but that may change once Dooly has matured a bit. I think chances are that Cali will likely end up having to live with my mom for the most part, since she's bonded strongly with her plus she's comfortable living there... but if anything, I'd like to be able to bring her down every weekend.

 

[crazedACD]

We have a Toy Fox Terrier and a Shih-Tzu in with six other large dogs (all between 40# and 65#). The big dogs don't bother the little ones, really. The Toy Fox Terrier actually does the yapping and biting after the big dogs' feet when she gets excited. Once in a while they do get run over but there's never been an injury.

What breed is Dooly?

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

I had pit bulls and chihuahuas for a long time, we were just careful to encourage appropriate play and they never had an issue.

 

[Cali Mae]

He is supposedly a chow/sharpei mix... which I strongly doubt. I can see the chow, but I'm not sure what the other breed would be. He has a super soft coat, a darker/purple-tinted tongue, and a spitz tail... he is pretty heavy in build, although he is quite lanky at the moment. My dad's girlfriend thinks he is a chow/lab mix. He and Cali met when he was around nine/ten weeks old, but Cali wasn't too fond of him since at that point in time, he had two speeds: walking and leaping. Plus he was used to rough housing with his siblings and mother.

Cali is used to our cocker spaniel, who is an absolute saint to her. Dooly is pretty laidback for the most part, but as a puppy, I can't imagine he'd tolerate her as well as Moses. She is quick to tell a dog off if they're bothering her, but Dooly was pretty oblivious to her body language when they first met.

 

[AmberH]

I had a Great Dane and a Yorkie mix for a while until the Dane passed. Currently have two pit bulls and a yorkie mix. We didn't and still don't have any issues. Especially with the Dane. He was the most friendly pup I've ever met. And gentle! He was old and not much into playing. He just tolerated her and tried to ignore her as much as possible.

With the pit bulls, I just watch very closely. They play rough but Bayleigh can hold her own. 99% of the time, it's her they're worried about. She's a bossy little thing. I always make sure to stop things before they go too far and they are never alone together.

 

[HayleyMarie]

We have always had small dogs with bigs dogs. emme Lou who is 90lbs does great with my parents 3 1/2 lbs chi. You just have to train them to play appropriately together.

I am not worried about Teagan with a 160lb mastiff, it's All about training then to play and co exist properly and peacefully.

I was even able to train crazy Mitsu to play appropriately with Teagan. She learned pretty fast what was acceptable and what was not.

 

[DenoLo]

I think it depends completely on the dogs and their play style and prey drive. When Lucy was a bit younger, she would constantly be harassing my little one. Stalking her, trying to play bitey face, pouncing. It was constant refereeing when they were together and baby gates helped things too. Once she matured, they are perfectly fine together indoors and play very appropriately. They're fine outside too, as long as we're actively doing stuff. If Lucy's just goofing off outside, I keep the little one inside because she gets way too revved up.

 

[~Dixie's_Mom~]

Chloe and Violet are fine together. And Violet has some pretty intense prey drive.

That said, I don't like having them outside together unless supervised. In the big open space like that, with Chloe running around, Violet goes into that "mode" and I don't think she'd purposely hurt her, but she gets real "stalky" and I don't like it. There have been times where one dog is let out by one family member and the other is let out by another and they end up outside together, and they are fine, but if I can help it, I don't do it.

But inside they are great, in fact, Chloe's the boss, for sure. They even play together sometimes but Violet uses her feet a lot in her play style and I don't like that, so I don't let them continue play if she starts to use her feet. Bitey face I'm fine with, because Violet has a pretty "soft mouth" and is pretty gentle with her in general. For the most part though, they just ignore each other. They co-exist.

And I think the best advice I got when I made a thread like this before getting Violet was to give Chloe her own "safe spot". Chloe can get up on the furniture and Violet can't. So when Chloe gets annoyed by her, she can get away from her. She jumps up on the couch/someone's lap, and she feels safe.

 

[ruffiangirl]

I have Gage who is 170lbs, and Bristol and Diesel who are 10-11lbs each. I had Gage first but I have always taken him to the dog park and we have cats so he has always been around little animals. And he is just a good tempered dog.

Having said that I do feed him in a different room, because of the size difference if one of the little decided to go to his dish and he snarled at them he could do a great deal of damage not meaning too. He doesn't food guard against people but the other dogs he sometimes will.

I am also very fortunate that he doesn't guard his toys, Diesel does, and again I am lucky that Gage just lets him have them.

I think most of my situation is luck that Gage has a great temperament and doesn't react to other dogs and their attitudes.

 

[RottenFlower]

I have two Rottweilers, a golden retriever, a chow chow mix and a little 18# terrier.

The little terrier runs the show (i.e., they live very nicely together).

 

[DJEtzel]

I had a rat terrier (9lbs) with Frag (90lbs) for over a year and we had absolutely no issues. She also lived with my Pit Bull for about 4 months. She wasn't a fan of other dogs, so she would instigate problems every once in a while, but my dogs were great at leaving her be. Impulse control is key here, I think.

 

[Toller_08]

I grew up with small dogs (Dachshunds) and medium-larger dogs (Dalmatian, Rottweilers, Border Collie x) and we never had any issues. The small and large dogs never really played with eachother, and the small dogs were good at staying out of the way when the large dogs were playing outside or whatever. They weren't left alone together, and if the larger dogs were running around and could potentially step on/run over the small dogs in ramunctious excitement or play, then we just kept the small dogs away. In and around the house it was never a concern, though. The small dogs knew to stay away from big feet (be it human or dog), and my dogs have always been very calm in the house. I really don't remember it being much different than life is for us now. I'm still careful with Dance and Journey around the Dobermans, as while they're not little exactly, there is still a vast size difference and the Dobes are more than capable of accidentally hurting the other two. So if I see anybody getting a little over the top or rough, I intervene and make them take it down a few notches.

 

[ThoseWordsAtBest]

Shambles is 85 lbs and Jonas is 11 lbs. They're both assholes in their own special ways, but completely respectful of each other. Shambles leaves him be unless Jonas instigates play, and then I watch like a hawk and stop it if Jonas starts getting too over the top. Shambles usually indulges him for a few minutes and then gets up and walks away.

Otherwise I just pay attention to where Jonas is when things start getting rowdy so he isn't trampled in the fray.

 

[LabLover95]

They should be just fine together. Although I only have 1 dog at the moment (she's all that I can cope with LOL!), many of the people I know with dogs have a small and a large dog together. Just be sure to let them both work off their energy in positive ways, else Dooly could possibly injure your small dog accidentally in rough play. (Although I doubt it...dogs have pretty good 'sensors' that make them gentler with smaller dogs.)

 

[Sekah]

Mega is 7# and Cohen is 37#. Mega was my husband's before we lived together, and Cohen was mine. We were really (really really) worried about the two dogs living together. Mega was a resource guarder and Cohen was high energy and had always lived alone. We did a really (really really) slow introduction with the two dogs. For the first 2-4 weeks there was always a barrier between the dogs, or they were on leash. We didn't encourage them to interact, just live side by side with one another. For all intents and purposes we encouraged the two dogs to ignore each other.

Gradually we began to let the two dogs have more autonomy. We had to be vigilant in the house, but outside the dogs were of little concern. Resource guarding was our major issue. We kept the two of them separated for months when we would leave the house, just to be safe.

Now, I have no concerns about the two being left together. They're left out free when we leave. I can drop food and not be concerned about it starting a fight. They barely interact, and we like it that way. I trust them implicitly. I credit most of the success we've had with how slowly and carefully we introduced the dogs. I personally wouldn't feel comfortable if the two dogs played much with each other. I feel it's safer to just encourage coexistence.

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

Jack is 25lbs and Missy is 75lbs. They don't really have any issues - they don't play roughly with each other, so I don't really worry about it getting out of hand. The one thing I've worked on a lot is when I'm playing one-on-one with one dog, the other one stays out of the way.

They are separated when no one is home, they're each confined in a bedroom. I would probably do this with ANY dog, though, regardless of size.

 

[Cali Mae]

Thanks everyone for all the reassurance!

And Sekah, that's basically what I'd be hoping for... peaceful coexistence. Even if Dooly ended up being very gentle with her, them playing together would probably worry me to death. I'm really only comfortable with Cali playing with dogs her size or close to it, so a ninety plus pound dog would be a huge no. She's fine with greeting dogs of any size, but luckily she's not quite as fearless as she was as a puppy when she ran over to a full grown Great Dane and happily let him give her a bath... she's gotten some common sense since then, I think.

 

[Whisper]

My chihuahua could totally kick Millie's ass, so zero safety problems there. Before that, Lucy lived with Millie as well as 2 Rottweilers (one being about 120 lbs.) There was really never an issue. You just need to follow some common sense rules, like supervising closely if they play, and I would never have left Lucy alone with Harley, who was easily annoyed by Lucy's antics.
So my advice is simple: Know your dogs.

 

[sassafras]

We don't live with any, but our next door neighbor's daughter has a wee cocker spaniel mix that Squash ADORES and plays really gently with. I would be more worried about him accidentally trampling than intentionally hurting a little.

 

[Flyinsbt]

As long as they get along, the only concern I'd have would be not leaving them together unattended. The consequences of being wrong about that are so high. I've seen horrific injuries from situations where a large dog and small dog were "buddies". But as long as someone is there to observe, no reason they can't be safe together!