I currently have a Min Pin who is about to be 2 years old next month and a
Italian Greyhound who just turned 1 last month.. I've really been
considering getting a bigger dog and have narrowed it down to three
different breeds. A Dalmatian, Staffordshire Bulll Terrier and a English
Bulldog. I've been reading alot on how bigger dogs could easily injure a
smaller dog just from simply playing around. Are my choices foolish. The
English Bulldog would probably be the closest in ..well atleast height to my
Min Pin and Italian Greyhound. Given my desire for one of these dogs.. which
do u think would make the best companion and guardian of my little guys ?

you post made me smile.
i own two deaf dalmatians and a shih tzu with the shih tzu very much
the boss.
my shih tzu has some friends and one in particular is a great dane.
they love to run together and stay together,its too funny to watch
sometimes

i also foster and have strays here and the dalsmtains have been great
with every dong to come through the doors the smallest so far being a
chinese crested female oh and a rabbit but still they were great
your choices are not foolish all it takes is time and commen sence are
you in the uk or states?

my dalmatians have never hurt another dog and take all wagging friends
in their stride.they play well with my shih tzu and theyall get on.
also remember although your dogs are small they are still quite capable
of getting a back off message. give all your dogs time of get to know
each other and if a bigger dog is too rough then one good telling off
from the smaller is usually all it takes.

my shih tzu has some friends and one in particular is a great dane.
they love to run together and stay together,its too funny to watch
sometimes

My Great Dane LOVES her shi-tzu friend! the pictures all come out blurry for
some reason, though. But hey play and play and so far no-one's been hurt....
I do thing there's always the possiblility Saskia could accidentally step on
a small dog, but she IS careful, and tries to play down to their level.
Among her other small friends are a pug, two jack russels, and a
pug/pinscher cross (funny, bouncy, little flat-faced thingy).

if a bigger dog is too rough then one good telling off
from the smaller is usually all it takes.

Yup, everyone laughs when 51-kilo (112-pound) Saskia leaps back to get away
from the tiny dogs when they warn her off. Tommy the (extra small, everyone
thinks he's a puppy) JR and the shi-tzu... ehhm, Floortje, that's her
name... do a lot of that when things get especially energetic, and Saskia
always responds well. Not that every dog would. But she does.
--Katrina

"ERIC BRENNAN" wrote in message
news:Of5tf.10440$Q73.2909@trnddc03...
I currently have a Min Pin who is about to be 2 years old next month and a
Italian Greyhound who just turned 1 last month.. I've really been
considering getting a bigger dog and have narrowed it down to three
different breeds. A Dalmatian, Staffordshire Bulll Terrier and a English
Bulldog. I've been reading alot on how bigger dogs could easily injure a
smaller dog just from simply playing around. Are my choices foolish. The
English Bulldog would probably be the closest in ..well atleast height to
my Min Pin and Italian Greyhound. Given my desire for one of these dogs..
which do u think would make the best companion and guardian of my little
guys ?

i absolutely love staffy bulls, but they can be dog aggressive. you'd have
to supervise every moment of play and interaction, because such a big strong
dog could easily kill one of your pups. i don't recommend going this route.
i know people who do have pit bull types with small dogs, but it just seems
like a really bad idea to me, especially with such fine boned dogs.

the Bulldog seems like a good idea, they're pretty gentle things, quite
friendly with other animals of all sorts.

no experience with dals here, so no input from me.

have you considered a dog with a more gentle play style? retired racing
greyhounds seem to get on quite well with small dogs, and i love watching my
neighbor's borzoi romp with her yorkies...

-kelly

also while i was reading ive just thought of a comment a woman once
made as we were about to set off on our walk a lady pulled up in her
car and said 'thats quite a family youve got there'
with a pinscher an iti greyhound and a dalmatian i think your waggy
family will top mine

white monkey isnt it just great to see a shih tzu with a dane. my dogs
little legs go like the clappers while the dane just plods along taking
it all in his stride but they stay together,when the danes without my
shih tzu he heads in the long grass and the field its as if he knows
she cant manage it so sticks to the path.

my girlfriends sister has two large dogs.. i dont know what they are but
they are mixes.. and when my Min Pin is around them.. he shows no fear at
all and is up in those dogs faces.. while on the other hand.. my Italian
Greyhound is very submissive and very shy around them and just lays on his
back and puts his paws up ..almost like.. "please dont' hurt me"... my
greyhound gets very worried when my Min Pin is messing with the bigger dogs
and starts almost crying like "please dont' hurt my big brother" lol. ..
it's too funny.. . .

On 31 Dec 2005 04:07:24 GMT, Janice wrote:

On 30 Dec 2005, ERIC BRENNAN typed:

my girlfriends sister has two large dogs.. i dont know what they
are but they are mixes.. and when my Min Pin is around them.. he
shows no fear at all and is up in those dogs faces.. while on the
other hand.. my Italian Greyhound is very submissive and very shy
around them and just lays on his back and puts his paws up
..almost like.. "please dont' hurt me"... my greyhound gets very
worried when my Min Pin is messing with the bigger dogs and
starts almost crying like "please dont' hurt my big brother" lol.
.. it's too funny.. . .

I love mellow dogs. I think I'm falling in love with IGs! There's a
pic of one on my blog (see sig) and this link
http://cobankopegi.com/k/kindex4.html

A gorgeous pic of one is on the OFA site:
http://www.offa.org/healthchpete.html

Pete's a fine-looking dog; I don't think I've ever seen such a
muscular IG. However, IGs are *not* mellow dogs. They are active,
sometimes hyper, often nervous and timid, and quite often difficult to
housebreak.

Mustang Sally

The big lugs may throw themselves down on the floor so they can be
tackled with a mini-half Nelson
Janice


Here's my Great Dane being slaughtered by another dog in the park.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~cooper17/katri...eKillerDog.jpg
--Katrina

On 31 Dec 2005 07:43:16 GMT, Janice wrote:

On 30 Dec 2005, sighthounds & siberians typed:
Pete's a fine-looking dog; I don't think I've ever seen such a
muscular IG. However, IGs are *not* mellow dogs. They are
active, sometimes hyper, often nervous and timid, and quite often
difficult to housebreak.

Thanks. That's valuable input.

I'm thinking about some unknown future time (likely to be over ten
years from now) when I will chose a small breed. I haven't gotten
serious about it yet.

I've been reading and experiencing (only a handful of pet IGs now)
that IG can be both ways. It's interesting that the 'pet' quality IGs
I've met have been really easy going, of course, cautious and aloof
as my Salukis were in the past.

Being a pedigree maven in my breed, I'm sure I'd be able to see
patterns in the IG if I got around to databasing IG peds! Not likely
to happen anytime soon though. My interest in a small dog would be
for a companion and pet so the motivation to database the peds of all
the IGs I run into is not really high at the moment.

Time will tell. A few people have told me that the IG tends not to be
used for coursing events (looks like Pete really is into it!),
especially not be run with other dogs due to potential for snapping
bones. A Saluki friend mentioned that IGs may be getting more
attention to breeding for functional bone strength (density?).

I obviously have a lot of research to do before I settle on my "couch
potato" small breed before I get on a waiting list for the right pup.


IGs are toys, not small dogs. Although they're technically
sighthounds, their temperaments really are not sighthound
temperaments. I've a friend who's had Salukis for over 20 years, and
now has an IG, and neither of us think the two are anything alike.
IGs aren't cautious and aloof like Salukis are; they're timid and
nervous. They're usually friendly and outgoing with people and OK
with other dogs, but I don't know that I'd describe them as "easy
going". And they are NOT couch potatoes. Greyhounds are couch
potatoes. IGs are water bugs.

Maybe show quality IGs have different temperaments, but I doubt it.
My IG is not a puppy mill or BYB dog, he's just an oversized IG so he
wasn't show quality. He's also a major PIA. Nothing will break this
dog of lifting his leg indoors, and that's a very common problem.
There are tons of IGs in rescue (unfortunately, they're becoming a
popular puppy mill-pet store breed), and they usually end up their
because of housebreaking problems. They're cute and sweet and all
that, but I'd never have another.

Mustang Sally

Janice said in
rec.pets.dogs.breeds:

Another small breed that I have a lot of interest in,
(okay, it's a toy) is the Papillion. I haven't actually had
any friends that owne one. I don't think of them as being
mellow but I get the impression they are 'busy' and eager
to please, not necessarily hyper, but I haven't researched
them. (yet)

As with many dogs, Papillions can be all over the place energy-
wise. There are a couple on the FCI Canadian agility team that
are very wired and run as fast as many fast BCs.

Oh - and they can JRT-bounce, too.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.