The Difference Between Big Dogs and Little Dogs

I rushed over this week to meet my Aunt Laine and Uncle Kenny's new dog, Piper. He is a very cute, black Labradoodle. I had Angus, the Junior Dog Trainer with me and Laine was the only one home so I really didn't do a full puppy class for her as promised but there is time as he is only 8 weeks old. Nonetheless, I found myself considering the differences between their puppy experience and ours with Daisy.

Firstly and most obviously, Piper is probably three times the size of her and much more substantial in form. In my opinion, this leads us to have a firmer, more consistant hand in training. I have trained countless dogs of all sizes and it is just much easier to "swoop" a bigger pup in for a sit or execute a wolf-roll when you know the dog is going to 50+ pounds. I'm sitll quite scared that I may "break" Daisy given her delicate figure and on her potty outtings I'm letting her make Dog Training Mistake #3: I'm letting her pull on the leash. This is a Cardinal (spelling?) Sin in dog training. The dog MUST follow your lead and NEVER pull on the lead. How many times I have seen a small dog pulling on a lead and thought to myself, "that dog is never going to take direction from the handler" I can't say. I have offically joined that club, certification be damned.

Secondly, big dog owners seem to know there is an urgency for training. Aunt Laine said to me, "I told everybody in the house: this dog is going to be good and he is going to be trained." Great afirmation on her part. When I had my last two Rotties, Buster and Buffy the Dogs of Ward, during the difficult stretches of their training I would say to myself, "I love training these dogs, I love training these dogs." Knowing your dog is going to be big does light a fire under you to have good control. With our Daisy, I find myself referring to my trick training books rather than le grande obedience guidelines and basic principles.

Thirdly, I am letting her jump up. Now, I am the first person to be annoyed when a small dog is pawing at my legs and squeaking with utter abandon. Years ago I had a great friend named Danny Breen who would love to come over and try to get Buster and Buffy to jump up on him. So well conditioned, they would plant themselves in unison in a sit and would utterly refuse to hop up no matter what bait he used. Buster was quite gregarious and agile and I worked very hard to stop him from putting his 90+ lbs on anyone. There is nothing quite so disconcerting as a Rottweiler putting paws on your shoulders and staring you down eye to eye even if he is "smiling" and wagging away. Daisy is certainly not a threatening dog but I'm well on the path of training her to be annoying.

I have a feeling I am going to be quite jealous of Aunt Laine and Uncle Kenny's dog. More of a working-type, obedience-ready kind of dog, I think he is going to be a more "funsport" kind of train, the kind you can teach frisbee fetch and a really soild Heel command.

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't trade Daisy for all the world and she has a great brain. I had an instructor at National K-9 that had two protection trained Welsh Corgis that were an absolute riot. I also knew a trainer in Cherry Hill that had a toy breed she offered for home drug detection (ie. hire her to find drugs your teenagers have stashed in their room). Despite recalling these tiny rockstar-dogs I'm still wondering if I can get Daisy to balance on a ball circus-style.

The end of times is neigh for I have a minivan... and a toy breed!