Life Articles

Exactly why dog lovers hold this preconceived belief that small dogs are more problematic to train than medium sized or large breed dogs, I will never be able to know. Housebreaking a puppy, no matter what its size should not pose a problem.

Small dog training, is no different from training a puppy dog of any other larger sized breed. Whilst training any canine will have its peculiarities, pertaining to its breed, practically all other aspects remain identical, and the strategy to training the canine should not be different, irrespective its size.

However, I will allow myself to be corrected here, and say yes to the argument that small dog training may pose complications in two arenas, (1) Aggression and (2) Puppy crate training. Even so, this is not because the size of the breed is small, but in all case studies, because of the owner.

If a tiny breed puppy dog is aggressive and cannot be disciplined, or if a small breed dog cannot be toilet trained or poses challenges in being bathroom trained, it is the owner who has unwittingly contributed to this state of affairs. Let us analyze how and why.

Aggression.

Tiny dogs are preferred because they are adorable, they are like toys. Owners take pleasure in having their doggy sit on their laps. This particular indulgence is where the trouble gets going. The inherent aggressive trait of the puppy, is to assert ownership over its domain, its food, even its trainer; all dogs desire to be the alpha dog.

It is the violent streak in the dog that causes it to climb on to the lap of its master, specially when there are a good number of people present in the room.

This is a outright act of hostility. Instead of chiding the puppy, every owner bar none, would cuddle the pooch, even though it jumped on to their lap without being asked to, developing the aggressive streak in the puppy. As a result the owner has seconded the puppy's basic instinct to be the alpha dog.

Growling and getting upset at a a larger size dog is another obvious act of aggression. To the owner, and even the onlookers, this is seen as cute, simply because one dog is small while the other is bigger. Most owners cuddle the pooch instead of scolding it, when it demonstrates this aggression against a larger dog.

The above are but illustrations as to why small size breed puppies are aggressive, and positively not because small dog training is problematic.

Toilet Training

Owners are inclined to haul their small puppies around no matter where they go, even when they are at home and that makes it practically impossible to potty train them

It comes natural to the owners of smallish breed dogs to lug the animal to the area where the pooch should do its dirty business and then tote it back into the house.

It is this practice of carrying the pooch to the place where is should do its business that is the origin of all dilemmas. In addition, since the pup is by and large carried around so much it has no way of it indicating to or notifying the owner that it has to make its business.

Small dog training begins with treating the dog as any other large sized dog. They have to be shown their potty area on a leash. If owners stop carrying their miniature breed dogs they would have no troubles in training them.

Dog crate training, is the most interesting part of puppy training, and so it should be, even in Small Dog Training.