[Jennasis]

So I have a very sweet, but very high energy 1 year old black german shepherd . She is my greatest joy! Anyway, I am going to be getting a Yorkie Poo on the 21st of december for Christmas and I'm so excited, but I'm also scared.

Gypsy (My GSD) likes to play and jump around with out a care in the world and I'm afraid she'd jump on the puppy or fall on her. Shes 62 lbs of pure puppy love. I have seen her with a small puppy before and they did play alright, but after a while she got to be too much for the poor thing and it hid from her. She always wants to play and I don't know how to train her to know when to stop. I exercise her daily and we play fetch a lot as well but she is always ready to play. How do I let her know to leave the puppy alone after a while and not overwhelm him?

Also, I've never had a small dog before (He should only get to be 6lbs) and I want to be able to bring him everywhere with me, is there anything I can do other than hold him as much as possible to get him used to being held and carried and staying put? I've tried to look online but couldn't find anything. I'm asking because I am planning on bringing him to work with me and I will have a bed for him, but I would also like him on my lap.

 

[Naira]

I don't think you should hold your small dog as much as possible. I think that's one of the biggest reasons why dogs develop small dog syndrome. I would raise my small dog as if it were 60 lbs. It's hard to not let small dogs get away with things, which contributes to their bad reputation. I think you should work on teaching both your dogs overall obedience and behavior.

I know, easier said than done. But if you want a small dog you can take everywhere, focus on teaching manners and getting the dog comfortable in all different situations. That will be far more important than holding it all the time. Holding the dog will be the easy part.

 

[Jennasis]

Alright, Thanks for the tip. Small dogs are new to me, so I'm thankful for your post, its set me on the right track. I hate it when people let their small dogs get away with stuff my Gypsy wouldn't. So I wont have to worry about that.

Gypsy listens very well, She is the picture of obedence. Just not so much when she's playing with other Dogs/distracted. She's just very high energy. I am very good with dogs, never let them jump up on you uninvited, beg, growl ect. So I won't be letting the new pup get away with any behaviors that I would correct in my GSD. So how could holding him a bunch hurt? I did that with my cat when he was a kitten and he loves to be handled and doesnt mind being picked up. Again, I'm new to small dogs, so you guys tell me if I'm wrong or if Id be disadvantaging him in anyway and I will listen

But if it is alright is there any way to make sure He'll be a good lap dog? Any way to encourage/train him to like sitting in my lap? Besides just treating him there? I'm going to be clicker training him.

 

[Moonstream]

Personally, I think it's important to respect his boundaries. My guess is a yorkie/poodle cross is going to want to sit on/next to/near his person because to my knowledge both yorkies and toy poodles tend to like to be on/near their person. Same thing goes for holding him- if you get a dog as an 8 week old puppy, they're pretty impressionable. You don't have to pick them up very often for them to feel ok about it, but they are still a dog- they need to learn how to self soothe, they need to be able to interact with other, larger dogs without running to you to be picked up, and being held above the head of a larger dog generally freaks them out and is going to leave a negative impression. Holding him too much is going to interfere with his ability to do these things.

I have had 2 bostons and a 40lb lab/terrier/maybe border collie mutt, so I've dealt with the big dog/little dog play thing. We got the mutt when my first boston was around 5 and she was a rough puppy that actually knocked the boston out one time by running into her, so they can hurt each other playing and I would not leave your two dogs unsupervised for awhile. The first boston has since passed on and my lab mix is about 5/6 now; my second boston is 4 months now and we got her at 10 weeks. Because the lab mix is older now she's mellower but she is still a rough player. I would say the biggest help has been teaching her the command "gentle" which was originally to stop her mouthing/jumping up/generally hurting us, and "careful" which was used in training her with an invisible fence so she associates not listening to it with going through said fence and getting a shock- the second was more of an accident than anything but she's very sensitive so the one time it happened it stuck. She'll pause and play a little gentler if we say either.

A spray bottle with water is invaluable- hopefully your GSD won't like being sprayed with it (our lab did, unfortunately). If she gets too rough spraying her may/hopefully will break her focus.

I would say expect a few months of stressful mayhem. Maybe give longer walks/more excitement to the GSD for a little. Don't fall into the trap of treating the little dog as a tiny human- every behavior he does ask yourself if you would correct it with your GSD. Until you have a dog so small its hard to realize just how different it feels for them to bark compared to a larger one, and its so easy to ignore that kind of little stuff and have it be a big problem later.

Something about little breed puppies I wish someone had told me that I always forget about is their issue with stairs. It takes them a long time to figure out stairs, I've noticed. My 4 month old boston still cannot make it down most stairs and has trouble with slick hardwood stairs, though is ok with our brownstone stairs and carpeted ones. With a dog as small as a yorkiepoo expect to actually need to train this behavior.

I hope some of that was on point and helpful! Good luck with the two!

 

[Laurelin]

My 'big' dog is still under 30 lbs but the truth is with a toy sized dog and any kind of bigger, stronger, rambunctious dog you're going to have to take precautions. My cattle dog x has jumped and landed on my tiny papillon before and it has hurt her. Imagine a 60 lb dog doing the same... it could be disastrous. I *have* known people whose medium sized dogs have hurt or killed toy breed housemates accidentally. It's a risk you need to be aware you're taking.

My 'bigger' dog is never ever ever left loose with my papillons when I'm not there. He is so much stronger that if something bad happened I would be risking the papillons' lives.

Prey drive is also a concern. I have seen a greyhound get triggered by a running toy dog and it's not pretty. When I first got Hank he wanted to obsessively chase the papillons so he spent the first few weeks tethered to me and being treated for being calm around them.

My other main rule is that Hank has to be kenneled during papillon play time. They need time to play and he will bowl them over and hurt them if he was allowed in the fetch games meant for the papillons. It's not fair to Mia to never get to play tennis ball so he is put away for a bit every day so Mia can play without worry.

Also another thing that is the flip side is that tiny dog sized toys can be choking hazards for larger dogs. So be aware to pick up tiny tennis balls and things.

It CAN work and people make it work but you NEED to introduce the dogs slowly and make sure the GSD is not allowed to harass the puppy. Supervise all play time and encourage the GSD to be calm around the tiny puppy. Feed separately. Imo fetch type games need to at least start out separately. For me, it's a permanent thing.

 

[Laurelin]

I have never had issues with stairs and the papillons. I also don't think small dog syndrome exists but that's probably another thread.

Some small dogs like to sit in laps and others don't. My older papillon is (at almost 12) far too hyper to sit still in a lap. My younger though loves it and will sit for hours. I think it's a personality thing.