Some time ago, there was a horrible fashion for carrying dogs in handbags. A mass of women suddenly began to mistake a living creature for a toy. Objectification of sentient, thinking creatures has become standard for many people; it has even become sweet or status-raising. I don’t know, I don’t get it, I never got it. A dog is a dog; if you want a toy in your purse, buy yourself a plush dog instead of harming an innocent being!
Yorkshire, chihuahua, or other miniature pinschers are also dogs—only that they are small. They have the exact needs as other pets. They should also be able to establish social contacts with representatives of their species and explore freely, i.e., smell where they want, as much as they need. Taking your dog for a walk in your purse removes the essence of being a dog. It’s as if we locked our child (for his safety, of course, so that he doesn’t get dirty) in a small room full of beautiful and only pillows. All contact with the world would be limited to looking out of a small window and everyday meetings with someone who would stroke the child’s head and chatter some incomprehensible nonsense. Excellent life, huh?
But thanks to this, no one would hurt our child. No mean teacher would have set his sights on them and made him uncomfortable; no colleague would have hit him; He wouldn’t have broken his arm falling from a tree or sprained his ankle playing football. He would certainly not learn to communicate with other children, so even if he had a chance to meet the offspring of our friends once in a while, he would probably be scared, intimidated, or so delighted that he would behave very unnaturally, which would discourage the child from further interaction. This is how dogs behave when kept in isolation for most of their lives or “protected” by their owners from interacting with other pets. We prevent our dogs from learning to communicate and relate appropriately for fear of being bitten.
If we finally risk meeting another pet, our pet will be scared (and no wonder: after all, this is an entirely new, unusual situation, and our pet has no idea how to behave in it and feels lost and helpless). Humans will interpret this as proof that they have been doing the right thing so far (“my dog is afraid of other dogs”, conclusion: I should protect him from encounters with other pets. The next time some horrible free-running dog shows up, I’ll pack mine in my purse / take it in my arms / run away, etc.) The second possibility is an aggressive reaction (out of fear) to our charge. Human interpretation is as above (it is enough to replace “afraid” with “dislikes” with the same conclusions). The third possibility is exaggerated euphoria from the unexpected happiness of meeting another pet (it occurs most often in young individuals). A few weeks-old puppy behaving in this way is relatively safe. Most dogs will tolerate such behaviour or gently (more or less) let the suckling know that he is overdoing it, and such jumping on newly met dogs is not welcome. Problems can start when the youngster grows up and loses the puppy’s preferential fare. Then, the dogs you meet can show their dissatisfaction more bluntly.
In most cases, the dog will try to scare the intruder away, knock him to the ground, and possibly immobilise him. As long as the interaction ends without bodily injury (much more probable if people don’t interfere), everything is fine: the youngster has just received a lesson in dog manners. It’s unpleasant, but has anybody learned anything without failures, bruises, or unpleasantness? Success is built on failures; You can’t play football well without getting a few bruises or going through life while defending your boundaries and never getting into conflict or being criticised. This is what the world looks like, and that’s it. This applies to ourselves, our children and our dogs.
Yes, I know that not all dogs are kind and friendly. I know that some dogs have been attacked and bitten for no reason. I understand that the guardians are afraid for their little friends. The problem is that the more we limit dog interactions, the worse our dogs will communicate with each other… It’s like with a child. As a mom, I can forbid my child from climbing trees and ladders or riding a bike to protect him. (By doing so, I take away much of the joy of being a child). I can also risk falling, bruising, or even a broken arm by letting my child do it all. At first, it will be very clumsy. Still, with time, he will become more experienced, and the risk of falling and hurting himself will decrease, although it will always exist. I am in favour of the second way, regardless of whether we are talking about children or dogs.
Many people also underestimate how crucial free exploration, or sniffing, is for a dog. We are visual creatures, but our four-legged friends are olfactory. We see grass. Dogs see the grass and feel everything that has been written on it. They can read who passed by, their age and mood, whether they were healthy, stressed, big or small, and even what they ate for breakfast! As beings with olfactory impairments, we cannot even imagine how important smells are in our dogs’ lives. They have to smell to be themselves. They need it. We have no right to take it away from them by loading them into bags or pulling them on a lead because we are bored of waiting for Lessie to pull her nose out of a clump of grass.
One more thing.
Imagine flying 15 floors up in an elevator so fast that it feels like your stomach has stayed in the area of your heels. Would that be cool? Imagine you fly up in such an elevator several to a dozen times a day without being warned that it is about to happen again. Suddenly, you fly into the air. At best, your stomach can’t keep up and stays somewhere around your knees. How do you think this would affect your mental state? Surely, it would not build your emotional stability. Stressful situations of this kind summarise and lead an individual towards neurosis. Most of us would start looking around in panic, living in constant tension, waiting for the next elevator coming across to interrupt what we were doing now.
It’s time to realise that this is precisely what we are doing to micro dogs by taking them in our arms!
Have you ever wondered why small dogs are so nervous? And who wouldn’t be when treated like that???
A Yorkie named Lucky once came to me for puppy classes. The dog was lucky to meet wonderful Guardians who treated him like a full-fledged dog, which he was! They did not take him in their hands; they allowed contact with Rottweilers and German Shepherds. Lucky was a fully balanced dog. He didn’t bark at everything that moved, he didn’t run like crazy, he didn’t jump on his guardians. He went to them for support when needed, and they crouched beside him, encouraging him. That was enough for him.
It’s not true that small dogs are hysterical. They become this way because of how they are treated. They cannot be emotionally stable if their basic needs (social contacts, free exploration) are unsatisfied. In addition, people give them unannounced flights up for a multiple of their height, and on top of that, they routinely do not respect their boundaries, looking into their eyes, hugging, immobilising, kissing, etc.
If, for some reason, you absolutely have to take your dog in your arms, then at least introduce a word announcing a flight up and say it BEFORE you touch the dog. And please lift your friend SLOWLY so his stomach can keep up and avoid dizziness.
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