smalldogvibechecks

[smalldogvibechecks]

any tips on how to get a little dog used to putting on/taking off his harness? once the harness is on he does great and has no issue with it, but the process of putting on or removing the harness agitates him and i want to find a way to do it without stressing him out. i thought he would get used to it but it’s been a couple months with the new harness and he still gets upset whenever we have to put it on or take it off. he is a chug(chihuahua pug) btw :>

Slow and with lots of rewards is generally the best way to get a dog used to something new! There’s a few tips here: https://www.rover.com/blog/harness-train-dog/

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[smalldogvibechecks]

Rating: Unsure

Honestly, it’s hard to tell just from this short clip! If all that happened was that the puppy was confused for a little bit, then yeah, that’s not harmful. If they were both calling the dog at the same time, then that would be confusing, and not great as far as training goes - a dog should listen to anyone in its family calling for it, so having multiple conflicting commands could be stressful. I also don’t love that the dog is off leash in what looks like a parking lot 😬

#ratings #unsure

[smalldogvibechecks]

Rating: Not cute

Just because the dog is small and elderly, doesn’t make annoying it and then letting it bite your face a good idea. It might not be hurting the person, but dogs’ mouths have all kinds of bacteria and it’s still not safe to have their mouths all over your face. I don’t know how the dog is treated outside of this video, but again, terrorizing or annoying your dog until they growl and snap at you for internet clout is not good for the dog, stop doing this.

Parecidos razonables

#ratings #not cute

[smalldogvibechecks]

Most likely answer: your cloth crafting stuff is soft and smells like you! Wanting attention is probably part of it too, my cat does the same thing when I’m crocheting 😂

If I'm doing any form of handicrafts -- embroidery, knitting, quilting, sewing -- my dog will always lie down on top of it the moment that I put it down. If it's too big to lie down on, like that giant ball of wool, he curls around it. He's been doing this all his life.

My mother thought he might just want attention so she tried putting him on her lap while she quilts. He decided to lie down with his head on her measuring board and his chin on the quilted pieces she was trying to sew together.

He doesn't protest if I remove my things, just looks reproachful, but I have no idea why he feels the need to lie on top of my stuff in the first place!

Anyone else got a pet who holds sit-down strikes on their craft supplies?

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[smalldogvibechecks]

Rating: Cute with caveats

This seems okay! The dogs seem interested and excited about the car wash, but no one looks scared or upset. Body language is alert but still fairly loose, and they’re barking but no one is whining or trying to hide. (Side note: love the ramp for them to get into the car!)

The caveats are mostly just…not every dog will react the same way, so I wouldn’t recommend taking your dog through a car wash unless you have a pretty good idea of whether they’ll like it or not. If your dog gets anxious in the car, or if loud noises or unexpected movements bother them, it’s probably not a good idea. So, this video is fine, but trying to replicate it should only be done if you know your dog will enjoy it too!

shut up this is the only video I care about

#ratings #cute with caveats

[smalldogvibechecks]

My parents have a big dog and a small dog living together. They aren’t best friends or anything but they like each other well enough and sometimes play together. However, when big dog was a pup once, she started to yank on small dog’s whiskers out of nowhere, while the small dog was sitting on my step mom’s lap. Little dog squealed, big dog was shooed away by my stepmom, little dog was fine. It never happened again, but to this day, I wonder what the hell that was about. Breeds are papillon and german Shepard btw

Puppies just do weird annoying stuff to other dogs sometimes - sounds to me like the dog equivalent of a toddler going up and yanking on their big sibling’s hair. Glad everyone was okay & it wasn’t a recurring problem though!

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[smalldogvibechecks]

Corgi fact: well bred corgi owners HATE when you call them just corgis LOL. it's like if youre calling an Anatolian and an Aussie the same breed, just Shepherds. Cardigan and Pembroke people get so heated sometimes about it. Haha

Oh that’s so funny, I didn’t know that! Cardigan and/or Pembroke owners, please sound off, what’s your favorite thing about your chosen breed of dog?

(I had to look up the differences, so sharing this for other people who might not know~)

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[smalldogvibechecks]

Here's a question!

So I've just learned about whale eyes a couple months ago, so I've been keeping an eye out for it in my dog, just in case.

But most of the only times I've seen him do this (I think he's purposefully showing the whites of his Eyes, idk though) is when he's really excited?

My dog's an old yorkie who's very food motivated, so I'll be training him for a bit with little pieces of carrot and I'll start to notice it. Usually the longer we go the more overly-excited he gets.

So is getting too exited / overstimulated a thing with dogs? I've heard something like it with cats. Or am I just reading him wrong?

Thanks!

Yeah, most animals do have a threshold between normal amounts of excited and too excited/overstimulated! And whale eyes can easily be a sign of that - they don’t automatically mean fear necessarily, it can be fear or anxiety or overexcitement or a lot of different things.

If you feel like he’s getting too wound up with one activity, it’s not a bad idea to switch to something else for a bit, though! If he seems like he might be getting too excited during training because of the food, it won’t hurt anything to take a break for a bit, maybe throw a ball for him if he plays fetch to get some of his energy out. It’s often good to keep training sessions fairly short and sweet so no one has time to get really frustrated.

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[smalldogvibechecks]

is it ever more difficult to identify the whale-eye behavior in breeds with very flat faces? i feel like most of the pugs i've met have had their eyes bulging slightly out of their heads half the time regardless of how they were feeling, poor little guys

Yep, brachycephalic dogs tend to do the whale-eyes thing a lot, unfortunately.

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[smalldogvibechecks]

Hi! Sorry if this question feels disrespectful for your or the person who owns the dog - but looking at photos if Max, cocker-shiba mix that was submitted to you and posted recently, it looks a bit like he is a bit overweight. Can you confirm if this is true? Or, even better, maybe you can share how to identify if a small dog/dog is overweight? If I recall correctly, being overweight is potentially dangerous for a dog and it is hard to help/make a dog loose weight - I definitely remember reading a post about overweight animals that said that in case of hunger/starvation, dogs and cats start loosing muscle mass before fat. Can you confirm this?

Sorry is this is disrespectful/inappropriate! No hate/blame/etc towards the owner, I just saw the photos and was unsure if this is true and wanted to confirm if this is the case and how to correctly identify such things!

Oh oh, maybe you know answer to this question. If a dog is mix/mutt/nit a breed, is there a way to know their normal weight limits? I feel like the most sure way to check is the animal is under/overweight with not purebred dogs is to check for visual signsz but maybe you know something else.

Being overweight (or underweight!) can be bad for dogs, yep! But dogs can get to an unhealthy weight for so many reasons, lots of which are not the owners’ fault (e.g. the dog might be a recent rescue, might have health issues causing it to gain or lose weight, maybe the owner just didn’t know they were feeding the dog too much until the dog gained weight, maybe the dog is just older & getting chubby! it happens) so I’m not going to call out anyone for their dogs’ weight when they send in pics, just as a rule. Getting your dog to a healthy weight is a slow process and you should talk to your vet before putting your dog on a diet.

As far as how to check if a dog is at a healthy weight, your vet is always going to be the best judge of that! But as a basic guideline, if you run your hand along the dog’s side, you should be able to feel their ribs. If their ribs are visibly sticking out with not much fat covering them, they might be underweight (or they might just be a sighthound, whippets look underweight when they’re actually at a healthy weight, they’re just shaped different). If you can’t feel their ribs at all or you can just barely feel them, they might be overweight. Like this:

edit: oops, forgot to answer the bit about mixed breeds! Visual signs will probably be the best way to check if they’re at a healthy weight, but if you know what breeds they’re a mix of, you can probably average out the healthy weights for those breeds to get an estimate. If you have a dog that’s half chihuahua (which usually weigh 3-6 pounds) and half mini dachshund (usually 11 pounds or less) you’d probably expect that dog to weigh around 7-8 pounds, but each dog is going to be a little different!

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[smalldogvibechecks]

My wife and I have accidentally “taught” our little pup to be terrified whenever we cook because we’ve set the smoke alarm off a few times and now he’s convinced that whenever we use the stove the ceiling is going to get angry and scream at him. I’ve been trying to get him to have better associations w us cooking by giving him treats while we do but is there anything else I could do to help him unlearn that fear? He gets underfoot trying to hide from the ceiling’s wrath/comfort himself, poor bub

Aww, poor little guy! Giving him treats might actually give him more incentive to be underfoot while you cook, unfortunately. If he’s crate-trained, you could put him in his crate while you’re cooking; otherwise, maybe a baby gate to keep him out of the kitchen but where he can still see you? A trainer might be better able to help you on this one, sorry!

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[smalldogvibechecks]

I've heard that corgis tend to have a lot of back and hip issues, is there any truth to that?

Some truth to it, yeah! Dachshunds are the same way - having a long back and short legs makes it easier for them to injure their backs or hips, especially when they start getting older. Good breeders will select for dogs with sturdier hips & backs, but anytime you have a long dog like that you do have to be a little more careful with their back!

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[smalldogvibechecks]

this is costa! hes a 6 year old jack russell/patterdale terrier and i love him so very much (the cat is umbra, his annoying little brother who he secretly loves - but dont tell anyone that itll ruin his reputation)

he likes cuddles and food and will quite literally do anything for a treat

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Ohhhhh adorable! Give him a cuddle from me 💖

#submission #dog pics #not ratings

[smalldogvibechecks]

😭😭😭😭💖💖💖💖 thanks I love it

Sneaking into bed to share a pillow 

(Source)

#cute #tagged

[smalldogvibechecks]

are you familiar with the assertion that most dogs dont like to be hugged? i dont disagree with it necessarily im just wondering why my dog might be seeming like he's seeking out hug-adjacent contact. if i lay on my side he gets in what i can only think to describe as a little spoon position, under my outstretched arm. does he not feel trapped? i dont want to stress him out so im wondering how i ought to make sure he stays happy in that position

Most dogs don’t like to be hugged because it makes them feel trapped, but there are exceptions to most rules! If your dog is putting himself in that position, it’s fine; dogs won’t usually put themselves in positions that stress them out, so it sounds like your dog is okay with that kind of contact. Especially if you’re keeping the hug loose so he can leave whenever he wants, this doesn’t sound like a problem.

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[smalldogvibechecks]

Opinion on corgis?

LOVE a good corgi. Tragically I don’t have much personal experience with corgis beyond meeting a few at the dog park, but I think they’re SO cute and I love them 💖

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[smalldogvibechecks]

Hello! I have a seasonal min wage job with a doggie daycare and i want to know more about the pups so i give them the best care! Are there any really important do's and don't's about little dogs that you see people overlook? I know the basic body language queues to break up rough play and to keep things from getting tense but i have very little experience with little dogs (and i find myself falling in love with chihuahuas!) and i want to treat them with the respect they deserve!

Oh congrats on the job, that sounds so fun!!

Honestly, my advice would be to treat them almost the exact same way you would treat bigger dogs, as much as possible. 99% of the problems I see with little dogs are either because people don’t take their boundaries seriously (because they’re little and it’s easier to push past their boundaries), or because people don’t bother to train them or correct misbehavior (because they’re little and don’t physically cause as much damage as an untrained or misbehaving big dog would). The only real difference I’d say is to be a little more physically gentle with the really little dogs; medium-small dogs like beagles or corgis can pretty much keep up with most big dogs, but extra small dogs like chihuahuas or yorkies tend to be a bit more delicate!

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