A bit of pre-info. I've always been a small dog owner. (dachshunds and chihuahuas) I love dogs (well, animals) of all sizes and having lived the expat life since childhood, a small dog simply suited our life better as it was easier. I have never (neither did my parents) treated our dogs like a puppet, a toy, an accessory (in other words- not like a handbag dog) but raised / trained them like proper dogs. Plenty of socialization, and thanks to that, our dogs have been very friendly with anyone and everything.
Since a year or so, my current dog would sometimes get overly excited when he sees certain big dogs, so I trained him to sit down, let them pass and then give a treat. I always have training in mind when I am out and about with him.
So today, a few min after leaving home, I see a lady with an off-leash medium dog walking down the road. I live in the city, so the owner must be VERY confident to keep her dog off-leash in areas with cars. Anyway, she and I go different ways. I walk through a park, where some 20m ahead, I see an old man with a big dog laying on the grass, on one of those 20-30m type of loose leashes. My dog hadn't noticed that dog (and the other dog hadn't noticed mine), so before he gets excited, I gave him the command to sit down and look at me. I had my back to the old man and the dog. Literally the next second, I hear this loud growl right behind me and my dog lets out a big yelp. The dog hadn't bitten my dog or me, but clearly it had instantly jumped over and is growling in that aggressive pose, so I instantly picked up my dog who is still yelping of fear. The old man all this while doesn't pull his dog over, standing some 10m away, kept him on the loose leash and calmly says "komm hier, komm doch" and walked away before I could say anything. I was in shock. Also mind you, I am a petite woman and while I am not afraid of large dogs, when one is aggressive it physically puts me at a disadvantage.
I left the park and continued my walk. All of a sudden that medium off-leash dog appeared out of nowhere. He was friendly - they both sniffed each other but this dog kept turning around mine and we all know - it's no good when one dog is on leash and other other isn't. Because the other dog kept moving, my leash got a bit tangled which panicked my dog and he started yelping again. The owner was still not in sight. The dog walked away, and so did I, and later when I turned around I saw the lady turn up but I was absolutely in no mood to run after her some 30-40m to tell her to put her dog on leash. After all, her dog hadn't done anything bad to mine.
Now going back about a month. My partner and I were walking down a street, when a giant schnauzer turned up and the woman took off his leash the moment they crossed over the street. My partner immediately told me to pick up our dog. Me, being the "you should not pick up your small dog but read the other dog's body language" type, kept our dog on the ground. The giant schnauzer noticed our chihuahua, and starts trotting over. Woman calls her dog back but dog is not listening. My partner is getting upset at me and says "PICK UP OUR DOG" (he was a bit further ahead) So I did - but this massive dog kept sniffing literally "into" our dog quite insistently, even when I kept turning away until our dog started yelping. My partner told the lady to get her dog and she just grabbed him by the collar and walked away.
A few months before this, a woman was walking her medium size dog and asked if her dog can say hi to ours. My partner asked if hers is friendly. She says yes of course. The moment the two dogs get close, hers gets totally boisterous jumping up and down in circles, the leashes crossed, her dog jumping on ours and this was the first time our dog yelped out of fear.
My partner used to have a small dog and some 10 years ago, their neighbor's dog who had always been friendly, in the hallway all of a sudden attacked his dog, biting him in his back, swung him in the air against the wall. He required emergency surgery as his back had torn open. He told me a few months after the surgery walking through town, a medium size off-leash dog out of nowhere almost attacked his dog. He was able to scoop up his dog just in time and he massively told the owner off.
Now, going back a few years, I was having a chat with a colleague who had a lab. Conversation went into the leash issue and I told her that I would not let my dog go off-leash, because of the dangers. (even on hikes we need to be careful of birds of prey) All owners think their dogs are angels and darlings and would never ever harm another dog. She told me I am not nice for not letting my dog run free and dogs won't "just attack" another dog. I told her my dog is so small, from far it can look like a rabbit to another dog-whose instinct could kick in to hunt. She said I was silly. I told her while one bite from a medium/big dog, to another dog of the same size could end up in stitches, it could kill mine. She told me such incidents are just 1% possible and I told her I would not take that 1% chance of mine getting killed. She would simply not understand and the conversation ended very awkwardly.
Now, when I see an off-leash dog- I will pick up my dog even if it looks calm. Big dog owners will now probably look at me and think "ah these small dog owners don't know how to keep a dog". Now I am afraid my dog may have developed more fear for larger dogs. You got to remember- even if your dog is seemingly happily trotting over - imagine something way more than 10x your size approaching you. That giant schnauzer - my dog is just about the size of its head! Owners who walk their dog off leash also should remember that while your dog might be friendly, the other dog on leash may be afraid and doesn't want to be approached so freely.
Also, people say small dogs are yappy. Thankfully, none of my small dogs were/are that way. They are friendly and quiet. But guess what, when we walk our chihuahua, there are enough instances when bigger dogs are barking like mad from across the street. The owners seem to find it funny, as if to say "yeah- that's not a dog"
Thanks for reading if you made it all the way. It just annoys me to no end that small dogs or the owners get bad reps from many people, generalizing them, while they can be the actual cause. I wish there were stricter rules/measurements on the leash/no leash matter. I wish Switzerland had enclosed dog parks for small dogs only- where small dogs have a chance at a good run, without having to worry being attacked by other bigger dogs.
Rant over. I hope everyone else's week has started well.