Had a bit more of a think about this and trying to think of last time a small dog jumped up at me and how many bigger dogs have nearly knocked me off my feet and honestly cannot remember a little dog being a problem !

Well on that score Julie I think a BIG dog leaping at you is more memorable! But, yes, there are a couple in Larnaca I avoid like the plague - huge bouncing uncontrolled lab and another who almost dislocated my knee a while back! Both always off lead (of course because their owners can hardly hang onto them with the lead on!) both owners constantly shrieking 'he only wants to play' from where they are (miles away from their dog!)

When Jimmi came to us four or so years ago from DT, he had a few obnoxious habits!! One was huge aggression to other male dogs, and with patience and lots of treats we overcame that one quite easily....now he prefers to totally ignore other dogs on walks (unless they are good looking ladies), but will politely meet and greet providing he is not bounced on.

We also trained him out of other things.

BUT - we will never cure his obsession for chasing with intent to kill cats and other creatures, and nor can we do anything about his terror of being left home alone.

So really my point is........yes, small dogs can be just as easy to train, but ANY dog may come with issues that are insurmountable, especially if they have been strays and then kept in kennels.

Good points Sal. Dogs with 'history' you will never be able to find out about can present problems that you can only guess at with regards to overcoming them.

And some dogs just do NOT EVER forget a bad thing that happened to them. Or overcome an early ingrained fear of something.

Or a learned bad habit.

On the other hand I know people who've got perfectly behaved dogs and who've never done ANY training whatsoever with them.

And the old family mongrel, Ruffchops, we had when I was growing up, would fall into that category. He (like lots of other London dogs) never had a collar or lead. He came on buses and trains with us and on outings and even on caravan holidays. He did what he was told and was very smart. Totally non aggressive and we had loads of fun with him when we were growing up.

Have you asked them why they havent trained them ?

Maybe they didn't think they needed to or maybe they tried and failed and that happens with all breeds.
I have tiny/small dogs and I train/trained them in the same way as I would a larger dog.
Success at training isn't to do with what size the dog is .

You've implied that owners of medium/large dogs always train them but they are not always successful because I've met a lot that have been out of control .

While tiny/small dogs maybe annoying they don't generally do as much damage or harm as larger dogs .