Sorry, it's a bit of a sore point with me because I never had a problem when walking my Collie, but when walking my little BT, I get the opposite - big dog owners knowing their dog won't get hurt so thinking it's ok to let it charge at my little one.

The Yorkie owner does sound to be a nightmare and really should be brought to task if only for the sake of her own dog's safety - let alone the safety of the dogs/people it molests. Some people just shouldn't be allowed to be in control of a dog - any dog, big or small.

Theres no excuse, for ANY dog of any breed or size to be out of control, agressive or anything else. Its certainly not something we should accept just because of the size of the dog. That comes down to the ignorance, of the dogs owners.

I`ve found the situation is actually improving round here. There used to be a lot of really nasty littluns about, but the ones around now seem OK. Of course it could be my 3 big dogs putting the fear of dog into the owners?

Without wanting to make a sweeping statement;

When I worked in store I met a lot of people who chose toy dogs under the assumption they are easy. As a result many are not trained, socilalised or exercised adaquatley which seems to be how the issues come about.

Its not acceptable for any dog to be aggressive, and I do find it frustrating when dogs big or small are allowed to run riot. Ive by no means had any easy ride with Kestral and as a result I have put a hell of a lot of work in.
All owners should be responsible for their dogs actions.

Think it's a waste of time to make any stipulation other than
"Your dog should not be a genuine persistent nuisance to others"

OMG tell me about it, I am sick of them round here.
Walking my young girlie and at the bottom of my road a woman waiting for the village bus with 2 shih tuzu's on harnesses, they immediately start barking at us, my baby starts shaking, but sits at my side and we stop and wait, dogs keep barking, eventually woman turns round, and I ask her to stop her dogs barking because she is scaring my youngster, she can't, because she has no control over them (which I already know) so looks daggers at me, my pup continues sitting next to me, still shaking, dogs still barking, so we walk round her, I get her to sit at the kerb, dogs carry on barking, and we walk over the road and carry on with the walk. Out with the big girls, woman with 3, 2 yorkies and a shih tzu with her mate with 2 yorkies, all dogs yapping away at mine, my girls look at them, immediately her and her mate start giving me daggers, like my dogs are in the wrong. All on harness and extending leads so basically they can do what they like, they have no control over them whatsoever. If mine even barked at them they would be vicious etc etc.
Was talking to a friend of mine at dog training the other week, she is a trainer herself and runs classes on a Saturday, and she says lots of people have these 'handbag dogs' and haven't a clue, won't even pick up after them, and she thinks they would not normally be the type that would ever have a dog, but the little ones are like an accessory now, so they actually have no real idea how a dog 'works'

IMO I think its a common problem, we have a tiny JRT but she has to follow the rules just as the Border Collies do.

Quite common thing is us being asked...bet she is spoilt/bet she snaps/bet she nips/bet she bites.

I agree JRT are 'tarred' with being all of the above, but its not the breed its the owner.

Commonly too elderly people living on their own with small breeds, the dog and them being a constant companion for each other, without meeting and greeting, naturally they will be snappy if brought up like that they are being protective.

Mojo is allowed out on the drive with myself supervised, often kids walk by and ask if they can stroke her, same with parents of kids, I'm happy to let her be stroked, she knows the rules and loves being fussed.

Worst thing for us TBH is when we are out and people with big dogs feel its funny when she gets chased by their dog Mojo doesn't find it fun, TBH if the BC's have a knock back defending her I let them. People are not always responsible owners

As a small dog owner I have to second this.

I have had to join specialized small dog meet up groups to avoid the large out of control dogs around here.

I have had full out attacks on my small pack - walked on extendi-leads but in control and locks on when approached by others - 5 times now. Three of those times the intent was to kill and it was a close call for my dogs with vet trips and stitches that followed. I know there was intent to kill because three of those dogs were put down within weeks for killing small dogs others owned. (We have no animal control here so they simply got a warning from the incident with mine).

I get a bit heated when the insinuation that small dog owners tend to train less as that is the opposite of my experience. Here many owners get a dog to 'guard' their unfenced property and then do little to no training and let the dogs roam.

I was actually warned by an owner after his Yellow Labrador attacked one of mine on the public road. He stated I should know better than to walk a 'little rat' in the country and if we came by again she'd (his dog) would likely succeed in her task.

To answer the OPs question - no it is not acceptible for any size of dog to aggravate others.

Ruby

I have a small breed and a bull breed ,i must be hated by everyone ..lol

No.............................. loved