if they are under control and friendly i dont have an issue but unfortunately they are not near me must be a Manchester thing aggressive toys and small breeds

Pop over to this bit of Manchester.. its Akitas and staffies which are the trend here
The amount of times I get asked if my dog is an akita and if she bites...

sadly a lot of greyhounds are attacked by other dogs (of all sizes).
But I do agree, it is not the size of the dog but the irresponsible owner who is to blame. Obviously the larger the dog the more damage it can do but any dog who is aggressive should be kept under strict control.

I do agree that people tend not to understand that a little dog needs just as much training etc as a larger dog. It just winds me up that I can have all these little dogs barking at mine, but if they once retaliated they would be classed as vicious, can you imagine if there were 5 of my breed barking at 2 little dogs, immediately they would be ringing the dog warden etc. yet they think it acceptable for their little ones to be at the end of quite long extending leads barking their heads off, yet it is me that gets the dagger looks. I made my point with the woman with the 2 shih tzu because other people at the bus stop were nodding their heads when I asked her to shut them up,it wouldn't be tolerated if the positions were reversed now would it?
I work hard to socialise and train my girls, yet I never see the owners of these toy dogs making them sit at the kerb, walk to heel, not pull, not to bark constantly, so why can't they do this?

Why do you assume that because a dog is barking it is vicious?

My Yorkie barks at other dogs on lead not because she is vicious but because she is scared. Unfortunately many large out of control dogs have ran up and tried to flatten her, so as far as she is concerned offense is the best defense. Off lead she ignores other dogs completely.

I expect this fear reaction is pretty common in small breeds. If I put myself in their shoes and frequently had massive people running up towards me attempting to leap on me and sniff my nether regions, I would probably yell bloody murder to keep them away from me.

There are no more out of control toy breeds than any other.

I (and many other small breed owners) also work hard to socialise and train their little dog to walk to heel (I'm saying nothing about sitting at the kerb because my girl has just been taught to wait rather than sit ). She doesn't bark when we are out unless a dog barks at her and then she gives a little yip. She's walked on a flexi under control and knows well the difference to when she is allowed more lead and when she needs to walk close - she's 10 months old. She's not unique. Here there are many, many small breed dogs. Some are a nightmare, some are extremely well trained. There are also big dogs - some are a nightmare, some are well trained.

All the nightmare dogs and their owners are an absolute pain in the backside. The well socialised and well trained ones are a joy. Size is immaterial.

I am not saying they ARE vicious, I am saying that if I and a friend were out and had 5 dogs of our breed with us, and they started barking at 2 small toy dogs, they would be immediately classed as vicious, whether they were or not. The fact that my dogs are not allowed to behave like that, they are trained to behave themselves, sit when I stop, wait whilst I talk to people etc, is irrelevant, yet when I see people with toy dogs they behave in exactly the opposite way, but nobody seems bothered at all, in fact they look daggers at my dogs, who just happen to be passing, not pulling, not barking at them, not doing anything but minding their own business. These dogs are not under control, they are on harnesses attached to extending leads at their fullest extent, so in fact if they launched themselves at my dogs they would not be able to do anything about it, so if anything happened my dogs would get the blame, one reason why I always cross the road when I see them nowadays

Well the reality is that you do need to be more careful with dogs of a certain breed or size more than others. In an ideal world they would all be treated and viewed equally but as we know that is not the case.

Glad to hear that there are some small breed owners who are bothering to work with their dogs, at the moment my opinion of small dog owners is that they think the rules don't apply to them. Like you say there are also large breed owners who are a nightmare as well!!!

I'd honestly say that there are as many small breeds of dog that are nice and friendly as there are large - and vice-versa, of course

I really can't understand the emphasis on the size of dog when the emphasis really should be the irresponsibility of some dog owners

Frustrations at other owners arise no matter what size of dog is owned. I was frustrated and exasperated at times when I had my Collie, just as I am frustrated and exasperated at times now I have my Border Terrier. The only difference is that now I can lift my girl to safety whereas I had to block an approaching dog with my Collie.

If only all owners would use a bit of common sense and consideration then, of course, this discussion wouldn't have arisen, but there are always 'numpties' out there in all walks of life