ash&elar Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 So i am wondering who out there has large and small dogs living together? what breeds? what breeds have you found to really get along well together? or what breeds have you maybe found do not get along well or easily? If having large and small live together has not been a naturally easy thing for you what things have you had to do or what things have you had to train your dogs to make them more compatable to living with each other? or is it a case of always keeping them seperate? I know there are some breeders out there who breed a couple of different breeds with some having quite large breeds and quite small breeds so how do you/they manage that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Daisy Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 Most of the time I have had small and large dogs together and they have mostly been fine. Currently I have a Shih Tzu, Golden Retriever (13months) and a new golden puppy. I think it depends on who comes first. I had another golden when I got my Shih Tzu and they were great together. He was so gentle with her and she learn't to wrestle with him from a young age and to tell him when enough was enough ;) My current older Golden came when he was 7 months and he took a while to calm down with her and she definitely let him know when he was being too rough. But years ago, when we had a Boston Terrier x and got a Shepherd x Kelpie from the RSPCA they did not do well together and would only be able to have supervised play. He was way too rough and never knew when to stop, even though we had him from a puppy . They had a few arguments over the years and the Shepherd always came off worse off. Some little dogs have a lot of spunk and are very quick to bite. I think you would have to be careful what breeds you put together. Golden's and Shih Tzu's are great together. Goldens are very tolerant and Shih Tzus have enough spunk to stand up for themselves. That's my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmurps Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 Our adopted jack russell is reactive to other dogs. So after seeing a behaviorist, attending obedience classes etc and doing some research I decided to check out greyhounds. To cut a long story short. We went out to GAP with our jack russell and came home with our lovely greyhound. They do absolutely everything together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macka Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 I have an 11kg Mini PoodleX who is 2.5 years old and a 34kg (at the moment) Labrador who is 10 months old. They get on fine. They run together during the day. They play, they wrestle. My lab is really gentle with the smaller dog. The smaller dog is the boss of the bigger dog in any case so if she decides she has had enough of him, she just tells him off. She can definitely stand up for herself. I think it helps that she is the older one. I am careful not to leave collars on them when I'm not there as the lab does tend to like biting on to the smaller dog's collar and I worry that he could get stuck like that and drag her around. Apart from that there is no issue leaving them together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwaY Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 I have had Great Danes with a Chi X, I have also had Great Danes with a Griffon, supervision is always the key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 I have a 43kg nearly 3yo Rottie and an 8kg 9yo Cav. They get along great and generally leave each other alone. The rottie gets playful and has taught the cav to play with her and she has adjusted her playing method when she is playing with her. She breathed new life into the old cav. Recently they have started curling up in the same crate together too. Very cute. It works well, just a matter of supervising. I never had a problem leaving my 2 girls out in the yard together unsupervised. They had very similar personalities and were matched well. All I would suggest to anyone adding a dog of a size difference is to listen to the breeders recomendations. My rotties breeder knew her personality and knew that she would get on well with my cav. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBL Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 I have 2 greyhounds and an iggy (he is a biggy iggy) All get along really well, actually the greys get along better with the iggy than they do with each other. We had had Patch for a long time before introducing Oscar the iggy as a pup. He was incredibly gentle with him and very very tolerant (still is really). Lilly then came along and, despite never being around small dogs before, took to Oscar amazingly (and they are best buddies). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellz Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 Individual dog personalities and supervision. Just because a dog is larger in body, doesn't necessarily mean it has a larger personality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havasneeze Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 I have a Bearded Collie with my Schipperkes and Havanese and they all get on fantastically well together. The beardie is the boss of the house and makes sure the rest of the dogs toe the line!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piperspal Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 I have a 65kg Rotti X, a 25kg Whippet X and a toy poodle 5kg. They all get on fine as they know that I am the leader and if I say the dog is in 'our pack' they better get used to it. the dog I have to watch is the mid sized one, she does not like strange dogs and will growl and get all huffy if I bring in a new dog (usally when friends go away). However she knows that if anything happens to the new dog I will be coming down on them like a ton of bricks. And the big dog will tell her off as well, he is so laid back and casual, I have had entire males (my poodles brother) staying and he used his paw to flatten the little dog once, looked at it and walked away........ the boy (his name was noodles) decided from then on that his new hero was my big boy, and they were inseperable. The big boofa will let the poodle steal from him when he has a bone etc, he knows she doesn't eat much . However I supervise because of the middle dog, she is a nasty thing when she resource guards.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 (edited) My recent foster was a puppy and we had no issues, the Danes just learned to watch where the pup was as he tended to walk under neath them. They adjusted their play and corrections to his age/size - they had to learn that themselves as well though - pup would give them feedback. My Male Dane is a really over the top dog and he was awesome with him. I know of Dane Owners with small dogs like Chi's and they do ok, you just have to make sure your Dog is capable of dealing with a small dog and also how they work around them as they can easily hurt them but stading on them and whacking them out of the way. I never had the pup with the Danes unsupervised. Edited July 21, 2010 by sas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brennan's Mum Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 Brennan my GSD has been raised in the house with my house mate's Dachshund x dog. Jack ( Dachshund x) is 2 months older then Brennan. When we visit my Mum she is with an 8 year old Maltese x Shih Tzu. Supervision is the key. Cleo the Maltese x is a bit less active then the young Jack so she has less tolerance for energetic Brennan. Also their is a risk associated with Dachshunds and their long backs..so we have to watch her behaviour with Jack. The dogs are quite happy to communicate within themselves when they get out of line. I also will sit and watch the dogs play together and click and treat Brennan for nice behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikivds Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 I have a greyhoundx, staffy x and english toy terrier puppy, again i think supervision is the most important. The greyhound x is the most gentle with the pup and has never hurt him, even accidentally. The staffy x has stood on him once and isn't as gentle with him when playing. All together they get along very very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanabanana Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 I have a 40kg lab x (he is 5 and an entire male) and a 5 kg foxy/shih tzu x (she is 1 and speyed) and they are best mates. We got our wee girl after my special girl died last year. Barney was used to being the baby of the two dogs so he had some adjusting to do in that department. for example our wee Pippi always wants to cuddle up to him, where as at first Bayney was used to cuddling up to his big sister. We didn't do anything special when we brough Pippi home at all. She was brought into the lounge when we got home, then we brang Barney in and that was it. Initially Pippi slept with us and spent the days insides while we were at work a she was too small to go outside with the big boy. But now, they are together during the day outside while I go work, and they sleep together in their bedroom. Pippi just adores Barney and follows him everywhere and if she gets scared she will go and stand under him (specially if mum isnt there to hide behind). Barney thinks it's fantastic that he has his own play buddy. Initially we were a little concerned that with his size that pippi may get hurt with any rough play, but man those two go nuts. She gets right into play fighting, and I didn't have to worry about her getting hurt because she is the rougher dog of the two LMAO. They also do zoomies together and Pippi outruns Barney on her little short legs and he has to "cut her off" which he usually does with a flick of his head and she goes rolling which causes her to get even more excited LOL. Barney is very good though. Without any help from us, while he plays rough with her, at the same time he is always very gentle with her and seems to know she is a bit smaller. They are constantly cracking us up, more so than when we have had two dogs of a similar size. Here are some pics of our kids together from day one to now (sorry I get a bit carried away lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanabanana Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 Hmmm, I am not sure if that is dog poo in that second to last pic, I hope not LMAO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ash&elar Posted July 21, 2010 Author Share Posted July 21, 2010 Hmmm, I am not sure if that is dog poo in that second to last pic, I hope not LMAO AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA shhhh its ok i wont tell anyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tilly Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 Definately depends on the dog ... my older boy gets a little annoyed at small dogs and sits on them ... all 60kg of him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furkidsforever Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 We have Golden Retrievers and Yorkshire Terriers. They are great mates. Only thing we have to watch is when some excitement is happening, the Goldens don't tend to watch where they put their feet. If we leave them, the goldens are separated from the yorkies, just for safety sake. Some photos on our website show their friendship. http://www.buidhe.com/bonny.html (scroll down the page) http://www.buidhe.com/brooke.html (again scroll down to the bottom) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowanbree Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 I breed shelties and have 2 aussies shepherds. As mature dogs they get on well if you are sensible. I would never leave them home alone together or do things of great excitement such as play ball as the 20kg difference in size can cause issues. As puppies though it is a lot of work. The aussies mean no harm but are quite rough and need constant supervision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 had GSP's and Toy Poodles together without problems but the key is supervision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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