A two dog family with a large difference in size
By knewfy
@knewfy (82)
United States
June 7, 2010 7:56pm CST
I have one newfoundland dog, she weighs nearly as much as I do, and one small rat terrier who weighs under ten pounds. They love each other and play together. Both are about the same age. I don't think either one is especially dominant, however if push came to shove probably the Newfoundland dog "rules the roost" when it comes to pack leader of the dogs. However they both know that I am the "top dog". the newfy is very good with other dogs, very friendly and not at all aggressive, whereas the little rat terrier....well, what can I say, she is, after all, a terrier, and her response to strange dogs is noisy and she barks a lot. However eventually she does go up and sniff and make friends with strange dogs.
What are the experiences of some of you folks who have more than one dog in a household where there is a large disparity in size?
1 person likes this
1 response
@jillbeth (2705)
• United States
15 Jun 10
I have two dogs who are medium-sized dogs and one small one. We adopted the small one two years ago but raised the older ones from pups. The small one is not intimidated at all by the larger ones and will hold her own in squabbles over food or jealousy. In fact, my largest dog (more than twice her size) was standing over her while she was on her back and she was still snarling and snapping! She gets her ears nipped regularly by them for her insolence.
