doberbutts:

darkwood-sleddog:

At the end of the day all dogs, no matter what they look like or what they were bred for, are DOGS. And as such they still want to enjoy the doggie aspects of life. Running and playing and sniffing and digging and engaging with humans in a positive way.

Like your Frenchie would love to run up and down a hiking path the same as my dogs if given the chance but their conformation makes it difficult for them. It’s not that they are lazy or don’t want to. Their brain does not perceive difference, their body simply does not accommodate fun dog things.

Your little dog still wants to interact with others and say things with dog body language and get that body language listened to and respected the same as my dogs but society’s interpretation of what is appropriate around a toy dog and a larger dog is unfortunately different. Their brain does not perceive difference, simply society does not think they are a danger when they react negatively to their boundaries being pushed in a way they do with larger dogs.

Somehow we tend to treat different breeds as separate species, but they are all dogs, all Canis Lupus Familiaris. And they all deserve to do dog stuff. Thank you.

I know I already reblogged this but I’m thinking of it again because I was asked an incredulous ‘do your chihuahuas *REALLY* go on hikes with your big dogs? And they aren’t carried???’ several times yesterday by a range of different people at work and it just kinda makes me sad. Sad because some of those people own tiny dogs, and their disbelief signals that they never attempted this with their dogs. Sad because some folks are poorly matched with big dogs when all they wanted was a small active companion, but considered fun dog things impossible for a small dog.

It’s fun for a dog to run around in the woods. It’s fun for a dog to track a scent across a field. It’s fun for a dog to dip their toes in a stream. It’s fun for a dog to roll around in the grass, to lay in the sun or shade, to monch snow as it accumulates. To sample the things you brought along as snacks. To sniff a tree, a bush, a signpost. It doesn’t matter how big or small the dog is. To them they’re all the same size.