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Sit, Stay, Blog!
In Praise of the Little Dog

I was always a big dog person, never really thinking about the small ones. Then one day this little black, 6.5 lb boy (who eventually I named Little Doug), picked me out of a crowd… and my life literally changed forever in all the best, and I have to say, unexpected ways.


Little Doug

While I am about to sing the praises of little dogs, let it be known I LOVE ALL DOGS and I am not particular about their size — big or small, all are welcome in my heart. And yes, I own a business called Small Dog Mall (smalldogmall.com) and I sell things just for little dogs. So, having catered to the pee wee pups for over two decades, I think we can safely assume I know a thing or two about them.

Among the many things I learned from Little Doug, this is what he taught me about size:

Love comes in all shapes and sizes
Doesn’t matter what the packaging is because love is love, and love doesn’t know a size or a shape, it just is. It took a little dog to teach me this big lesson and it is one of the things I know for sure.


Small dogs are portable
Mae West said "good girls go to heaven but bad girls go everywhere”. Well, I have news for you, so do little dogs!

The smaller the dog, the more places they get to go. Depending on how bold you are, will determine your pup’s life experience. For example, my little dogs have had no problem settling in the bottom of a shopping bag (or curling up in the arm of an oversized jacket I have) and going to the mall to do a little shopping and then take in dinner and a movie.

And if you didn’t know this, you can bring them in the cabin of a commercial airplane, just by getting the OK from the Captain and purchasing a ticket for your dog. Just think of the places you can go together!

Little dogs live a long time
We all know our furry kids are "short timers". I personally have had to deal with the heartbreak of saying goodbye several times. None of us know how long we will have with our pets. But knowing, statistically, that little dogs live for a long time, makes me happy that I may have more years with my little dog.

And here is an amazing fact: I just met a woman who had two Poms (father and son). The dad lived to be an incredible 23 years and the son lived to be 20!

Little Poopers = little poops
I’m not going to get all preachy here about how important it is to pick up after your dog. Let me just say it is so easy to be responsible when you have a teeny weeny poop to scoop. I am assuming no one really loves picking up poop, me included, but it is the right thing to do (and the law in most places), and teeny poops make it almost effortless to do the right thing.

You will make lots of new friends
There is not one place I have gone with my little dogs that someone has not come up to me wanting to say hello to us. I think dogs make most people happy.

Loving a little dog will change you. It just will.
First, you are needed. And you are needed in ways you never thought you would be.

Being vertically challenged, a small dog needs help with just about everything. They need assistance getting on things like the sofa or bed (and getting down). And then there is the quintessential doggy favorite thing --- hanging your head out of the car window. Cash, my present little buddy, would not be able to do this if I weren’t there to help him. They are dependent in ways a big dog isn’t.


Cash

A little dog will make you soft where you were hard, you will find yourself becoming more patient when you were not and, if you let them, any dog will open a space in your heart that you did not know you had. While I won’t make any guarantees for you, thats what happened to me.

*Learn more about Little Doug (the inspiration behind Small Dog Mall), Robin and Cash on the About page at SmallDogMall.com.