My dachshund (half mini/half regular) is like that too. He acts like he’s possessed 
Of course, you’d have to have a few major short-circuits in the brain to dive down a hole after a rabid badger almost twice your size*, and that’s what dachshunds are bred to do. :eek:
*–average dachshund: under 20 lbs
average rabid badger: 30+ lbs
My dog is an accident. No dog breeder would ever think to mate a terrier of unknown type and a chihuahua. And yet it happened. Lucy is the sweetest little thing - she weighs seven pounds - and is a great dog. She does know that she’s little, though. On the rare occasion she meets bigger dogs, she generally shies away from them, no matter how eager to play with her they may be. She has even been known to run away from the neighbor’s cat. Although she does like to bark at them. In other words, her bark is worse than her bite.
I think the reason that little dogs are often in-your-face annoyances to other, larger dogs (and sometimes to people as well) is that owners generally would not put up with this kind of behavior from large dogs, and the tendency has been bred out. Every Great Dane or Bullmastiff I have ever met has been a laid-back sweetie (though I’m sure there are some nasty ones as well). Really, what responsible dog owner would tolerate a 175 pound Bullmastiff with an attitude? But the same behavior in small dogs is seen as “cute” by some.
We have two Great Pyrenees. The male weighs in at 145 lbs and the female is about 125lbs. My DH often walks both our dogs at once. Frequently, little dogs in the neighborhood wil charge at our dogs ferociously. One time a chihuahua got directly under King and snarled up at him. King looked at the little dog with bemusement…like he wanted to say, “you’ve GOT to be kidding!” The little yapper wouldn’t let up until we were quite a ways down the street. DH hates small dogs with a passion, but I wouldn’t mind having one someday. I never have been, never will be able to carry around our dogs like a baby…
I had a shih tzu that constantly f’d with the pit bulls next door. He would try to piss on them if they were close to the fence and bark and growl at them something fierce. The pit bulls usually ignored him much to his chagrin. It seems the big dogs knew he was too little to be a threat but he didn’t seem to realize they could eat him in one bite.
My cavaliers were raised with labradors, so they know there are bigger dogs, but they think all dogs are friends. They don’t do the annoying barking trick (as I wouldn’t stand for it - I’m with porcupine on that). The only that does, was raised by my mother & I think she is very short sighted - when we are out, she’ll go charging towards something (person or big dog) barking in the hopes of driving them away, until she gets to a certain distance, when she suddenly realises they are huge and not going to change their mind, when she shuts up and runs to stand behind me. It’s really annoying, and when she gets back by me I grab her mouth & tell her “NO” but she’s 9 now & I don’t think that’s going to change.
When she first arrived at my house (I needed company for my dog as I work, and Mom let me have Lucy, who was her dog - difference is although they were raised in the same house, I was back from Uni and unemployed, so I trained my dog, not Mom. Mom’s labradors don’t bounce and yap - that’s partly a personality thing, but again, they are too big to do that & if they ever started, Mom would stop it before it got to be a habit.), at food times she would bounce up and down & yap (almost squeal) in excitement. It took a week or two of suffering but I got her to understand that she sits and waits quietly, otheriwse the food doesn’t get put down. My new puppy learnt sit within a day of being with me. Lucy still bounces and yaps at my mother’s house though - if she’s feeding her, but if I feed her, she quickly rememebrs and sits quietly again (or gets to watch the other dogs eating until she works it out!).
Cavaliers were bred for good temperament though, as well as for hunting, so I expect that helps. Most mailmen I know would be happier tackling a German Shepherd than a Jack Russell, and I don’t blame them!
Our dog was a chihuahua-fox terrier corss, she stood maybe 10 inches high at the top of her head. She did not have a clue she was a small dog. She’d growl and snarl at any dog which came within 3 houses of my parents house. She was also nieve. She would try to make friends with other dogs even though they didn’t want her near her. She got beat up on more than one occasion and had to get scars. Not only did she think she was a big dog, she thought cats were merely funny looking dogs. She recieved more than one good swiping from a cat, yet even after she had her eyelid sliced open and a notch taken out of her ear she would sniff at cats. Against all odds she died at 15 of old age. I still miss her.
Keith
When my dad was in college, his family got a tiny Yorkshire Terrier named Jennifer. Jennifer was a runt-as a puppy, she could fit into a coffee cup, and she was never very big. Cutest little thing and a tough little bugger too: she used to catch and KILL rats.
My dog is a Westie-West Highland White Terrier. (My sister named her Lassie, thinking we were going to get a collie…yeah right.)
Lassie is probably the most well behaved dog I’ve ever come across. Only problem is: she thinks she’s a cat, because we had three cats up until two weeks ago when my cat died 
and now we have two other cats who just run that little dog ragged.
Smaller dogs are VERY good at catching mice and rats. Contrary to popular myth, cats suck at it (they’re too busy playing with them!) My dog has killed a few mice in her time…
Plus, at least it’s only thirty pounds jumping on you vs. 130!
right now i would rather have a small dog than a big one, my best friend has a weimaraner, and it’s a fucking retard!
it jumps all over everybody, is extremely hyper and thinks i am its chew toy!!!
it is a 100pound dog, it jumps on me and will not sit for longer tha 30 seconds. gee, i wonder why i get so irritated with it?!
“oh he loves you!” yeah. OK. now MAKE him stop!
it is not obedience trained, and the first time i tried to walk it it nearly dragged me into cline avenue* traffic.
the 2nd time i walked it, he pulled so hard that i lost my balance and it dragged me across somebody’s lawn!
westies sound cute, i like shih-tzus also.
cline avenue? just your average busy road lined with apartment complexes, restaurants and businesses and lots of traffic. also a toll road exit!
My aunt has a shi tzu and it is the most ill-behaved little snot! Don’t get me wrong, Smudge is cute, but she’s sooooo bad!
Lassie is so well trained it’s disgusting…
If I ever do get a dog later on, since I’m not a big dog person, I’ll get a sheltie (miniature collie).