# Smallest dog that fetches

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-dog-that-fetches/600702>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 25, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-dog-that-fetches/600702 "2011-10-25T02:29:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-dog-that-fetches/600702/41 "2011-10-28T23:14:38Z")

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> [@Oly](#):
>
> . . . As far as yappy, thanks for reminding me. MINIMAL, please. Hard enough to bring the spousie on board. A yappy pup and we’d both loose our nut sacks.

No Min Pins, then. They don’t just yap at nothing, but they’ll announce anything that comes near their yard or house. Or the car, if they’r in that.

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-dog-that-fetches/600702/42 "2011-10-28T23:42:53Z")

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My neighbors have a [wire haired fox terrier](http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/wirefoxterrier.htm). She will fetch all day. Adorable as fuck, too.

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-dog-that-fetches/600702/43 "2011-10-28T23:50:59Z")

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Cats can do it too. I had one that fetched plastic bottle caps without even being taught. One day I threw one, thinking she’d just chase it, and she brought it back to me, to throw it again. She could do it for about 20 minutes.

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**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-dog-that-fetches/600702/44 "2011-10-29T00:24:51Z")

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> [@PapSett](#):
>
> I’m going to say it again- Papillon.

If I ever opt for a toy-sized dog, it may well be a Papillon. I went to a weekend tracking seminar with a Rottweiler several years ago…most people had Belgians, GSDs and other big working dogs. A woman came with a Pap and he was a serious little tracking dog!

Friends of mine were at an agility nationals last year, where Papillons took just about every title in their class…people were calling it a Pap smear. 😃

I’ve never met a yappy Pap. 🙂 They are a little dog with serious work ethic and if you got one with a fetching gene you’d be golden.

But really it depends on the individual, not the breed. I have a black labrador retriever who missed a memo on the retrieving issue: he won’t. I have a Rottweiler and a Jack Russell terrier mix who will both play fetch until their teeth fall out. I also had a cat who retrieved balls of crumpled paper like a champ.

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