and they make really good hot-water bottle substitutes! Seriously, they curl up on your feet (& barring some tragedy), they are still warm in the morning. Also, they are never so hot that they are scalding.
My dogs are cavaliers (cavalier king charles spaniels) & they are not yappy - except Lucy, who was raised by my mother & is short sighted (so I think she sees a large fuzzy thing heading towards her & hopes barking will scare it off!). Cavaliers were bred both for hunting & for temperament. I think (ie WAG territory) that part of the problem may be that when big dogs were bred for hunting, they were bred for coursing or ambushing or just for flushing & pointing out game, or retrieving it. None of these are tasks that require a lot of noise & many are ones that the dogs must be silent for. Terriers and other small dogs were often bred for ratting, or similar tasks where silence either wasn’t a criterion or where sound was required for drawing their master’s attention. Since they are smaller, the sound is higher pitched ie yappy.
There was definitely a thread about this a while ago - here it is http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=13160 Lots of stories in there from various people about various size dogs (including me - that may have been my first post!). Anyway, to show how nice & calm my dogs are, or what cavaliers look like if you haven’t seen them before, try my dog pics webpage
For what it’s worth, I’ve seen plenty of small dogs that are yappy (miniature poodles, for example) and plenty of small dogs that are brave (Jack Russels), but I have never seen one that is both yappy and brave.
My Westie is a VERY good dog, as was the afore mentioned Yorkie, Jennifer. My sister named our dog Lassie, and she’s the greatest, most well-trained dog I’ve ever come across.
And that’s saying something, as I am NOT a dog person.
<self-pity>
I used to work in a vet’s office.
There was a kennel in the back.
One day, a couple years ago some stupid person dumped a couple little yappy dogs to stay for an indefinate amount of time.
Their names were Pinky and Prince Peppy Jon-Jon.
They yapped and yapped and yapped ALL. THE. TIME.
When I walked them they STRANGLED themselves on the leash, pulling and darting back and forth. However walks were futile since they just went and shat in the cage all the time. Guess who had to clean it.
The little bastards lived there for an indefinate amount of time allright…they were still there when I left about a year ago. My ears still ring from that incessant squealing.
</self-pity>
Okay. They can be hilarious. Take SNL’s ‘Dog Show’ for instance. I totaly get a kick out of that. Mr. Bo-jangles, Rocky bel-boa, Captain Gingersnap, and Lord Pistachio…indeed.
Anyway, I think they yap just so we have more reason to eliminate their fluffbally, putrid existance from the planet FOREVER. MWAHAHA.
This is so funny – I saw Shatzi’s name on the last post, and figured somebody was gonna be lambasted by a small-dog lover. One of the evil little dogs I knew was named Shatzi; in fact, it seems to be a fairly popular name for little dogs.
My yorkie wasn’t yappy until he was 5 and 1/2 months old. Testosterone kicked in and he hasn’t shut up since. And persistent? You bet! My mini-doxie isn’t SO bad, but once she goes off, she is deaf to anyone telling her to shut up. And they will both bark at HORSES fercrissakes. And bark, and bark, and bark…well, you get the picture!