Chihuahua w/ a Golden Retriever?

[Hypancistrus]

My mother in law is planning a breeding of her blue and tan, two year old female chihuahua, Mouse. Mouse is not a show dog, but she has been vet checked and cleared for genetic disorders and general health, as has the male (owned by a person two counties over). Mouse is a small Chi and will probably only be able to carry two pups, maybe three. We are interested in taking one. I am concerned about bringing so small a dog into a house with a Golden Retriever though. From what we have seen of Riley at my in-laws house, he is very careful with the tiny dogs (they have three female chi's and a yorkie-poo) but I am worried he could hurt the puppy by trying to play with it. Does anyone here have a big dog and a tiny dog together? Does it work out?

[rabernet]

In my experience with Goldens (I work with many of them and have many in my home with my work with Canine Assistants, and Diamond is a Golden mix), they are intuitively gentle with smaller animals.

We babysat a friend's 9 week old schnauzer a few years ago, who was so tiny Karl called her "Sammich" the whole week - I can slap two pieces of bread on you and call you a sandwich! Diamond was extremely gentle with her.

Diamond also plays gently with my two cats (who adore her btw). She pokes her nose gently into their sides until they flop over on their sides and use her nose as a play toy with their front paws. She lays in front of them and goes "poke, poke, poke!"

Because Goldens main goal in life is to please their owner, setting boundaries and limitations with regards to the wee one, I don't think you'll have any problems. Make sure you have a tiny crate set up that the little one can retreat to when they've had enough.

[Hypancistrus]

Diamond also plays gently with my two cats (who adore her btw). She pokes her nose gently into their sides until they flop over on their sides and use her nose as a play toy with their front paws. She lays in front of them and goes "poke, poke, poke!"

Riley does VERY well with our two cats, and he grew up with my mother's Scottish Terriers and was fine with them. I am probably just worrying over nothing.

Because Goldens main goal in life is to please their owner, setting boundaries and limitations with regards to the wee one, I don't think you'll have any problems. Make sure you have a tiny crate set up that the little one can retreat to when they've had enough.

We have enrolled him in a 9 week, non-food oriented obedience class. We did puppy kindergarten with him and tried a food-based basic obedience class, but the food distracts him too much. He knows sit and stay and is reliable MOST of the time. I want it to be closer to 100% before the mid-summer when the pup would come home. Mouse won't be ready to breed until mid-spring.