I own a Pekingese. He weighs 10 lbs, has masses of coat, and I even buy him little outfits and hats (we have matching mother-son visors). Stereotypical little dog, right? Not really.
Tai is very active for his breed...he is unneutered for show purposes, so he requires more exercise than is typical for a Peke. I usually take him for a daily walk down a short road in the winter, fall, and spring (walks in the summer are out, as he has a short muzzle and long coat, and is highly susceptible to heat stroke). He thoroughly enjoys meeting new people, and would run across the street to greet strangers if I let him. The neighborhood children just love him, and he adores them in return; he’s excellent with kids, and has never bitten anyone (at least not strangers...he’s terrible about having his nails clipped, and fights us about it). He does “chew” slightly in play, but his jaw is so weak that even the hardest gnawing on bare skin doesn’t hurt one bit. He also has never drawn blood.
Tai does not mind rough play at all. I can flip him over on his back and mess him up a bit, and he loves it. While I wouldn’t do anything stupid like put my full (or even partial) weight on him, that’s just common sense, even when it comes to children...you wouldn’t lean on a toddler in play, after all. He also learned to fetch when he was a few months old, and regularly returns stuffed squeaky toys and whiffle balls (no tennis balls...they’re the size of his head).
Tai is an excellent watchdog, but his bark is not shrill and piercing, nor is it excessively loud. He sounds larger than his actual size, which is an excellent deterrant for burglars. He only barks when he hears a car pulling into the driveway, or a noise at the door, and stops as soon as the person enters the house. He also is not aggressive and territorial, as many larger breeds tend to be. He doesn’t bark out of, “Grrr, there’s a stranger out there! Let me at ‘em!”; it’s more like, “Hey Mom! Open the door and let them in so we can all PARTY!” He’s far more sociable than I am, and thinks everyone who walks through the door is there just to see him. He has the same attitude toward other dogs, although admittedly I wouldn’t trust him around small caged animals as far as I could throw a Buick...he thinks the mice are like furry little lollipops.
Tai has a wardrobe. Okay, this is actually kinda indefensible. What can I say? I’m just one of those people who likes to dress up small dogs in silly clothing. Tai has a witch costume for Halloween--yes, I dress my dog in drag--a yellow raincoat, a green T-shirt with the “12 dogs of Christmas” (my favorite is, of course, the “Pekingese in a pear tree”), a Santa hat, a pair of reindeer antlers with jingle bells dangling from them, a little leather jacket that he unfortunately grew out of, and the aforementioned matching mother-son visors, in leopard-print (in my defense, they were a surprise present from my grandmother, who’s even more of a dog nut than I am). All right, you can have me committed now.
Admittedly, Tai is not the most obedient dog (when I took him to conformation classes, the instructor told me that in twenty years of breeding Shelties and teaching classes, he has never seen a dog as stubborn as mine), but that has more to do with his specific breed than small dogs in general--Pekes are notoriously stubborn. Many toy breeds excel at obedience and learning tricks...the most well-trained dog in the world is a toy poodle named Chandra-Leah who boasts knowing over 600 tricks. And Jack Russell terriers have gained world recognition as a television and movie-star breed.
Mom has often compared having Tai around to having a baby...he weighs approximately as much as a newborn, is very limp when held and cuddles right up to your shoulder, has a disproportionately large head that requires support, enjoys being sung to and spoken to in a high-pitched voice (my favorite activity is the “doompa doompa dance”), and even loves games like peek-a-boo and “Super Puppy” (you know, when you take an infant or dog and lift them bodily up so they fly through the air like Superman?). I recently discovered “Spin”, which is great fun. It requires a small, long-haired breed of dog (like a Peke, a Shih Tzu, or a Maltese) and linoleum. Grasp the dog at both sides of the body, and repeatedly spin it around. A bonus of the game is your floor gets mopped in the process!
In addition to dispelling the myths, I would like to point out that small dogs are more economical than large breeds. Put plainly, they cost less time, money, and stress to maintain. Initial purchase may be slightly more expensive than large breeds (small dogs have small litters--Tai was from a litter of two, of which his brother died--and the breeder has to make up the cost of raising litters and medical expenses by jacking up the price of the individual puppies), but they make up for it in the long run. Small dogs eat less, shed less, create less waste, take up less space, and require less exercise (depending on the breed--a terrier will nearly always be more active than your average sighthound) than large dogs. They’re also less destructive, simply because--agile Jack Russells notwithstanding--they can’t reach food on cupboards or antique vases on shelves.
My family has a very small house that features a large but non-fenced yard. Our previous dog was allowed outside on a chain.* Five years after she died I asked to get another dog, as a partial combined birthday and graduation present to myself (said dates were three months apart, so you can see how desperate I was). Due to the size and time constraints--none of us were willing to spend our time treating an active breed to a five-mile daily hike--Mom agreed to let me get the toy poodle I’d had my heart set on since I was four years old. I asked my grandmother (who has connections to the AKC after years of breeding dachshunds) to held me find one. She couldn’t find a local reputable poodle breeder, but she did turn up three other breeds with current litters--Pugs, Italian Greyhouds, and Pekingese. I did some research, and a Peke fit the bill (small, fairly inactive--I thought--and with enough coat to withstand the Michigan winters).
Mom has repeatedly stated that she never imagined owning or even liking a toy breed, but everyone who meets Tai just falls in love with him. I know it sounds like exaggeration, but it’s the truth. One look at his face has made guests burst out laughing at his adorableness. He has also has a highly comical walk, with three gaits: Waddle, bounce, and sprint. His walk has made me often remark that he resembles Pepe le Pew, or Spyro the Dragon.
*Before you start getting all outraged at our poor mistreated dog left cruelly chained up in the backyard, let me inform you that Liz was very old and inactive--she slept the vast majority of the time--and used her time outside to sleep in the sun. She was only allowed outside if one of us was out there to supervise, and we live in a nice safe middle-class neighborhood. Since we were active children we were outside a lot. She was also situated under a nice shady tree, on a very very long tether, and food and fresh clean water were constantly provided for her. We never kept her outside at night or in the winter, and when she did go out in the cold, we put on her little blue sweater (whippets get cold...). When she was indoors she slept with me or my sister in one of our beds, frequently stretched out beside on on the pillow and occasionally pushing us all the way out of the bed. She also slept on the sofa during the day. When she got older and couldn’t make it upstairs very well or jump on the sofa, we gave her an enormous green bean bag doggie bed. She lived to the ripe old age of 17 1/2, which is pretty darn good for a medium-sized dog.