Moxie Mutts

05/08/2024

Mountain Mutts 🏔️🥰

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05/04/2024

03/20/2024

Yeah I’m tired of those “chihuahuas/little dogs in general are more aggressive” jokes.

The phrase “Small Dog Syndrome” is often used to describe small dogs who display behaviours like barking, biting, growling, snapping, lunging, etc. People will say that that’s just how small dogs are or that small dogs are trying to make up for their size.

But this is not a thing. The problem with this is:
- We’re labelling instead of understanding why the dog is displaying these behaviours.
- We may be ignoring the fact that their aggressive behaviours could mean they’re in pain.
- We end up not doing much to help our small dogs out with their stress, fears, and pain.
- We blame their behaviour on them and use punishment to stop their behaviour, causing them more discomfort and stress, which can further increase aggressive behaviours.

Little dogs are not simply more “aggressive” than dogs of other sizes. It’s just that when they show subtle signs of fear, stress, pain, and discomfort, they often get ignored and need to use more obvious signals like growling, barking, snapping, etc. to finally be heard and get something to stop. They are also more likely to be manhandled by people to control their movement which causes or exacerbates potential pain and removes a lot of their agency.

For example, a little dog may be petted over the head by strangers a lot when they don’t want to be, and they may have started off with fear and discomfort signals such as tucking their tail and licking their lips. But as that goes unheard and their growls only get laughed at, they now have to resort to biting to stop people from coming over to pet them.

It’s so important to listen to our dogs and try to understand the function of their behaviour, rather than use labels which do not help us with understanding our dogs and helping them feel better and safer in this world.
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Little dogs deserve to be heard just as much as bigger dogs. Their little “no”s and signs of discomfort should be respected and taken seriously, rather than be ignored or laughed at. While cute and little, they are still sentient beings who have feelings and every right to communicate those feelings.

ID: The text says “Are little dogs more ‘aggressive’… or are we just more likely to ignore their signals of stress ad discomfort, so they have to use aggressive behaviours to be heard? Under this is a cropped out picture of a tan chihuahua with a speech bubble next to them that says “I’m sick of the ‘Small Dog Syndrome’ myth.”

01/29/2024

Our mellow and big goofy boy Bruno has been patiently waiting for a home... he's had no interest.

This guy is really just the most easygoing bully you could ever ask for. He loves every single person he meets, he is perfect in the house, has dog friends, and is just plain awesome.

Please share him and apply at gobeyondrescue.org

12/28/2023

We laughed a little too loudly and a little too long at this one. 

12/21/2023

11/19/2023

😁🐶

11/16/2023

Beach Day 🏖️

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11/16/2023

❤️🐾🐾

11/15/2023

Beautiful Blue Sky Beasties 🥰 ⛅️ ..

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11/14/2023

This is the album cover for my new record entitled: Finding My Echo 🤓

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11/12/2023

k cool

10/25/2023

Happy 4 years old today, Zeuie‼️The youngster of the pack & the sweetest of gentle giants 💝

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10/25/2023

True Story

10/20/2023

10/18/2023

Hot Tamales 🥵

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10/16/2023

We had a rockin birthday party for sweet sweet Luna today 🥳 🎂 🥰 Happy Sweet 6 my girl 💝

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10/12/2023

Another absolutely gorgeous day at the beach with these muskrats 🥰😎

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10/11/2023

Happy to be back with my sweets 🍭🥰

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