The other morning I was working with my black Labrador retriever Max with some of his commands. Max is short for Maximum Energy. I do his off leash training in the morning when the suburban park near my house is empty and we can work off leash. Another dog owner came by and watched for a few moments.

Then she said, “Labs are so subservient, my Shih- Tzu Melody is so much more independent and has such an original personality. She would never put up with anything like your dog does.”

I nodded and said something like, “That’s nice.”

She gave me a condescending smile and began to walk away. Meanwhile Melody didn’t want to go. She was barking and using her independent personality. She decided to pull away from her owner who was using one of those retractable leashes. By the time melody got to the end of her leash she had a full head of steam, and came to a jolting stop.

I imagined what that same experience would have been like with Max who is 75 lbs and all muscle. It is doubtful that if Shih Tzu’s grew to weigh between 60 lbs and 80lbs that the owner would be so tolerant of its behavior.

This isn’t a discussion about which is better big dogs or little dogs, or what breed is better. My general opinion if it’s a dog that is a good start. However, I do believe that larger dogs have more potential to harm or scare people buy jumping on them and other behaviors that many small dogs routinely do without much or any serious reprimand from their owners.

Unfortunately, some people will adopt or buy a large breed of dog and in every way be good committed owners in except one. They let their pooches get away with behavior that someday may either injure another person or dog, or may get their dog injured. The outcome may be a law suit, or having a court order to have the dog put down.

We have all seen these dogs. If off leash they will run up to strange dogs, or passersby. Some dogs feel very insecure when they are on leash and see a large dog run up to them. Some dogs use the bite first ask questions later philosophy. It is amazing in how short of time, say the blink of an eye, an earnest and very dangerous dog fight can break out. Not only are the animals in danger of being bitten, but so are the owners who try to separate the fighting dogs.

To some five or six year old children (or older) there can be nothing more terrifying than seeing a dog that weighs 20 or 30 lbs more than they do come bounding toward them. The same can be true for some adults, especially those who were bitten or otherwise traumatized by a dog in the past. Also, remember as strange as it may be, there are some people who are not dog people and find having someone’s rover jumping on them very irritating.

There is a dog park about a five minute drive from my house. I avoid it. Frequently it has as many unattended toddlers and small children as there are dogs. It is no place to throw a ball for a Labrador who thinks he was born to retrieve. The first time I took max there he inadvertently ran into a child who was around five who had picked up the ball I had thrown for max. Max tried to stop but ran into the child who let out a cry loud enough to be heard by his preoccupied mother who was on the cell phone. She came running to her precious child. She let me have it. Fortunately, a couple of other people had seen what had happened and told the mom she should have been watching her kid. I suggested if she couldn’t pay attention to her child, she put a leash on the child before she came into the enclosed dog park.

I discovered that just ten minutes away there is a county dog park that is 36 acres of enclosed heaven for Max. It even has two smaller enclosed areas the size of tennis courts that can be used when one wants to train their dog without distractions. Best yet the park has a pond whose purpose is for dogs who like to swim and retrieve. The majority of dogs in this dog park are medium sized to large dogs. And most of them are well behaved and socialized.

I attribute their good behavior to two things. The first is that when one brings his/her pooch to a 36 acre woodland and meadows dog park, the dog best not be a dog who runs away or doesn’t come when it is called. Why? Thirty-six acres is a lot of space in which to search for a dog. If someone is foolish enough to bring that kind of animal to a park that size and unleash it, I guarantee that s/he will not do it again.

The second reason for the good behavior exhibited by the vast majority of dogs at the dog park is because of where it is located. Owners must put their pooch in the car and drive it to the park. That little bit of extra effort seems to screen out the less committed dog owners to those who understand the responsibilities of owning a larger dog.

There must be some kind of dog trainers rule that says “The bigger the dog, the larger the need for good manners.”Now don’t get me wrong, I think all dogs should have obedience training, be socialized, and have good manners. However, you got to admit there is a big difference between an excited Great Dane Jumping up and putting its paws on your shoulders and looking you in the face, than there is a Chihuahua jumping up and putting its paws on your shins.

Also, exercise your dog. It makes training and manners much easier. Max, is hyper. We adopted him at six months and he was a handful even for a Lab. We think that is the reason his previous owners turned him into the animal shelter. They either didn’t have the patience, or the time, or the space or all of the previous for a hyper dog that grew from a cuddly puppy to Maximum Energy.

He gets two good walks a day. Usually in the morning I bring a tennis ball and he gets good cardio. I walk and throw and he runs and retrieves. In the evening , especially in the summer, I walk him but because of fear of overheating I don’t run him. Those two walks and making sure he is trained to be a good canine are the reasons Max the Maximum Energy dog, is now Max, the Maximum Fun dog.

We have little bits of training during these walks. He now heels, ignores squirrels and bunnies when told no, will sit and stay, knows stop and down. Follows hand signals and more. People seemed amazed at all Max does and all he knows. They frequently ask who your trainer is. Or, how do you find time to teach him all that stuff.

My response is when we walk we just as well do something more than me talk on the cell phone or max chase squirrels or sniff where other dogs are. So we spend a little time on something each day.

In the end my higher expectations for a large dog as far as obedience and good manner s are concerned have paid off in that both Max and I enjoy learning from each other. And I would say that the larger the dog the more size does matter when it comes to good manners and obedience.

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