As a wise and kind Uncle told me once, size doesn’t matter, the heart does.
It’s an odd comparison, but Gus reminds me of that advice. If you take the “small” out of dog, you just get a dog, and that is what we have in Gus. He’s just a dog, like almost any other dog, except he is uniformly affectionate, smart and startlingly agile, he can jump right up onto a chair or soft without hardly blinking.
Every morning, he goes out into the pasture and surveys his realm. He seems to think he has been appointed King of Bedlam Farm and is both imperious and lordly. The sheep stop when he tells them, the donkeys love him, the border collies, often ungenerous with their sheep, get out of his way.
Gus proves the old adage that you are as big as you think you are, and defined by no one. I have stopped referring to him as a small dog, in my head or elsewhere, unless I’m making a particular point about these dogs.
My uncle was right, size doesn’t matter, it’s the heart that counts.
I work with a pit bull rescue organization and have two 70 pound pit bulls and one ten pound Papillon of my own. The little Papillon is my pack leader and she’s been the boss of every random dog that has come our way to be fostered. She allows me to confidently add “good with small dogs” to my fosters’ resumes. I marvel every day at how she keeps everyone in line. Little Gus will likely keep on surprising and amazing and delighting you every day of his life, just as all of your other dogs have.
Do you think Gus will become the alpha dog of the Bedlam Farm pack when he reaches maturity? Time will tell, as it always does.
Size doesn’t matter much, I had a rat terrier that dominated a lab 5 times her physical size.