Would be interested to hear the pros and cons of owning 2 dogs of different sizes, for example GR and CKCS or similar size differences.  Wonder if I went down this route whether I would be a nervous wreck that the smaller one would get hurt accidentally by the larger breed.

I've got an old lab cross who gets on fine with my 11 month old Mastiff.
The lab cross is 21inches tall and weighs approx 5 stone, he is 14 years old, with his age and 'dodgy' back legs he's not as sturdy as he used to be.
The Mastiff, who plays rather rough is 30 inches tall and weighs approx 10&half stone.
The size difference doesn't sound much written down, but as the Mastiff is 'bum-high' the old dog can walk underneath him!!
The only thing I need to watch is the age difference, the oldie hasn't got the zest for play like the mastiff so I need make sure oldie gets the peace he deserves.
:)

ETA, the only 'accident' there's been is the oldie knocking the Mastiff over when he was a bit smaller (but still much bigger than the other dog), I'm sure that is the cause of the Mastiffs ED :(

Hi Annie, I have 3 dogs of different sizes, small (a CKCS), medium (Samoyed) and large (Alaskan Malamute). The Mal came first and we were quite nervous when introducing the Cavalier, but she has been just fine and the two of them adore each other :-) Gypsy (the CKCS) is quite capable of putting the Mal in her place. Our Mal prefers to live outside in the day so its nice to have a little house dog. When Samoui (Mal) was in the vets recently overnight, Gypsy really missed her.

There are not really any cons, like you say we were worried at first that Samoui would be a bit boisterous with Gypsy but they were introduced really carefully and watched closely when in the garden together. One of the reasons we got Gypsy was that we discovered Samoui had an illness and we weren't sure how long she'd be around for. Unfortunately we have got to the stage now where we can't take her for walks, but the main con we had was that when walking, because Gypsy felt she had "backup" she became bossy with other dogs as Samoui is not great with others. However when I walk Gypsy on her own or with Megan the Samoyed she's fine.

Megan has only just joined our clan but she has fitted in perfectly, I wouldn't change having 3 different sizes for the world, I feel I have the best of everything with my 3 girls :-) :-)

I keep Boxers and Cavaliers together with no problems. I often see a cav puppy in a boxer mouth (up to the shoulders :-))  pinching a chew. When free running I do have to stop big bowling little 'uns over.

I keep a GSD and a Daxi ,it used to be a bit scary when the Dax was a puppy and used to disapear into the shepherds mouth. But they get on quite well ,I have to be a little more careful now as the dax has had  a back operation.But generaly they do get on. Dachmad

think it depends entirely on the breeds and the individuals. We have a small working lakeland in our pack of heavyweights and she holds her own being as tough as nails!! A freind of mine has 4 bloodhounds and a cav annd all his fine but if I were to have a fragile thing like that here it wouldnt survive 5 mins as my lot are so rough.

hi,
i have a gsd and a chihuahua and they get on great,somtimes the little one gets kicked over when the gsd is excited and jumping around but he never gets hurt.
they play together all the time and its usualy the gsd that ends up hurt not the chi! they play very rough together! i love it having two totaly different breeds that are opposite to each other in so many ways.

When we had our first Bernese we got Dakko (Swedish Lapphund - roughly border collie sized), and they were fine together but Dakko was a very sturdy dog. We now have a Bernese and a Gordon Setter and they play together all the time, if the bernese gets too rough, the gordon runs behind our tree where she can't be got at :-D, they are roughly the same height but vastly different in weight and build :-D We had to watch when the setter was a puppy though as Bramble is only a year older and really was too rough then :-D

We have a Shiba Inu which is our guard dog. She lives happily with our laid-back pack of Siberian Huskies. If there is ever any sort of confrontation, she usually wins, although being outweighed several times over. I think that maybe someone once told her she was an Akita and she's carried on in that belief ever since!

We have had a GSD and standard dacshies together for many years now.  The only real problem is that our GSD is now the youngest and at 14 months she is still playing a bit rough but it IS play and she DOES stop if a dacshie yelps.

Louise

I have a American cocker spaniel and a Ful Rottweiler (had a rottie cross when I got my Am as well) and it is the Am cocker that rules the house now my old Rottie cross has gone to the bridge.
So in this house I dont see any problems, as they have a go at each other and sort it it out!!!
Not experienced on a toy breed and a rottie tho LOL
Lea :)

I have a boder collie, 3 dobes and a sheltie , I also think it depends of the breed of dogs, When getting the sheltie i asked a friend of a friend who has
a vast amout of knowledge on what she would think would fit in with my lot , He great with the other dogs and also walks with 6 german shepards with no problems.

I keep Irish Setters and American Cockers together, the Irish are anything for a quiet life so the Yanks rule the roost.

Dawn R.

Enjoying reading the stories, thanks everyone :)  Wonder if people choose a mixture of breeds/sizes through personal choice though and maybe the dogs themselves would be happiest with a similar sized pal?  Or could it be that dogs just don't see themselves as being big or small anyway? :-P

I ahve a Golden Retriever who weighs 33kg and a small terrierX who weighs 6kg. I was worried at first by the size difference but my GR just adjusts his play to suit the smaller dog - who is more than capable of holding his own though. If our GR is dashing around on a walk the terrier has learnt to duck down when he hears Harley approaching and H will jump over him :) He has been knocked over a couple of times but so far has bounced.

They will play tuggy together and Harley always adjusts his pulling power to accomodate Cooper's. They regularly play fight and sit on each other but again Harley never puts his whole weight on Cooper whereas Cooper will stretch out on Harley all the time - as you may be able to see in my avatar :)

I used to have a labrador and yorkshire terriers. Never had any problems they played and slept together. I had my lab first and when my yorkie pup came along my lab was very wary of this little bundle of fluff but was always quite gentle. My lab was one of those dogs in a million. I still have yorkies and when I am in a position to add to my household I intend to have another lab.
jane

I have a cocker and a huge border an the cocker is the boss. He can walk under Jake and bite his bits!!! I did get the smaller dog first (but only by 8 weeks) so he got his feet under the table first. Jake has just grown and grown but he knows Whistler will not stand for much and he (W) has been known to hang off his cheek!!! whilst Jake pulls Whis around by his ears. Never a bad fight because Jake capitulates easily he's v. gentle.

Just noticed what a lovely picture.

We have 2 miniature poodles and 2 bernese mountain dogs.  In our case they all get on well together.  The younger poodle especially can do absolutely anything to the larger dogs including taking their bones from them!  But you have to always be aware that if there was to be squabble between the sizes that the consequences are much more serious than say the two poodles having a handbags at dawn scrap.  Out walks its on the whole fine as the bernese have not a chance of keeping up with the poodles, although we did have one accident when a bernese ran into a stationary poodle and cracked her ribs, although the bernese cant run as fast they also cant stop as fast!!  When the dogs are left in the house we keep big and small seperate.  There is no reason why big and small dogs can't be kept together as long as you use your common sense.

Thanks everyone. :)

i have a hairless chinese crested and an akita. The small one is definitly the boss! The only con is that i never leave them unsupervised and that is only incase my 8 stone akita stands on the little one. They get along fine and am sure its quite funny to watch me walking them down the street
jo x

From reading these posts, it certainly seems like the smaller dog often ends up being in charge! :-P

i keep a bulldog and 2 chis together,one of the chi's sleeps on the bulldogs back and theyre great together.