When I was growing up we always had the kinds of dogs for pets that you could just stick outside in the yard and leave alone most of the time. That’s not the case with the dogs that I’m around now. Since I live in a big urban area where most people have apartments instead of homes, everyone that I know who has a dog has a little dog. What I’ve learned from watching these people (and doing the occasional stint of pet sitting for them) is that little dogs need a whole lot more attention than the bigger dogs that I had as a kid.

Don’t get me wrong; the little dogs that my friends have aren’t fragile little toy dogs that need to be coddled. One friend has a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and another has a Miniature Schnauzer. These are sturdy dogs for their size and they want to be played with more than they want to be petted. Nevertheless, these aren’t dogs that you can just leave alone for long periods of time. They want love and affection. Big dogs want that, too, but they tend to be more independent than little dogs and do okay when they don’t get it. This is something I’ll have to think about if I ever decide to get a dog in the city.

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