People ask me a lot, where can they get a nice small dog. Not all small dogs are happy little purse dwellers. A lot of them are high energy and can kick ass with the big dogs. Obviously, if you've met the team. There are a lot of small dogs that need homes that had bad lives and come with baggage. You can also pick 'em up in shelters, on the side of the road, like I have, but you never really know what you'll be dealing with til you start dealing with it. Here is some info to help you figure out about getting a small dog and some rescue organizations to start with:

Picking Your Small Dog-

Terriers are hyper and are bred to work independently of humans. They are awesome dogs but take the genetics into account. They want to kill small things a lot of the time like cats and squirrels and gophers. This is good if you want your gophers killed, but remember it's gross to watch and it will involve a lot of digging. They are more of a challenge to train than a lot of dogs because they work on their own. But pretty damn fun dogs.

Chihuahua type dogs get babied a lot and can become territorial and scared of things. If you get a chihuahua type dog, don't baby it. Treat it like a dog. Don't let it take ownership of you. Little dogs that bite just suck and can end up being kicked by someone. Little street dogs are easy to find. Good socializing and positive reinforcement trainiing can help little chihuahua type dogs. Otterpop is probably a chihuahua mix, and look at her. She's no baby. Don't even let her think you thought that.

Poodle types are smart and fast! There is much curly hair to deal with (mohawk!), but it is hypo allergenic so allergy people sometimes can have poodles. Llhahpso Ahpso types generally don't do great with agility.

Corgi's and Shelties are small and fast and enjoy balls and running. You should enjoy barking! They should do agility a lot. These are like little herding dogs with tiny legs. Definitely do agility or have sheep or a ranch if you have corgis and shelties.

Where Do You Rescue a Small Dog?

Just know that you never know what you're getting into with a rescue dog. Be prepared to take on some training challenges. You may be helping a dog that had a really crappy life. When you bring them home, they may have dramatic personality changes after the first week or 2 or 3. It's the reality of dog rescue. I have dogs from shelters and a dog we found running around in the country (OtterPop the car chaser). Be ready for anything, but you are doing a good thing! It is really easy to find dog rescue orgs in your area. A lot of time if you get a dog from a rescue that has been fostered you might get a more realistic personality profile of your dog than if you just find it or get it from the pound. They are super freaked out in the shelters. The dog that seemed super cute in the shelter may end up being horrified of men or kids or have issues that you don't neccessarily want to deal with.

Health Issues-

Small dogs live a long time! This is a fabulous thing about small dogs. Your small dog could live way longer than your big dogs. A nice thing about switching to small dogs! A lot of teensie tinies are prone to subluxating patellas-if your dog looks like it's skipping with it's back legs a lot, there is a good chance that his little dog knee caps are slipping around. This may require surgery. Maybe $2000 per kneecap. If you're doing agility with your small dog, don't jump it too high. Especially short legged dogs like corgi type dogs. Don't jump your puppies high til they're about a year old, even small dogs have growth plates that have to close. Also chihuahuas have little soft spots on their skulls-don't drop sharp things around your chihuahua's heads!

Watch out for your small dog at the dog park. If your dog weighs 15 lbs, it is not neccessarily going to fare well playing with first one, than two, then more and more big dogs and it will be the one ganged up on. Use good judgement where you take your small dog to play. It can get easily overpowered and ruin a lot of good socialization. Watch the sighthounds and huskie type dogs with it too. Some small dogs equal prey to dogs that do lure coursing or just have high prey drive. Keep your small dog safe.

Purse Dogs-

Even purse dogs need to run around. If you carry your dog in a purse, please find a very cute purse, then take it out. If you don't exercise your purse dog, it can become territorial and snappy and evil. This gives small dogs a bad name! Try taking an agility class with your purse dog. Teach it some off leash skills like "come" and "stay" first. It's easy to find positve reinforcement training classes wherever you are. Don't train your small dog with a pinch collar-they are small! Come on Paris Hilton-this is for you! Nicole Ritchie, you will love dog agility!

Some (Small) Dog Rescue Organizations:

These are ones in relative proximity to the beautiful Central Coast of California.

CAPE-Companion Animal Protection and Education. Out of Santa Cruz. They foster a variety of dogs, including ones from Compassion Without Borders, who brought Gustavo back with them from a spay/neuter trip to Juarez, Mexico.

The MILO Foundation - They used to be in Berkeley, now are sort of general Bay Area. They foster the dogs. Boy Howdy came from here!

Nike Animal Rescue Foundation-They foster dogs too. General South Bay area.

Small Dog Rescue-Chico Area. They foster dogs out too.

LA Chihuahua Rescue-They are in LA. But if was looking for a chihuahua, and I lived in LA, I would go to them. There are a lot of chihuahuas running around in LA.