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A big dog's jaws can exert enough pressure to crush a bone. By this measure alone, they are more dangerous than smaller dogs. Therefore, a smaller dog is safer to have around children.

Regardless of the temperament of the individual dog, we cannot read a dog's mind. We can never state with 100% certainty that the dog would not bite if provoked. A dog can surprise you and not respond with aggression, but it is not wise to make the assumption that they will not.

Children poke, climb, pull hair and stick things in dogs faces. Sometimes, children are tempted to take toys or bones away from dogs. With that in mind, would you rather take the chance of a small dog getting irritated and retaliating or a big dog?

A situation could go either way and you cannot predict the outcome. I heard a story once about a girl who tripped over her dog in the dark and was attacked. On the other hand, my son once dropped a bowling ball on the Husky we had at the time and the dog did nothing other than give him a dirty look. You just don't know how a dog will respond, even if it responded differently in the past.

I know first hand that little dogs tend to be nippier, but the damage they can inflict is minimal compared to a big dog. I have witnessed what a big dog can do to a smaller dog. I can't even imagine what that dog could have done to a child.

Of course, if you believe your dog (regardless of its size) has aggressive tendencies, you should put your children first and find the dog another home. With that said, I think it is more about training your children than it is about training your dog.

We have four dogs, ranging from 90 pounds to 4 pounds. Although my biggest dog is the calmest dog, I acknowledge that she is a dog. As soon as they were mobile, I began to teach my children about the proper way to act around dogs. Even with the best precautions, though, my earlier examples show that accidents can still happen.

Not only can a big dog bite with extreme pressure, enough to shatter a bone, but big dogs can also knock children to the ground. Thankfully, our big dog doesn't jump, but we have had dogs in the past that did. We have also had neighbors with big dogs that jumped. My oldest son was bruised and scraped up one time by the neighbor's Akita knocking him to the ground and pinning him. A small dog probably would not have even put him off balance.

So, I have to conclude that the strength of big dogs, both in biting and knocking down, makes them more dangerous than small dogs.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Paige.
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