Small dogs offer big protection on dangerous NYC streets, animal trainers say – New York Post

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Crime-weary New Yorkers are teaching their pint-sized pooches to provide big-dog-sized protection, animal trainers told The Post.
A dog “is an amazing psychological deterrent to criminals — no matter its size,” said Bash Dibra, a Bronx-based author, Hollywood consultant and celebrity pet trainer.
About one-third of his clients these days are seeking help turning miniature city mutts into canine crime fighters, a “noticeable increase” over recent years, he noted.
A Turtle Bay dog mom said she “absolutely feels safer” on dangerous Gotham streets with Joey, the 16-pound chihuahua mix she adopted at the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 and had trained to tap into his inner lion.
“A random skeevy guy isn’t going to attack me when I’m walking with Joey,” said Dibra client Suzy Lieberman.
“You come between him and his mom he will bite you, he will attack you,” she added.
Some of Dibra’s techniques have been unconventional — like the time he encouraged a celebrity couple to toss their pooch at perps in the crime-infested 1970s.
A wily wiener dog owned by early “The Tonight Show” host Jack Paar launched Dibra’s career training canines for the rich and famous, after the comedy legend’s wife Miriam was mugged in Central Park.
He taught their dogged dachshund to snarl angrily at aggressors when Mrs. Paar gave a cue — in her case picking up the pooch if she sensed trouble ahead.
“Even if somebody tried to grab her, she could throw the dog at him as a last resort,” said Dibra, while she ran or screamed for help. “That little dog was an amazing deterrent.”
Launching pups at perps is no longer a part of his training program as it was when Paar was mugged. But the basics of his regimen remain similar.
Budding Underdogs are taught to talk, bark, snarl and bare teeth in the direction of danger, upon a cue from the owner.
Criminals seek soft targets and paths of least resistance, Dibra noted, so the snarl of a small dog is often enough to ward off would-be assailants. Even emotionally disturbed persons are “instinctively” deterred or disarmed by the presence of a dog, he said.
The desire for four-legged safety patrols comes as the city is in the midst of a historic crime wave in 2022: assaults up 20.9 percent, shootings up 30.9 percent, rape up 32.1 percent and robberies up 42.4 percent, compared with the same point last year, according to NYPD.
Dogs are an especially effective deterrent against home invasions. FBI data shows that 95 percent of hoodlums will skip a residence if they hear barking, no matter the size of the animal.
And it’s the little dogs — the kind favored by crowded city inhabitants who live in small spaces — that are most up to the task.
Dachshunds, chihuahuas and Jack Russell terriers that are the three most aggressive breeds in terms of bite frequency, according to animal research data.
The French bulldog — also no slouch — grows no larger than 28 pounds, and is the most popular breed in NYC, according to the American Kennel Club.
“Small dogs can be just as tough and aggressive as bigger dogs, even more so,” agreed Anthony Newman of Calm Energy Dog Training in Brooklyn. “You have gentle giants among the big breeds and a Napoleon complex among smaller dogs,” he said.

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