1. They never took her to obedience school because they thought she was small and they could handle her. I think all dogs should be taken to obedience school.
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Some dogs need more training than others, some owners also need more training than other.

2. They always let her do what she wants and when she acts out they make excuses for her behaviour.
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This is why she does what she wants, she has no reason to change.

Mine tried displaying dominance once so I called the breeder and asked how to handle it. They told me to take her (she's a tough aussie) by the scruff of the neck and lightly shake her like the mother dog does. I did it several times and it worked.

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If you try this technique with this dog you will get bit.

3. She has nipped people several times. A nip IMHO is still a bite. She may be small but I don't trust her around children.

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Good instincts, she should not be trusted, she should be trained

4. If she ever does that when they are on my property, I will handle her the same as I handled mine.

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Remember she is not your dog and has not been trained, if you try to correct her she may see it as a threat and bite you. It is best to use carrots not sticks to train dogs and people for that matter

5. She also s***ts in the house because she's to lazy to go outside. I've seen her walk into my house and start dropping s**t as she walks down the hall and this has been after she has been outside for an hour or so!

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This is NOT laziness, it is dominant behavior. If you want to make everyones life better offer to help train the dog or take it to a positive reinforcement trainer...

5. She also s***ts in the house because she's to lazy to go outside. I've seen her walk into my house and start dropping s**t as she walks down the hall and this has been after she has been outside for an hour or so!

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This is NOT laziness, it is dominant behavior. If you want to make everyones life better offer to help train the dog or take it to a positive reinforcement trainer...

Who is lazy? The person who is supposed to walk and house-break the dog, or the dog? Just because a dog has been put out does not mean it has done its business. It needs to be walked and supervised.

Sounds like irresponsible owners. No sure what you can do about that. Your "discipling" the dog (and I question your methods) will not train nor help the dog.

Ditto, ditto, ditto everything that Mazer just posted! This is a classic example of pack leader! She owns the people! Nuff said!

Marg, be grateful she is not your dog and my suggestion is to keep quiet around her owners unless you are asked or she is in your house. Most people are just as sensitive about their pets as they are about their kids! But that's only my opinion of course. :)

Ginny

Thanks everyone. He doesn't live close by and I only see them twice a year. At first I thought I was imagining how bad it was. Glad to know I'm right to be concerned! They are retired and their kids grown so they bought the dog to keep them busy. The dog is spoiled and I really do wonder if training would actually help. Marg

This isn't the dog's fault, she doesn't know any better. She does what she wants when she wants because she hasn't been trained by her owners and that's sad. One day she will nip someone and it might cause heartache for her owners.

We have a lot of small dogs in our neighbourhood and most of their owners let them do what they want. They bark and growl at others going by but that's okay because its only a small dog and they're so cute. I have two dobermans who are trained, friendly and well behaved. But people expect this from larger dogs.

If these were my friends I would say something to them about their dog and how I felt about her pooping in my house.