Whoa, I'm gone for a couple of days and look what I miss. I was in no way trying to belittle or degrade small dogs or offend anyone. These are nicknames that I use, some more than others when describing little dogs in a playful manner. As for lil' $h!t dogs, there are big $h!t dogs too. The term "$h!t" being referred to as "tha $h!t" or "all that", better than the rest, which little dogs think they are and rightfully so. They strutt around acting like they are the size of a Rottweiler. The stereotype behind little dogs is that when you think of a small dog, you think of a dog being spoiled, carried around everywhere, groomed everyother week, basically living in the high society of the dog world. For a lot of them, that's what they were originally created for, to sit in a lap and look cute. There are good and bad, true and false stereotypes. Just because it is a stereotype, doesn't mean it's bad. Is it degrading when someone with a small dog sees my Pits and calls their own dog "a snack" for my dog? Which dog is that degrading to? Pit Bulls used to be considered the "nanny dogs", a stereotype that owners now days have done their best to get away from. I use each nickname to refer to each little dog in their own way, not just for all of them in general and it's all for fun. For example:

-little prissy breeds that require a lot of grooming: foo foo dogs
-little tough breeds that act big: lil $h!t dogs
-little dogs that just won't shut up: yippy dogs
-little annoying dogs that just won't go away: kick dogs
-ankle biters is self explanatory

I myself have a lil $h!t dog who thinks he's a Pit Bull. He's a 8lb Chihuahua/Boston Terrier? mix and he's the toughest, baddest, guard dog in a house full of Pit Bulls. He used to "beat up" a Rottie I was fostering, because he thought he was "tha $h!t". Guess I won't post the nicknames for big dogs.