A lot of pet owners are now choosing to keep smaller pets at home, for various reasons.

1.     Space is the first and foremost consideration.  It is not possible to own independent houses these days, and more and more people are resorting to apartment living.  Smaller pets can be house-broken to use a portion of the Apartment like a bathroom or an utility area.

2.     Lack of time is another reason why people are choosing smaller pets these days .  With long working hours,they do not have the time to take their pets for long walks.  A smaller pet can exercise itself by running and playing within the apartment itself.

3.     Rising costs of living is another reason.  A smaller pet means less expenditure in the feeding and maintenance of the pet.

4.     A person needs a pet either as a companion or as a watchdog.  Smaller dogs are much more alert than larger dogs and can warn you if there is an intruder outside your quarters, by just the sound of his footsteps.  As a companion too, there are small in size and so young kids do not feel  intimidated by their size and for older people, they are small enough for easy maintenance.

5.     Today, toy dogs have become status symbols . Celebrities are  pictured carrying smaller pets with them at all times and this has become a trend with others too.

The toy dogs and smaller breeds of dogs that are popular inBangalore today

are  the pugs, the Shih Tzus, the Miniature Pinschers,  Pomerarians, Daschunds, and thes Maltese.  Pugs have become popular after the Vodofone advertisement and every kid aspires to have the same companion as the child model in the advertisement.  The Miniature Pinschers, aptly called the *King of Toys* are highly intelligent, easy to maintain, excellent watch dogs.  The  Daschunds have been popular as indoor dogs for ages.  The ShihTzus and the Malteses are great lap dogs and are ideal pets and great favourites with women in particular. 

The other small  pet that  people like to keep are cats,  The Persians and the common alley cat are quite popular.

Smaller pets, other than the dog and the cat, that are gaining popularity are birds like the African Greys, the Cockatoos, the parakeets and  love birds.

Critters like  Hamsters, Guinea pigs, rabbits are getting popular too