You wanna know why its so common with small dogs?

Its because most times whenever they are doing something bad they get picked up and removed from this situation by their owner. An owner who also probably picks them up to praise them and someone they like getting held by.

So now everytime the dog does something bad they get picked up which to them is praise.

And thats why so many little dogs are horribly trained.

That pupper needs proper restraining, and not by its human.

Even the best trained dogs don’t respond well to being jabbed/poked/prodded (and this is not how you trim toenails, you get them down on a table or on your lap).

Source: frequently assisted a vet friend when techs were unavailable, it’s a very rare animal that will tolerate being jabbed, having blood drawn, even just being shaved for an IV. (Actually I’ve never seen it, unless they were mortally ill).

It’s unfamiliar to them, so they react by protecting themselves.

(Edit: this dog, like 98% of them, are poorly socialized/trained in general, which I find very frustrating. People are lazy, complacent shits when it comes to learning about dogs before they get one. And most can’t be bothered to do the work required).