It also reduces the number of people with bad intentions who will approach you. A dog may be cute and small, but they are also fast, bitey, barky and very good on picking up threats.
Maybe, though I’ve had a group of high school aged kids larger than me threaten to kick my small dog, and I was genuinely confused how to act. On the one hand, I didn’t want my dog to get hurt. On the other hand, I wanted to confront them even though it would have been a losing battle and a threat to my dog’s safety. If I was alone I would have acted differently. But so would they.
Tell them you formerly had a larger dog but had to shoot it when it viciously attacked someone.
the mother of this dog is still busy mauling the last guy that tried to kick her puppy.