What is the difference between 一只狗 and 一条狗?

Question

I've been told by native speakers that the former refers to little dogs while the latter is for bigger dogs. I also have been told that the latter has a negative connotation. I'm wondering:

1. how negative is the meaning of 一条狗?
2. is one used by speakers of a certain age or from a certain region?

Answer 1

There's no negative connotation, at all.

条 and 只 are used interchangeably in today's Chinese, not just specific to a region. Long ago, 头（頭）were used as a quantifier for dogs or other farm animals. I suspect "head" was dropped because dogs do not have stocky builds as other animals(pigs, donkeys, bulls etc). Also "头" tends to associate "dumb animals" and dogs are perceived as intelligent.

条 in most cases is used to quantify something that's slender, e.g. 一条路(road)， 一条河(river)，一条虫(worm).

I say 一只狗 because it seems to make more sense considering others animals of simliar size and stature also use 只. e.g. 一只猫，一只狐狸 etc. But this is just a personal preference.

Answer 2

I'm afraid I cannot agree with you (or with the native speakers who told you so).

The expressions don't have the differences mentioned in your posts. To me they are equivalent. I prefer "条" though, for no reason.

Answer 3

In most of context, those two just exchangeable. 只 and 条 is measure word, sometimes 只 means 'little' and 条 means 'long' and maybe 'big'. for some person,esp. girls, 'little' hint 'lovable'.