We had a basenji when I was a teen, which is #78 on the AKC hit parade.
Great dog. Neat, clean, very low maintence. Yodels instead of barking. LOVES hot weather. HATES cold weather.
What I would like to get is an American Mastiff which is exactly the same as an english mastiff, but with a dryer mouth. Another doper showed me the direction to these massive poochies.
Only I don’t have that kinda financial commitment to purchase a purebred right now.
But I wuvs wooking at them, wes I do.
I do have a Lab/Mastiff mix who is the perfect dog. (except the tumbleweed of hair that poooooofs off of her 24/7 year round. GAH!)
Well, my boy is a beagle (#4), but my parents have a Westie (#31), and girlfriend’s folks used to have a border collie (#60). Nothing particularly rare in the family, though.
Heh he he he. I would have phrased it as “This is the same club that wanted to close their studbook to certain other members of the same breed, because those other dogs were proven athletes with a tendency to win at both bench and field, weighed in at the sizes called for by the breed standard, came from DNA registered backgrounds and a much larger gene pool, possessed generally more mellow temperments, and tended not to drop dead of CHF at very young ages.”
Boy, did I used to love to piss off that crowd by showing, and winning, in the ring with my AKC registered dogs that contain a very high percentage (75%ish) of NGA blood. It was fun.
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest]
We had a basenji when I was a teen, which is #78 on the AKC hit parade.
Great dog. Neat, clean, very low maintence. Yodels instead of barking. LOVES hot weather. HATES cold weather.
QUOTE]
I’ve had 3 Basenjis in my life and like them a lot. They tend to run away (as do many hounds), but other than that are great dogs. They have a typical sight hound personality (cat like in many ways) and they certainly aren’t for everyone.
I also had a R. Ridgeback for about a year. I got him as an adult from the breeder who took him back from what she termed an abusive home. He as great with my kids, guarded like a guard dog should, and was a fine dog. He always hated bicycles for some reason - just despised them and would bark and chase after people on bikes. Once they got off he seemed to realized that it was just a person and he’d be OK. That was until one day he was romping in my front yard as I was working in the garden. A 13-ish kid rode up the driveway on a bike to ask directions. I watched the dog sneak up behind the kid and with no notice sink his teeth in the kid’s calf (and the kid certainly didn’t threaten him, he didn’t even know the dog was there).
That was the end of the Ridgeback - I won’t own a dog that bites, certainly not one who is totally unprovoked. I’d get another in the future perhaps, but only a puppy that I could socialize myself.
My dad’s got a half blue-heeler, half McNab . I grew up just south of the McNab ranch where these dogs were bred.
Belle is a bit smaller and lighter than typical McNabs, but she looks more like a McNab in coloring than a blue heeler (except for the spots). She isn’t a working dog, but she’s made a great loyal companion for my dad.
DH’s brother’s Carolina Dog is like that - his name is Radar for his ears, but his nickname is Nana because he’s so great with their toddler. Gentlest dog I’ve ever met.
We have a Border Collie (#60). Actually, Border Collie people fought against AKC recognition of the breed, fearing that breeding for conformation would destroy the Border Collie’s herding instinct and drive. Conformation breeding has damaged a number of breeds, and BC people wanted to avoid that.
If I get another dog, it’ll probably be a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Great dogs.
I had an Australian Sheperd (#34) but he was National Stock Dog registered (born in '91). He was the best dog and big for the breed, he was 27" at the shoulder and 85#. He grew up under the influence of cats and loved to be told he was a good kitty. Funny, he didn’t care much for dogs.
I would imagine some rare breeds, like leonbergers or coton de tulear or fila brasililero, would be mistaken for mutts or a different breed entirley. The Havanese looks too much like a shi tzu, so I wonder why one over the other. My current dog looks like a Rhodesian Ridge back, although he came from a pound and he doen’t have the ridge on his back. I hear that they were used to hunt lions, but my dogis so sweettempered, I doubt he would go after lions
Incorrect. Jack Russell Terriers were added to the AKC list fairly recently. See here. More recently, the “official” name of the breed has been changed to “Parson Russell Terrier.” I dunno why
I’ve got twoPortuguese Water Dogs, ranked #69 on the AKC popularity list. When I got my first in 1999, they ranked in the low 80s.
Aside from my dogs, I have not seen another PWD being walked by their owner, in a dog park or elsewhere outside of a show in about five years. Most people that meet mine say it’s the first time they’ve seen one in real life; “I’ve seen them on TV, but not in person!”
Most PWDs are black or brown, often with some white spots. Mine are “parti-colored” dogs; white with black spots. Only about 1 in 10 or 15 PWDs have parti coloring. It looks striking, but the white fur is more prne to matting than black or brown fur.
I have an eighteen month old dogo, he’s a lot of dog and I absolutely would not recommend them to everyone as a great suburban pet by any means, but I must admit, I am shamelessly in love with this dog. Photos copiously linked in my post at the bottom of this thread.
He will likely top out around 120, but as I said, they are a lot of dog for their size. I have heard some male dogos being described as having the personality of wild animals. They can be wonderful dogs, but in the wrong hands they can be a serious liability as well. Remember that these dogs have never been bred as pets until the very most recent generation, and they’re designed to live out in the godforsaken middle of nowhere, Argentina, hunting 500 pound hogs all night, eating what they catch, hunting jaguars, and killing any hostile intruders that saunter into your estancia.
I love my dog and he’s perfect for us, but I rarely, if ever recommend the breed as a suburban pet. You are more than welcome to email me (mixie armadillo at hotmail. com without spaces) if you have more questions about them!
I missed this the first time. Please don’t worry about this–any breeder worth the title will love to talk about their breed ad nauseum, and will also appreciate that you’re doing your research way before even considering buying a puppy. Also, they’re often really, really great about passing your name or contact info around to owners in your area so you can meet the breed in person. They like it because they’d much rather you know what you’re getting into, having met several, and talked to a lot of owners, rather than just buying it on impulse or whatever.
I’ve had the typical mutts and retrievers. My brother, however, has a German Hunt Terrier. Most descriptions of this breed usually include something along the lines of “not suitable as a pet.” :eek: They acquired Chewy when their youngest son brought home an adorable puppy. Chewy is totally devoted to his family and a terror with strangers. This is a dog that was bred to hunt in packs: “This breed is a pure hunting machine, not recommended for use as a house dog.” He’s traveled with the family as they’ve moved from Moscow to Sri Lanka to Senegal to Zambia to Kenya. He guards their house with a zealotry that brings to mind the phrase (cue Monty Burns), Release the hounds.
Fortunately, they know his triggers. And he’s getting to be an old doggy. Who’s dat ol’ wiggly puppy? Chewyboy! Chewbacca! Chewasaurus rex!! Good puppy!
