# Considering getting a dog **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491 "2019-11-15T14:51:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491/21 "2019-11-16T01:53:58Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Have you ever owned a dog, DV? If not, might hiring an exterminator be a more lasting and less aggravating solution to your rodent problem? Cats might be more your speed too, both barn cat types and indoor kitties. > > Dachshunds are sweet? OK, if you say so. I am not sold on the ‘sweetness’ of any terrier or close cousin to same. At least any that were bred for rodent control and are true to type. (Though I am friendly with the neighbor’s long-haired doxie,\*\* mainly because I know where to scratch\*\*.) One of my neighbors claims doxies love butt scritches because they can’t reach it to scratch it themselves. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491/22 "2019-11-16T05:03:12Z")
**Gray Ghost** , sorry, missed your post somehow until now. it’s been decades since I’ve owned or been responsible for a dog for any length of time. I like dogs generally, but as a cat person, this is not a decision or action I do lightly or frivolously. Pets are not mere accessories. They are members of the household with rights and responsibilities, living creatures with feelings and (some level of) intelligence and thought and awareness. I said traps would be used for short term rodent control because I know my doggy skills are essentially none and I will need to get some training. Plus get the back yard into shape for a dog to play in. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491/23 "2019-11-16T06:16:15Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > what the??? How…I’m not seeing it…a Rottweiler/Dachshund mix?..saw one on one of the local animal shelter adoption page, so I guess? But, HOW? Nah, that can’t be right I hereby request and require more details on this doggo. It sounds perfect. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491/24 "2019-11-16T06:37:10Z")
A ‘Rottshund’. I also am intrigued, but only for the amusement factor. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491/25 "2019-11-16T08:28:00Z")
Und here you are, der [Vvienerschtiff](http://ws.petango.com/webservices/adoptablesearch/wsAdoptableAnimalDetails2.aspx?id=43210330&css=&PopUp=true) A regular dachshund with regular dachshund coloring and marks that some poor schlub not very fsmiliar with the breed decided had to be a rotty mix:smack: And Sunny it would have to be cause a rottweiler sized dachshund is terrifying ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491/26 "2019-11-16T17:03:05Z")
Feet too small to be full Dachs. And, yeah, that is a terrifying dog! ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491/27 "2019-11-16T19:01:53Z")
I’ve never seen a mouse in our house (we’ve always had cats). I’ve never even seen one in the yard; the one that Ms. P saw was quickly dispatched by our Heeler/Beagle mix. The Lab we had before would have let a mouse sit on her head. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2019, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491/28 "2019-11-17T08:10:52Z")
Actually, now that I think about it, most of our dogs over the years have happily hunted and dispatched mice, rats, squirrels, skunks, gophers, moles, and the occasional unfortunate bird. I think you could widen your search a bit. My list includes: Akitas, Rottweiler, GSDs, Golden Retriever, Swiss Mountain Dog, Chihuahua (well, he tries :p), lab mix. I don’t know if the Newfie would have done it though. Avoid large, water-loving goof balls and you should be fine. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2019, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491/29 "2019-11-17T12:31:11Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Monumentally dominant too, at least for the two I’ve personal acquaintance with. I had a Weim, so not a great shock, but the Min Pins were bossy, fearless dogs. Didn’t know they were hell on vermin too. Yeah, I forgot to mention the dominance thing. We already had dogs when Herr Pin moved in. The pecking order was reestablished overnight, and we were taking bets on when he’d have the others standing at attention for morning inspection. It should be mentioned the largest outweighed him by a factor of 4. The fearlessness is difficult to describe if you’ve never been around them. One afternoon all my dogs were outside doing their business, and a massive thunderclap and lightning strike occurred nearby. The other dogs tore the yard up getting back in the garage – the Min Pin looked up in the sky, barked back at the thunder, and continued peeing on the fence post. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491/30 "2019-11-18T02:47:54Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > For all of you who said cat, that was my first thought, but a little research into what type would be best (Coon and American Shorthair Domestic btw) shows that cats are actually not as good as dogs for mousing. I need/want an animal that will not only discourage the pests with their presence but actually work to eliminate the current infestation. I want/need a partner in this battle of beasts who will tell me where to look if they can’t get to the rodent directly. Not an animal that may or may not decide to do more than look at the mouse as it scurries about. Think I posted this in the wrong thread somehow, I don’t now see it here: What you want is a cat from a good barn cat family, who stayed with the mother long enough to learn how to hunt. (Or better yet two, to keep each other company.) The problem may be finding barn cats who are socialized to humans – by the time they’re good hunters, they’re too old to easily make friends with humans if they haven’t done it already. But while many barn cats are semiferal there’s often a farmer or two around who doesn’t spay their cats (and therefore is overly well supplied with kittens) but who does pet and cuddle them. Cats who have been living indoors all their lives may not know how to hunt. Cats descended from a long line of cats fed by humans may even have lost the instinct. But barn cats are almost all good mousers – the ones who aren’t don’t usually survive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/considering-getting-a-dog/843491.md?page=1)