Help us pick a dog!

In My Humble Opinion
41

We have a lab/mastiff mix. She looks like a purebred lab and even the vet and local breeders have made the comment of how pretty she is and 'you must show her."
Labs are awesome, awesome gallumphy dogs. They love everyone and there is a reason why labs are so popular and used alot for therapy and leader dogs. Smart (with a low level amount of ‘duh’ to them, unlike beagles who are all ‘duh’.) and eager to please. They love humans and children.
We never had an issue with chewing as we kept her busy with Kongs filled with nuked cheese that was allowed to cool and that kept her busy. when Murphy came into our lives, we had just bought a leather couch and thought, " Oh boy, this is not going to work." But we never had an issue with that. Kongs, my friend, are one of the best dog toy inventions, next to Bitter Apple and the Dog Chuckker.(see below)

As with any breed, **a tired dog is a happy dog. **

Labs are spaztic until two years. That is when their maturity kicks in. From whirling spaztic dervish to near speed bump . We went on alot of walks and played alot of ball then. I did loads of training with verbal and hand commands and everyone compliments our dog on how well behaved she is. (There is, I dare brag, a corellation to well behaved dogs and how well behaved the kids are.** Dog training and kid training and how the dog behaves and how the children behave are all indicative of the parental unit and training.)** Really.

The only drawback for the lab is the hair. Fortunately, you can get labs shaved ( maybe $50 x2 a year.) and that is a saving grace. You can also vaccuum them, which is a hoot and the dogs like it.
Now, what I know about other breeds:**Cause you asked for Doggie Stuff and I luff Doggies![/size]

Australian cattle dogs are awesome dogs ( their coats are slightly oily). They are insanely intelligent and MUST HAVE A JOB TO DO. Hence the herding instinct will drive them to destroy things around the house. these dogs, I am pretty sure, have The Force and use Jedi Mind skills on people. **Border Collies are the same way.**They are much smarter than me.

St. Bernards are awesome dogs but there is the vet bill and food bill and a major problem with eyelids becoming droopy and they can’t see and need operations to remedy.

Great Danes& Mastiffs are awesome dogs,but with their size, you have larger feed bills ($75 a month minimum for excellent dog food, not the stuff at your local store.) and larger vet bills and a shorter life because of hip issues and bloat. They are awesome around kids and just a joy to watch. They are actually a good dog for an apartment if they get at least two walks a day.
Terriers have a constant energy level that similar to a hurricane. Their job really is to take care of rats, rodents, badgers and the like. There can be digging issues outside and general destruction inside if they are not properly trained ( as with any dog, really.)

Hounds More laid back and probably good companions, I personally cannot stand hounds ( not all, just a few from my limited experience) because of the lower trainability and the 'Aaaah roooooo!". Actually, I just hate beagles. Great on a trail and great with kids, totally useless in training. Did I mention I hate beagles?

Schnauzers the smaller ones I’ve been exposed to (and this is indicative of the breed) are barky little bastards. Great family dogs and companions, high trainability and low shed, but they bark alot. They are great for being an alert system. My husband mentioned this breed in our continous doggy shopping and I mentioned if we got one I would name it Siggy ( which is his father’s name) and take great joy in yelling " Shut up Siggy!" as his father, who must have been a schnauzer in another life, never shuts up.
Jack Russel Terriers or AKA as Jack Russell terrorists are another extremely high energy dog that must have a job to do and exercized daily!.
Very smart and high energy. I watched my pro-dog trainer neighbors who also are fly ball and agility people with their kennel of dogs use a tennis ball chucker for over two hours with his two JRT’s running NONSTOP the entire time. When we finished our convo, about 45 minutes after that, the dogs were starting to tire. Two and a half hours of nonstop fetching a ball being tossed 50-75 yards or more each time. That, my friend, is food for thought.

The dog I’m jonesing for is a Spinone. here and if I ever did get a pure bred and actually paid gobs of money for one, it would be this breed and I would name it Spicolli.

Oh, and I like english bulldogs ( drooly, snoring, farty) but that face!GAH! what is not to love. And the fact that not so very long ago they were bvanned because of ferocity and because of careful breeding, are now excellent companion dogs and are so essentially useless ( like me). and I would name my first bulldog Agatha. b Excuse me while I go 'SQUUUUUEEEEEE!"
I’ll shut up for now.

42

I would like to add too, with a hound breed and some shephers (German Shepherd in particular) their fur has a smell. It’s like an oily clingy smell. Some people don’t mind it. I don’t like it and it is why I woudn’t get a hound.

43

One of my favorite smells, honestly, is Sun Warmed Yellow Lab. If I could turn that into fabric softner…
Ok, I’m weird, but it boosts my seratonin every time I hug my sunwarmed dog.

44

I don’t know if this’ll help, but here are my experiences:

Beagles: Never had one personally, but my mother and her family raised them for years. Her conclusion: Very nice, but they bark, stink, and shed.

Australian Shepherds: My parents had one when I was a teenager, and my fiance and I have one now (several of my extended relatives also have them). My conclusion: Very smart, and can be the uber-dog with the right family and training. I’ll also probably never be without one as long as I own a dog. Downsides: Both of ours had a thing for chewing wood up until they were about 9-10 months old, no matter how many chew toys they had. They also get bored easily, and ours seem to enjoy testing the boundaries of what they can/can’t do. In order to keep one in the city (our building has a dog run or we wouldn’t have considered an Aussie), we play a LOT of fetch. A lot. Frisbee, Tennis balls, sticks, bones, etc. We play other games, but fetch is most frequent, and we probably have to do at least an hour a day to keep our Aussie happy.

Mini-schnauzers: We had two when I was a kid; one was nice but boring, the other was a jerk. Kind of meh as far as I’m concerned.

Shetland sheepdogs: We have one, my aunt and uncle have two. They love theirs, and I like ours. He’s really smart and entertaining, and he doesn’t chew or drool. He is pretty timid, though, despite a lot of socialization.

That’s pretty much the extent of my personal dog knowlege. There are a lot of dogs in our building (with whom we interact frequently), including a lot of labs (which run the gamut from wonder-dogs to ridiculously destructive hellions, depending on the owner), but I haven’t lived with any of them. Hope this helps!

45

It’s probably pretty close to the sweet smell of an Australian Shepherd.

Archergal
dog sniffer

46

[QUOTE=Vihaga]
Australian Shepherds: My parents had one when I was a teenager, and my fiance and I have one now (several of my extended relatives also have them). My conclusion: Very smart, and can be the uber-dog with the right family and training. I’ll also probably never be without one as long as I own a dog. Downsides: Both of ours had a thing for chewing wood up until they were about 9-10 months old, no matter how many chew toys they had. They also get bored easily, and ours seem to enjoy testing the boundaries of what they can/can’t do. In order to keep one in the city (our building has a dog run or we wouldn’t have considered an Aussie), we play a LOT of fetch. A lot. Frisbee, Tennis balls, sticks, bones, etc. We play other games, but fetch is most frequent, and we probably have to do at least an hour a day to keep our Aussie happy.
Shetland sheepdogs: We have one, my aunt and uncle have two. They love theirs, and I like ours. He’s really smart and entertaining, and he doesn’t chew or drool. He is pretty timid, though, despite a lot of socialization.

QUOTE]
I would love to have one herding dog, like a sheltie or an aussie. What are the health problems for both of them?

47

I almost entirely agree.

Malamutes will fiercely defend their owner if their owner is attacked. Other than tah, you’re spot on. Some other notes about Malamutes- you MUST be the “alpha dog”, they will attack other dogs- until & unless the other dog shows submission- and some malmutes will eat cats.

St Bernards are prone to a host of health problems, don’t get one- or any other very large dog- unless you are used to one. That includes Great Danes, etc. medium-large dogs, such as German Shepherds don’t have these problems. Many small dogs have behaviour problems. I suggest a dog in the range of Spaniel to German Shepherd.

I concur to this last post. Note to The Blonde Bomber’s wife- please reconsider a good mutt- of a type which “mostly appears to be” a breed that you like.

48

Speaking just for Mastiffs, here, not Great Danes.
I agree with much of what Shirley says here, but NOT the food bill.
Mastiffs do not have nearly the exercise needs of, say, a Lab–nor the metabolism.
As puppies, they can eat as much as 9 cups of kibble (yes, good quality) a day.
But this lowers quite a bit for an adult mastiff.
Mine get by just fine on 6 cups a day each. We do feed them high quality food, but I’d say I spend something like $60 a month, and that is for 2 mastiffs.
Trips to the vet can indeed be expensive, sometimes because of something like
leg injuries or bloat, but much more often it’s simply that many meds (Example: heartworm) must be doubled for mastiffs.
If you take care of any breed, it can live a long life.
My big old guy Tucker lived until 10 and a half, his dad lived to be 11.
They really are great family dogs.
But English Mastiffs do drool.

49

Note re Shetland Sheepdogs: they are smart and adorable. They also have high-maintenance coats. And all the ones I’ve known have been recreational barkers, i.e., they bark for fun.

Re Australian Shepherd health problems:
Like any other breed, they can have problems with hip dysplasia. There’s more epilepsy in Aussies than there should be. Some dogs have eye problems. Some of the eye problems are fairly benign, others not so much. A good breeder will screen for these problems, and only breed parents who have OFA Good or better hips. Dogs from merle to merle breedings can be deaf or have SERIOUS vision problems.

Can’t speak too much to Sheltie health problems though. IMHO, though, herding dogs rock my world. Their quirks and foibles fit mine pretty well.

50

No one has mentioned life span so far. Generally speaking the smaller the dog, the longer the life span. My parents have a 17 year old terrier cross and an 8 year old retreiver - basically they act the same age.
If it’s the intelligence you crave - lists of intelligent breeds always have retrievers, poodles, alsatians and border collies top of the lists. We have had retrievers and border collies and I must say, it is a very different kind of intelligence. The Borders are more task focused intelligence eg how to get the food out of the cupboard or rubbish bin whereas the retrievers, more human focused eg telling you it’s dinner time or walkies time or play time.
I recently read a very interesting article (not on the net) about dogs breeds - basically it was saying that we have bred dogs way too much and given them so many problems, some are even unable to give birth properly because we’ve wanted them with big heads etc. Even the now popular deliberate cross breeds, are not safer as they can have the worst problems from each breed and even the most diligent and careful breeders can’t control genetic problems.
This then, tends to point towards the mutts being the best bet!
However, I’d love to have a full size poodle one day - I think they are an underrated breed.

51

Wow! $60 a month for feeding two big mastiff? Someone once told me that feeding two mastiffs would bankrupt you :eek:
I am looking for a dog, preferably a large one, like a newf, or saint.
Has anyone considered a rare breed, like a neopolitan mastiff, Dogue de Bordeaux or a Leonberger?

52

Forgot to say that the article said that the only breed that has no known health problems and came recommended was a whippet!

53

I have friends who work with rescued greyhounds. These are dogs that normally would be put down when taken off the track. My experience with them are that they are wonderful well-behaved dogs. A joy to walk.

54

Here’s a list of excuses people have given for taking their pets to a shelter (WARNING: will make you lose your faith in humanity).

And the scary thing is, there are much less responsible pet owners than the ones who made all those excuses. At least the people making those lame excuses took their unwanted pet to a shelter, instead of just abandoning it somewhere to starve or be killed by a car or another animal.

You are absolutely doing the right thing in researching dog breeds before getting a puppy, instead of going to a shelter, dog show, or pet store and falling in love with a breed that might not be right for you.

55

Since this thread is still going, I’ll throw in my support for Golden Retrievers. You can’t go wrong with a Golden–they are mostly bred for obedience and companionship these days. The breeder we got our girls from still breeds for fieldwork, so our girls don’t have the really thick coats that require so much grooming–they are definitely not bred for show.

They have good dispositions and once they get through puppyhood they settle down some - 16 months or so. They chew like all pups, but can be easily directed to their own toys rather than your stuff. They are excellent with kids–our Jake lets my 16 month old grandson crawl all over her; she has the patience of Job. They love, love, love the water–they’ll swim all day if you let them. And they are retrievers–you won’t have much work to teach them to fetch.

They can have hip dysplasia and are suspectible to skin cancer. Our Loki has been diagnosed with pretty severe dysplasia but by keeping her weight down and building up her leg muscles she’s become a very active and happy girl. Our breeder guaranteed her hips, so we ended up with Pi. Loki was their first pup ever to have dysplasia (at least reported to them) in the 17 years they’d been breeding. It broke their hearts when they found out.

We love all our girls–the Goldens have been the best dogs we’ve ever had (though I still love my old black mutt).

Good luck on your quest for a dog. :slight_smile:

56

I want to point out that nearly every pure-bred dog has some caveat like this. This is because the AKC (through the separate Breeders orgs) selects dogs for "winners’ almost entirely by appearance, and points of appearance for certain breeds. A certain breed is thus bred for a certain appearance, often a radical appearance. Thus you have bulldogs that can barely breathe, and so forth. (Some few breeds are still “working” breeds are aren’t so “selected”). Then, we also have the factor called “hybrid vigor” which means that mutts often get the best of both worlds. Thus- in general- a “purebred” dog will have more health problems than a “mutt”- and thereby purebred dogs are *often * to be avoided, not desired.

Don’t get me wrong- many dudes here have had great purebred dogs, I am sure. But they either got lucky, or had to work extra hard in the selection.

57

The best way to determine personality is to see what the dogs were bred for in the first place, sounds simple but true.
For example herding dogs are bred to herd, it’s instinct so they will herd what they can, including YOU
Northern dogs (sled breeds) tend to be other animal aggressive, they used to hunt to feed themselves and the very idea of pulling in the traces is a competition with the lead dog.

A scent/sight hound should never be let off leash, if they find a scent they will be GONE!

Once you trace the breed back to the original intent the pre-disposition in the personality becomes clearer.

This is not to say that any one breed is better than another, it just means you need to be prepared to go to training and that some behaviors are instinct, so you need to be ready for it.

58

Our shelter database comes preinstalled with reasons for owner surrender. The three that stood out in my mind were:

  • Boring
  • Wrong Sex
  • Wrong Species

What the everloving fuck?
Daniel

59

the excuse that infuriates me the most is “we’re having a baby”, thus implying this animal that relies on them for care, sustenance and love is not a part of the family anymore/never was and is now no longer an important part of their lives…

pet animals are not disposable, you took the animal into your life, it’s your responsibility to care for it, it shouldn’t be returnable…

we have a mixed-breed dog at home that’s getting on in years, is a little arthritic, has a minor “leakage” problem and a benign tumor on her tummy, by the “logic” expressed by the average shelter-abandoner, we should have taken Hannah to the pound a while ago, we won’t, she may have a few minor age-related problems, but she’s the most loving, freindly dog we’ve had yet and we wouldn’t dream of giving her up for a few minor issues, she may be getting on in years, but she sure doesn’t know it, she still thinks she’s a puppy, she is still a puppy at heart

reading some of the sad stories of mistreated/abused dogs just infuriates me, i want to go to the shelters in petfinder and adopt every one of the animals needing a good home

one of the worst abused pets i saw on the website was a rather nice golden/hound mix, the previous “owner” was physically abusive to the dog, and had branded the poor thing’s hindquarters with a huge branding iron, both sides

that “owner” <censored to comply with the SDMB “no wishing death” rule>, well lets just say, i think the “owner” deserved to get a large, painful brand himself…

when i finally get my own house, the first thing i’m going to do is go to the local shelter, and let a dog choose me, i won’t choose the animal, i want the dog to choose me as it’s best freind

ages ago, when i was doing some freelance photography for a local newspaper, we had a story on the local animal shelter, i was taking pics of the animals needing a home, i was in the cat room when i felt a tug at my camera bag…

a young gray cat had grabbed onto one of my tripod carrying straps and was holding on, it had the saddest, pleading face, begging me to take it home with me, unfortunately i was living with parents at the time, we already had 3 cats, and they would not be pleased if i brought home another, so i did all i could do, i played with it for a while, then took some pics of it and posted it as the “animal of the week” in need of adoption…

i can only hope it worked…

60

I’ve met multiples (esp Neos) of all three of those:
They were all big sweethearts. Sometimes the Neos can be quite lively, perhaps moreso than the English Mastiffs. The Dogues were very mellow.
And the Leonbergers are pretty furry.