What breed dog do you have?

[nik danger]

I love dogs, therefore the post.

I have two dogs: a 10 month old miniature pinscher red and an 8 year old miniature pinscher/chihuahua mix, red.
The puppy was the largest of the litter, she's such a galoot and now taller than our 8 year old mix. Training her to do her thing on the deck vs the puppy pads in the house is a royal pain in the ***, (SWMBO doesn't want her taken out to the yard). Man, she is an endless barker when looking out the window. Barks at most anything: people, animals, paper flying about by the wind,etc. and accompanied by our 8 year old min-pin/chihuahua mix.
I never knew such small dogs, (They are toy breeds), could be such fun and smart, to boot!
This coming from one who at one time owned a 200lb English Mastiff.

How about you all?

Nik

 

[Zippo]

Hi Nik
We have a 10yr old Parsons Jack Russell terrier, who thinks he's in charge of everything and everybody.
But being 10yrs old, hasn't slowed him down in the slightest, he still thinks, and plays like a puppy.
He also will bark at the slightest noise from outside, or the merest provocation.
But he has such a cracking personality, and an intelligence to match, I swear he knows the whole English language lol.

 

[Tbradsim]

Catahoula 4 yrs old, Buddy, my third one, very protective.

 

[nik danger]

Hi Nik
We have a 10yr old Parsons Jack Russell terrier, who thinks he's in charge of everything and everybody.
But being 10yrs old, hasn't slowed him down in the slightest, he still thinks, and plays like a puppy.
He also will bark at the slightest noise from outside, or the merest provocation.
But he has such a cracking personality, and an intelligence to match, I swear he knows the whole English language lol.

Yeah, mine try to speak english, and it sounds so funny - waah,waaah,yyeow,yeow, etc. I watch outtakes of yowling/talking min-pins (Miniature pinschers), on youtube. What a hoot!

 

[nik danger]

View attachment 5339
Catahoula 4 yrs old, Buddy, my third one, very protective.

Your Buddy, sure looks like he means business. You can usually have it one of two ways when it comes to protection:
1) Early warning, i.e. dogs that bark a whole lot
2) Threat management, dogs that will try to neutralize home invaders.
I guess some do both?

 

[Blackhorse]

Guess.

Yes…a Pug. As they say, a lot of dog in a small package. 25 lb of “keep yer *** outta my lawn trouble”. Has rushed numerous evil doers such as Possums, Skunks, *****, Cats, Birds, Insects…etc. Come in the front door and he’s THRILLED to be your buddy…but if you’re across the fence he’s your worse nightmare. He’s literally charged Possums flying low at about 600 mph resulting in the Possum flying over a 6’ fence. In typical Pug style he’s very active for 30 min then falls over and naps for 2 - 3 hrs.

Since he’s never more than 10’ away from me I named him Watson.

Baby Picture



The Mighty Assistant Warrior

 

[Zeno Marx]

I grew up around hunting dogs. An English Springer Spaniel and then two German Shorthair Pointers. When I was old enough to get my first dog, we saved a Weimaraner puppy from being drowned in a family puddle lake because they couldn't sell it with a herniated umbilical cord, which turned out to be a very simple procedure when getting spayed . People really are lovely to one of our greatest gifts: dogs. I used to think the only good dog was a pure bred. Funny how elitist things like that are held so dear with working class people, yet "elitist bad" is their general mantra. I digress. I've since been around many mutts that are every bit as great of dogs, and they don't have all the health issues from poor breeding practices, either. I don't have a dog now, nor do I think I will ever have another one, but if I did open myself to having another, I'd go rescue one from the shelter. I'll never do another pure bred unless it was some special circumstance of saving it from a bad situation etc.

 

[Ranger107]

We had 2 Shih Tzus until Gracie passed on from cancer last Nov. Gracie was the cuddler. She would climb up on my chest and lick my face in the morning to wake me up. Always wanted to be around us. Molly, who is incredibly smart, was "the boss" who always wanted her way and still thinks she rules the house. She is 15 now and we are looking for another companion dog for her. We love Shih Tzus. They are smart, affectionate, absolutely adorable, and loyal. They can be bossy and demanding but still great dogs.

 

[Lou]

I have a 9 year old boxer-shepherd mix who is probably the smartest (and naughtiest!) dog I've ever had! On Monday, we helped our 14 year old yellow lab cross into the next life... She developed some neurological disorders that caused her to loose control of her limbs. I have a 70 pound chunk of my heart missing right now.

 

[Hermit]

As we've gotten older we progressively downsized our dogs.
We had a Bouvier DeFlandres, Irish Wolfhound, Standard Poodle...
Currently, we have a ten pound Havanese...more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

 

[BriarBeagle]

Meet Chance, a.k.a. Doofus. Rescued him in November, 2021. American Pitbull Terrier. Favorite hobbies: lizard hunting, squirrel chasing, car rides, and drooling.

 

[Blackhorse]

I have a 9 year old boxer-shepherd mix who is probably the smartest (and naughtiest!) dog I've ever had! On Monday, we helped our 14 year old yellow lab cross into the next life... She developed some neurological disorders that caused her to loose control of her limbs. I have a 70 pound chunk of my heart missing right now.

Lou…I know we’re all very sorry to hear about your loss. It’s a very hard thing.

 

[nik danger]

I have a 9 year old boxer-shepherd mix who is probably the smartest (and naughtiest!) dog I've ever had! On Monday, we helped our 14 year old yellow lab cross into the next life... She developed some neurological disorders that caused her to loose control of her limbs. I have a 70 pound chunk of my heart missing right now.

That hurts, having to part with a 4 legged family member. We had to help our 16 y/o miniature pinscher meet her maker during the year of COVID. Had insulin dependent diabetes and heart trouble. She couldn't hardly stand and had to be fed and hydrated by hand...

 

[Ranger107]

I have a 9 year old boxer-shepherd mix who is probably the smartest (and naughtiest!) dog I've ever had! On Monday, we helped our 14 year old yellow lab cross into the next life... She developed some neurological disorders that caused her to loose control of her limbs. I have a 70 pound chunk of my heart missing right now.

Lou, I know exactly how you feel. Lost our Gracie last Nov and I still miss her and think about her every day.

 

[D.L.Ruth]

Had a little minpin mix, don't know what the mix was but it ended up being a perfect mixture. Best dog ever, had to say good bye to him about a year and a half ago. Wife isn't ready for a new one yet.

My wife got him when I was on my first deployment for company and he had bounced back and forth across the country with us for about 15 years.

When he was a young pup

The day before he left us

 

[Lou]

Thanks @Blackhorse @nik danger and @Ranger107 . I feel blessed to have had her as long as we did. She was having trouble with her back legs for about a year, then suddenly last weekend her front legs quit working too. I definitely wouldn't hesitate to recommend Labradors to any family. She was incredible with our kids.

 

[Ol'Dawg]

Labs are great dogs! We had a first yellow lab really smart but protective but not dangerous.

Then we had a chocolate lab, pointing. Had too much enthusiastic and less bones. Had surgery to straighten her tendons. Then she had cancer and lost at 7.5 years old.

We have downsides to 3 mini-dachshunds (17, 7 and 5 years old) and one beagle.

 

[Natch]

I had one of the older mixed "designer" breeds, kind of an Arkie version of a labradoodle type. Shadow was half beagle and half mutt, so combining the two breeds we call it a Butt, or an Arkansas Butt to be more accurate. I heard it was bread by the age. dept. boys up at U of A, (they do a lot of questionable breeding up there), and they wanted to see if they could make money off this new breed, but it didn't pan out. Their test market of "For Sale, pure-bred Arkansas Butt" didn't garner many positive responses. Later, they got the bright idea of crossbreeding it with a Mexican Hairless, being all hot and muggy down here, they thought that without hair it would be more comfortable. But their test market of "For Sale, pure-bred Hairless Arkansas Butt" did even worse.

But Shadow was the best dog (and perhaps the best friend?) I ever had. She was a dumped dog (living on the rural edge of a small city, litters of many types of creatures were dumped in our area) and showed up on our porch as a half-starved pup. I wasn't home that day until late evening and my wife told me the story of how she and our daughter tried to shoo it away for hours. That pup knew a couple of suckers when she saw them and was so skinny she could slip through the slats on the porch railings. After an hour or two of trying in vain and not wanting to hurt the poor pup, my wife had a brilliant idea. Noticing that her ribs were showing she thought she must be starved, she told my daughter to go get a couple of hotdogs from the fridge. She thought that if you feed a starving, abandoned pup a couple of hotdogs it would surely leave. Does anyone other than me see the flaw in that concept?

I love to tease her with that story among friends, but it was the best idea she ever had, (marrying me was a distant second).

Natch