Breed recommendations

DabDab

DabDab

Thinks the luddites had a point...
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6 May 2013
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Some weeks ago we lost our elderly Westie Eira. She had a rapid onset lameness followed by swelling to her leg. Confirmed as carcinoma and we had to let her go 😢. She was 15 and was well and happy up until the last few weeks of life, so can only be grateful for that.

My gosh are we missing her though - her Westie personality never failed to fill a room and it's been a long time since there were only two dogs in the house. This had meant that we are idly musing getting another, but are somewhat drawing a blank about what breed might be a good fit.

The remaining two are a 4yo jrt x pom and a 1yo Kelpie. The idiot midget led me to agree to a no more terriers term with OH some months back because although, lovely and trainable and super fun in so many ways, she is excessively murderous and really can't be trusted around anything other than horses and cats. The obvious choice is another Kelpie because that is the breed that both of us would say is our favourite, but I'm just not sure if I can cope with another juvenile Kelpie right now with the current one still realistically a year off being less bonkers.

So we could wait for Dagon to calm down a bit (he is getting there, but impulse control around dogs and people is still ongoing), and then get another Kelpie. Or is there something else we can get that might actually be a better fit long-term. I can/do do lots of sporty bits and pieces with the current two, so a third that was happy to just bum around enjoying quite a nice lifestyle would potentially be a better bet anyway. But what breed would fit that brief? OH is prepared to relax the no terrier rule as long as it was one of the less drivey varieties.

Anyway, this feels like it was unnecessarily long.
Any suggestions welcome.

(NB: no spaniels, labradors or whippets 😉😂)
 
Mmmm… I love kelpies, collies and all things herdy. I do see though a multiple of kelpies without a flock of sheep might be hard work. 😄. A border collie that is being rehomed through lack of drive? (Or are you wanting a puppy?).
Terrier wise borders are great. They’ve been so diluted by the pet scene they don’t tend to want to kill things all the time nowadays.
 
CorvusCorax said:
I'm so sorry to hear you lost Eira x
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Thanks x
It shouldn't really have hit me as hard as it has, but she was just such a battleaxe that in my head I thought she would go on forever somehow, because surely no disease would dare to come for her.

She was a dog that I never managed to train to do a single thing in her entire life, and yet she was never anything less than a pleasure to have around.
 
Clodagh said:
Mmmm… I love kelpies, collies and all things herdy. I do see though a multiple of kelpies without a flock of sheep might be hard work. 😄. A border collie that is being rehomed through lack of drive? (Or are you wanting a puppy?).
Terrier wise borders are great. They’ve been so diluted by the pet scene they don’t tend to want to kill things all the time nowadays.
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A herder failure due to lack of interest would probably be ideal, whether collie, Kelpie, or collie X kelp. But I don't often see them come up. Most of the failed workers I see are because they were a pita who went self employed once too often, which would be a nightmare round here because there are sheep everywhere. There's also a depressingly large variety available as rehomes from pet homes, and while part of me would love to give another one a soft landing, I'm feeling selfish and not much like dealing with someone else's screw up at the moment.

TheresaW said:
I was going to suggest a border terrier. No idea why.

I would always go for a Collie 🤣
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Neither of us really like border terriers (sorry guys, I know there are lots of fans on here).

Maybe collie is the way to go, ergh, dunno.

Or just another Westie...why fight it

Or corgie? Shetland sheepdog? I really know nothing about either.
 
blackcob said:
Not often I get to say this - terrier in nature, and supposedly a herding background, without actually being either - a schipperke.
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Hmm, that's an interesting thought. The only thing I know about them are your brief mentions on here. Are they noisy? being spitzy and all
 
Well, they can be quite terriery but my Irish terrier is the funniest, most devoted dog and has been easy to train in a limited way 🤣(recall is perfect, stock trained and will touch my hand in the dark to let me know where he is...). They are an endangered old breed and huge characters.
 
palo1 said:
Well, they can be quite terriery but my Irish terrier is the funniest, most devoted dog and has been easy to train in a limited way 🤣(recall is perfect, stock trained and will touch my hand in the dark to let me know where he is...). They are an endangered old breed and huge characters.
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I do love the Irish terriers. How is yours around sheep? Did you have to do much stock training?
 
I had an Irish Terrier, easy to train in the basics. Not scrappy with other dogs and would play happily if they would, but wouldn't forget a dog that had been aggressive towards her. Brilliant with the kids. Not as loyal as I expected, she would go to anyone like a long lost friend. Not too demanding of exercise, but enjoyed it.
 
Cattle dog. Our rehome was cattle dog x??? God knows what but she was a gem in every way and our aussie vet adored her. I'd have another happily. Great with dogs, cats, chickens, kids but bags of personality and very loving.
 
DabDab said:
Or corgie? Shetland sheepdog? I really know nothing about either.
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One of my local friends has a Sheltie, had from a puppy. She's an experienced dog and horse person, Sheltie has older Springer x in household, who is v well behaved.
Whilst Sheltie is v well bred (he's a house pet) he's a blooming trial..... he walks on lead to heel beautifully, but is an absolute noisy eejit.
Friend has asked me (tongue in cheek) to swap my Shih for him! I'm sure it's only because mine is a good mouser at her yard, rarely gives tongue (hers debates the off switch frequently) and unless there are squirrels around, mine recalls, her Sheltie doesn't.
My maternal grandmother used to breed Shelties, but I've only seen very few over the years.
 
P3LH said:
Despite having them and loving them, I seldom recommend them…however, I do actually think a well bred Pembroke corgi could really fit the bill.
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Interesting, thank you. Would you mind me PMing you about breeders if we do decide to go this way?
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
One of my local friends has a Sheltie, had from a puppy. She's an experienced dog and horse person, Sheltie has older Springer x in household, who is v well behaved.
Whilst Sheltie is v well bred (he's a house pet) he's a blooming trial..... he walks on lead to heel beautifully, but is an absolute noisy eejit.
Friend has asked me (tongue in cheek) to swap my Shih for him! I'm sure it's only because mine is a good mouser at her yard, rarely gives tongue (hers debates the off switch frequently) and unless there are squirrels around, mine recalls, her Sheltie doesn't.
My maternal grandmother used to breed Shelties, but I've only seen very few over the years.
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Thanks, that does confirm my hesitation on them. There are a couple that do hoopers in the same club as small dog, and while they are certainly charming dogs that are clearly very intelligent, they do seem to make their handler work quite hard to keep them on the job in hand.
 
DabDab said:
I do love the Irish terriers. How is yours around sheep? Did you have to do much stock training?
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My chap was initially very respectful as his recall was very quickly established and I thought 'job done!' but at around 6 months he rebelled and decided it might be fun to try chasing sheep so I spent a couple of weeks doing really serious stock work with sheep. The combo of a stirling recall with long line training and the help of some of our fiercer sheep and a couple of big tups really did mean I have complete confidence in him. He's on a lead around other people's sheep but that is good manners. He does some very basic sheep work at home in his own way too.

If he hadn't responded to my training quickly I would have called on a pro as the timing with that issue seems really key and he has to live with our sheep safely. But he really wants to please, he's clever and was very happy with the allowable alternatives I've given him (a lure, helicopters and crows - none injured!). Recall was the foundation and that was very easy: refinement around predatory behaviour should have been done sooner but I learnt that without any harm to our ewes!

I've found my Irish the easiest of all my dogs to train generally tbh but having had sight and scent hounds previously the bar isn't particularly high...🤣🤣
 
DabDab said:
Hmm, that's an interesting thought. The only thing I know about them are your brief mentions on here. Are they noisy? being spitzy and all
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On paper they are supposed to be, being watchdogs and all, but I find them way less barky than suggested and a lot less than say a sheltie or a miniature schnauzer (the latter being my definition of annoying yapper, sorry schnauzer people). Mine was raised with dogs that didn’t bark and he only barks for good reason.

Jury is still out on whether they are a spitz or a miniaturised shepherd. My shepherd barks a lot more. 😏
 
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