Why that breed?

mollichop

mollichop

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So it seems there is a pretty diverse mix of pooches on here.
I love seeing all the pics of different dogs and wondered what made you pick your dogs?
Did you grow up with a family dog that swayed you towards the dog/dogs you have now?

Mine are both mongrels: Vizsla x wirehaired pointer and Vizsla x Ridgeback.

Love short haired breeds that are agile and bred to work. Prefer large dogs and Paddi was an impulse buy after the death of my Dalmation, didn't consider rescue route due to being impatient :(

Heard of Hector when my lab went downhill and didn't want to be left with just a puppy if I lost him. Hector's family could no longer keep him and wanted him gone ASAP.

So how come you have the dogs you do?
 
My mum got her first GSD when she was 16 and went on to show, breed and judge and I grew up with them, I wouldn't have any other breed, smart, loyal and trainable.

Went to my first show aged two weeks old, was in my first junior handling class aged about five, was on club committee by my teens and writing for breed magazines in my early 20s. So I guess you can say I am hooked :p

Love big dogs and find it hard to connect with anything below my knee :p

Other breeds I like are English Bull Terriers, Komondorok and Beaucheron (the latter is the only other breed I would be interested in owning but I would probably have to import)

I also love sighthounds and lurchers.
 
Blimey - you know a bit about the breed then? :D

My parents had a GSD called Hesh when I was 12 but he was a bit of an oddment. Fab dog though.

I also love EBT's and is one small dog I would have. Also think Italian Greyhounds are lovely.
 
I went to the Dogs Trust with several sighthounds in mind - they seemed the sensible choice. I came away with a spaniel!

We had a lab growing up and a gundog was always my first choice really - I just wasn't sure I could give one a good home and I didn't think I'd find one in rescue anyway, for some reason:o But I think I'll always have gundogs, I love their dappiness and attitude to life:)
 
My mums friend always had at least one (short haired) weim and I sort of grew up with them by the fact we spent most weekends with Diana. One thing I maybe didn't take into account was that Diana always lived in big houses, with huge gardens - not smallish bungalows with a postage stamp of a garden!

Always always always said I wanted a Weim, I just think they're beautiful dogs and full of personality - depends whether you happen to like that personality! Herman is an utter comedian and he makes me gurn, several times a day. I could watch him for hours.

OH and I have been talking about our 'next dog' - we won't get another while we still have Herman though, the house isn't big enough for a start. OH wants another LH weim, I'm not sure I do, partly because Herman is such a superstar (and despite all my whinging about him, he is - especially compared to the brothers and sister I know!) and I don't want to ever compare him to another dog, which I think I would. OH won't contemplate the idea of a SH weim. I like Vizlas, dalmations, springers and setters as well as weims - am I a glutton for punishment? Small breed dogs just don't appeal to me, I'm sorry, a lot of my friends have small dogs but although I like *their* dogs, it's not a dog I'd have for myself. A springer is as short as I go!
 
I always discounted small dogs, but although Henry is relatively titchy I don't see him as a small dog. I wouldn't have a smaller dog though, and next time I think I will go for a working bred Cocker for the brain power;) Henry is a bit dappy but he is smarter than the average show type, apparently:D Which worries me greatly:eek::p:D
 
Gsd- because i grew up with them and wanted a loyal, intelligent family dog.
Then I got a border collie, and now i have a jack russell terrier rehome.

I compete in agility, and i cant see myself ever not having a border collie in the house!
 
My mum bred and exhibited dogs from the age of 16 - she started with Boxers, then when I was 9 years old she switched to CKCS. As a result I now cannot abide CKCS :p and always wanted a "proper" dog :D

Had my first whippet when I was 17, followed by another, then saw Greyhound Rescue West of England doing a collection day in Gloucester..... and the rest is history :D:D

Greyhounds suit me and my lifestyle absolutely perfectly, and I cannot imagine having another breed now :) Although when I am old and infirm I will have to have one which is cat friendly, takes me all my time even now to stop my three when they all go after the yard cats :D
 
I desperately wanted a dog - any dog - and non-doggy Mister Blackcob only gave in with the condition that it be a 'cool looking dog'. I know, I know... :rolleyes:

This turned out to be a very short list and a husky was the first we came across that fitted his bizarre criteria. Thankfully I am a very active person and made sure I knew what kind of madness I was in for - she's fitted in really well, I've seldom been so fit and she's making a better all-round pet than I'd ever give a husky credit for. This weekend, if the weather stays cool, she'll be pulling me up a mountain to the envy of all the other walkers who have to do it under their own steam. :p

I don't like very small dogs; I grew up with my nan's JRTs snapping at my heels and generally being horrid, though one of them was nominally 'my' dog and he was a cracking little thing who I did agility with and who never put a foot wrong his whole life. Previous to that my dad had a lab (who later went on to become an army sniffer dog) and he's a big fan of 'proper' dogs (read: GSDs) so I guess I've always been drawn to medium-sized dogs who need a job to do.

If I were to have another dog in the future, apart from huskies, I'd like a GSD or a collie.

ETA: The mountain walk is subject to her resuming solid poops - poor sod is looking very forlorn at not having had any breakfast...
 
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actually - other breeds i would poss consider in the future.... (although cant ever see anything but BC's here tbh)

working cocker - so many delinquent ones came to me for 1:1 training with despairing owners... i do love them:D Posiehoney has a rescue chap and he is brill:D

kelpie - looovely dogs, fast too ;)
 
Lik CC I was born to GSDs :D. My mum had her first GSD in the 40s, by the time I was born she was already a successful breeder and I think probably had at least a dozen. I have just grown up surrounded by the breed, the 3 I have now is the fewest I have ever had. Although we have had the other breeds (l/c chihuahuas, whippets, JRTs and a lancs heeler) the GSD is the only breed for me, I know at some point I may be too old and knackered to cope with one but hopefully that won't be for a long time. My mum always had one until the day she passed away, although for the latter couple of years of mums life her dog lived with me.
 
did someone mention coal :D :D :D heres my working cocker rescue - full papered entire boy who was kept in a town and never walked - was goign to be PTS for aggression... now he's a super duper working lad :D
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i also have a lab who was a beaten case - gun shy and pertified of his own shadow - now a fab working dog :D
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and a springer who was a neglect case - was in an awful state :( but ended up working a few seasons with me and now retired :)
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TBH i'd not recommend a working breed for anyone who's not had dogs before = except a lab - who are *mostly* born half trained - unlike spangles who die half trained lol!

for me though - i'll go spangles all the time = love labs but spangles just pip the post ;)
 
posie_honey said:
did someone mention coal :D :D :D heres my working cocker rescue - full papered entire boy who was kept in a town and never walked - was goign to be PTS for aggression... now he's a super duper working lad :D
DSC00472-2.jpg
Click to expand...

ahhhhhhhhhh, there he is!! He busts with personality, i think he's just fab:D
- and posie-honey has done an amazing job with him too ;)
 
CaveCanem said:
Never mind the poops, she's going to look like a circus strongman by the time she turns 12 months :p :D
Click to expand...

Nah, underneath the fuzzy butt she's still a skinny streak of nothing! Just you wait until I have her pulling my fat arse around on the bike... will take pics of our mountain (well, large hill) escapades if we go. :D
 
Im stuck for choice really. At the moment we have a whole range of dogs;

we have 2 rottie x dachshunds
1 sarloos xhusky xgerman shepherd
1whippet x english bull terrier
1 mongrel
1 jack russel x staffy
1 english bull terrier
1 elk hound

I love all my dogs to bits but my favorites have to be the english bull terriers and the sarloos. Although i love whippets/lurchers and grey hounds. I don't really "do" small dogs.
 
My grandparents always had terriers for ratting/foxing etc so I just knicked one of their pups. :) Also I'm small so I can't be doing with anything too big :p
 
My Dad got his first Springer when he was 21, he had a Cocker when he was tiny too, so I guess Spaniels are in the family! :D
When I was tiny we had a B&W Springer called Tassie, she was rather unpredictable and was PTS just before we moved to England. We didn't have another dog until I was 8, and we saw Lab X Springer puppies advertised, went just for a look and came home with one! Although he was lovely, he just wasn't a real Springer and so Midge the Springer came home shortly after.
Midge was the BEST dog EVER. The Working Cockers slowly began to invade after Midge, but to me they never held the same appeal that Springers do, mainly because Midge was so special.
So when it came to getting my own dog there was no question I wanted a Springer. OH wanted a Westie (!!!) but my Granny had one of those when I was younger and it was MEAN!! Then we saw Otto advertised and the rest is history. He is definately no Midgey, but he is just as special in his own way.
I can't imagine not having a Springer, or at least a Spaniel of some sort. They are natural born comedians :D Otto can make me laugh on the darkest day. I love his endless enthusiasm for life and boundless energy.

I agree with posie-honey though, Working bred Spaniels are NOT for the faint hearted! :D
 
I have a bulldog because I was living in a garden flat in London and wanted a small dog but not a lap dog. Someone recommended a bulldog so read up on them and decided to buy. This little dog has really touched a nerve and I think I will always have a bulldog / s in my life.

I also want to incease my doggie family to include a puglet and an African Boerboel. Strange mix I know but hey ho.

Over the years we have had Labs, st Bernard, Boxer, EBT, Lab/ GSD mix but I have now found my forever breed the Bulldog.
 
We live in a busy city and an apartment and needed a dog:-

Good with strangers
Good with kids
Good with the elderly
Good with other dogs
Good with pets
Rarely barks
Playful, but not with the energy of a working breed
Small and portable
Occasional jogging companion
Low/no-shedding

The Boston terrier was an obvious choice.

As for the puglet, he was no longer wanted by his original owner. My intention for a second dog was a medium-sized mixed breed, but I wouldn't change Sir Prince for the world.
 
My dad has had different variations of terriers his whole life, he tried his hand at showing in his younger years but had to give up his last terrier when I was born, apparently it hated me! The terrier went to my grandad and lived to the ripe old age of 16, It never learnt to like children lol. My mam also had to give up her GSD when I arrived (I think they would have rather given me up!), she adored that dog and her brother looked after her untill she ent with old age.

So I have very doggy parents, although my mum doesnt like anything small and my dad only likes pracical dogs lol. We got a little border terrier when I was 8 - he is 14 this year and still thinks he is a baby. The Ridgeback followed when I was 10.

I am getting a border pup in a couple of weeks (once things have calmed down with the RR) because I am in love with the breed. I know my parents want another RR under the pretence that it will be a guard dog..

OHs only criteria for our pup was that it was 'cute' and he could name it.
 
Grandparents bred Brittany's but that didn't really sway me.

Mum walked into the rescue home and walked out with a brittany and a very old ****zu.

Next came another ****zu.

Then 3 more older Brittany's until a puppy brit came home from a rescue and he is still here now.
Next Abe came along, he was meant to be a foster that was to fearful to go to kennels but he's staying forever now. Wanted a GSD and got half of one!

So really i guess Brittanies are "our" breed simply because we ended up with so many of them but i'll take anything that wants some love!
 
Like CC and MM, I was brought up with G.S.D's, we had 17 at once:eek: me and sis would often play in the run with 17 marauding G.S.d's and we where also dragged around the show ring for the first 10 years of our lives:rolleyes:
I also owned a little border colli, the only other breed amongst the shepherds we had, I wanted a sheltie but this little collie was going in a bucket, so I took her, and she was fab:D
I then met my OH at the ripe old age of 13:o and he had lurchers as he used them for hunting, and his friends had some whippets types and I loved them, I bought my first whippet with £10 I borrowed from my sister, he was on a piece of string at a local mart, since then I have:o always owned whippets, or whippet x greyhounds, I had a shepherd as I always loved them and they where my first large breed choice, when I lost her, I took a rotti bitch from my mams rescue, as I work lone shifts and was always borrowing one of my mams shepherds.
I think now I will always have a rotti, she is def a clear favourite of all my dogs, not as bright as a shepherd but more loyal and loving and more protective which was hard for me to get used to as sheps where always fab at making me feel safe.

The rest ofmy dogs are also rescues except, some stayed because im not confident they will be kept in line in another home, so they are misfits:D

So I have

1 rotti= rescue I took for night shift company, will always have one now

1 Deerhound= OH bought a deerhound bitch when he was younger, and she had pups a week later:eek::mad:

1 pointer= he was going to be placed in the paper to sell as he was aggressive

1 whippet x staff= partial to the odd dog or too in the wrong hands:rolleyes:

1 Japanese Akita = I was afraid she would end up in the wrong hands when she came into the rescue, I love her to bits, will def always have an akita

2 whippets= I did choose to keep them, one can scale huge fences and the other my mam talkedme into keeping

1 Shaggy lurcher= OH kept him back, they have quite a bond and he too was very aggressive when he arrived

1 little shaggy x breed= hw went to a home slipped his collar, went missing for 3 days (he was 6 months old) and I was a wreck till we found him, and he was a bit traumaised by it all, he has been granted staydom:D
 
I've got a 7 month old German Shorthaired Pointer

I'm not into little dogs, and I wanted a dog that would like an active lifestyle. I'm a freelance instructor so plenty of out and about!

Obviously had to be good around horses. His breed aren't naturally very brave, but are very intelligent which I have found a great combination with the horses!

Because of my job, my small neices and nephews and I will have children at some point, I needed a dog that would be good with kids. He proved that yesterday when my friend was over with her 2 yr old twins, who he was BRILLIANT with, and he's only 7 months and not around children every day. At one point we had to stop them as he was trying to sleep and one of them was drumming on his stomach and the other playing with his lips!! poor boy!!

I didn't want a too bonkers dog, and I liked the fact they are lighter built than a labrador.

I love him, he's definitly my perfect dog!

8 weeks

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5 months

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Bringing choccies for Mummy! (7 months)

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