Help us choose a dog

[tradosaurus]

We owned two Great Danes when my kids were small. Both were inside dogs as I worked and my wife stayed home with the kids.
That breed solves your length of life. Normally about 10 yr lifespan.
I would go for a male fawn Great Dane.

 

[scootr]

The Queensland Heeler has Staffordshire Bull Terrier in the genealogy. That's enough terrier for me.

 

[newbury]

Corgi
I've lived with many wonderful dogs.
Beagles, Poodles, Labradoodles, setters, German Shepherds, Collies, etc.
Corgi was best for size, disposition and many other factors.
And like most "small" dogs they can carry a big bark.

 

[scootr]

Corgi
I've lived with many wonderful dogs.
Beagles, Poodles, Labradoodles, setters, German Shepherds, Collies, etc.
Corgi was best for size, disposition and many other factors.
And like most "small" dogs they can carry a big bark.

Agreed! We have had 2 corgie/border collie mixes. aka Borgies
Wonderful dogs.

 

[Snobdds]

Corgies are good dogs. I had to put mine down last year. It lived to be almost 15 years old. He ran the show around here. He did stuff when he was damn well ready.

One time I was walking the dogs in the meadow and he did not want to go home. His stubborn little ass finally came home 3 hours later in the dark. The ranch is huge and I knew he could find his way home and he did.

 

[Blue Mule]

I had a black Lab. She lived 16 years. Now I have two Australian Shepherds. They are night and day different from the Lab. They LOVE cold weather. As soon as the temperature plummets they perk up and get extremely energetic. One of them wants to play constantly. He brings balls or frisbees to me 24/7. Makes it hard to get any work done. They are extremely loyal and want to be next to me constantly also. They require a lot of attention. They have shown a protective side, and will bark at people who come to the front door or walk near my fields. This is all totally opposite of the Lab which laid around and slept a lot, showed zero aggression, and didn’t really care if we played ball or not. She was mellow and sweet, like a teddy bear. The Shepherds are clearly "dog" and you can see their close relation to the original breed.

For what you describe I’d look at the retriever category. They are more docile and sweet and will make a better family member.

I don’t think I will have any more dogs in the future. When these pass I’ll be in my 50s and I want to start enjoying travel more.

 

[NoTrespassing]

The two shelters I have to choose from have such an invasive homing process I couldn't bring myself to use them. The amount of information they wanted from me and my family was just too much for me to bear. It's been many years since we checked them out but I do remember they wanted to visit our home and they weren't keen on invisible fences. They also require the dog to be in the house every night which is a deal breaker for us. It's unfortunate because we could have given a couple dogs a very good home on our acreage. I ended up purchasing a GSD from a local "breeder" and was able to rescue another dog from a private party. One is about 13 years old now and the GSD is about 10. Good luck on your choice WD.

 

[WinterDeere]

The two shelters I have to choose from have such an invasive homing process I couldn't bring myself to use them.

Yeah, we won't be going far down that road. I'd like to do a shelter the favor of taking a dog off their hands, if they have something that fits. But if the vetting process involves any more than a basic discussion, I'll be buying from a breeder. I don't really care at all about the cost of buying vs. adopting, my only interest in adoption would be getting a less fortunate dog out of a shelter and into a good home.

 

[Joel/ak]

We hot 2 of our best pups from a pound in Anchorage. Our shepherd lived 11years ( best dang pup ever, never can replace him) and one of our current which is a lab/shepherd mix. Going on 13 and still somewhat active but showing her age.

Both picked my wife

Had a 75% wolf hybrid, dang good dog albeit stubborn until the wolf comes out.

Besides the mix, we have a shepherd from a breeder. It was the runt of the litter but he picked my daughter. Very protective of my wife and daughter, probably doesn't give 2 craps about me and I'm fine with that

 

[WinterDeere]

Speaking of protective dogs, I grew up with a very large shepherd/lab mix, which looked all golden lab except the face, and she was so friendly that we used to joke that she'd probably just lick any intruder to death.

Well, there was a night around age 14 that I stayed at a friend's house four doors down from ours, and I awoke in the middle of the night to see two men trying to break into the front door of their house. I could see them thru the sheer-curtained side lights on the front door, trying to either work on the door knob or just pry the door open. I threw some lights on, and the intruders seemed to decide they'd try another house.

I get home the following morning, and learn that around the same time, our golden lab apparently went absolutely bat**** nuts, trying to throw herself thru the glass french doors that let out to our patio. I suspect the same intruders were trying several houses in the neighborhood, and must have come 'round to ours just after I'd spooked them away from the neighbor's where I'd been staying.

It was amusing to hear how ferocious our tame lab had been, when it mattered.

 

[newbury]

It was amusing to hear how ferocious our tame lab had been, when it mattered.

We had a wonderful black lab named Lady when our four children were pre-teen. I actually witnessed my then 3 yr old daughter give Lady a treat, change her mind, reach into Lady's mouth almost up to my daughter's elbow and take the treat back. That darned Lab was over 70lbs!
We live on a 1/4 acre fully fenced (4' high) suburban lot amongst several other houses. The guy to the west of us had 2 dobermans, usually kept indoors.
During 1 period of time a couple of high-schoolers started cutting across our backyards occasionally.
Once Lady was out back and I was watching. She tore after one fence jumper coming from the east, barking her head off. He managed to just make it to the west side of our property and jumped the fence, as he turned around to laugh at Lady the 2 dobies came tearing around the corner hungry. He barely made it over the back fence. That stopped the trespassing.

 

[Torvy]

Agreed! We have had 2 corgie/border collie mixes. aka Borgies
Wonderful dogs.

My cousin in the Black Hills uses both of those breeds to work his cattle (not mixed). They need to get exercise on those short legs.

 

[Dftodd]

Terriers. If you never had one research, research, research to make sure a hyper active yappy dog fits your lifestyle
We have a Patterdale Terrier that is a well, a handful. Constantly challenging bigger dogs. Needs lots of exercise to be livable.
A lad will ride in the truck and be good all day. The terrier needs to run alongside to be good at night.

We had a Jack Russell terrier. He was super cool. A huge personality, and great dog.Did I mention a huge personality

The big issue was keeping him in the yard. We had 1.5 acres fenced. But that wouldn't keep him contained. He was a break out artist. Finally to keep him contained, I had to install an invisible fence to keep him about 5ft from the perimeter.

Although he did know that if the collar quit beeping, the fence was off

Now for the huge personality. He was our Premadogga Very emotional and expressive. Very loving and protective of my wife, kids and grandkids. Pull into the vets parking lot and you would get the "Eat poop and die" look. Just wait till you left your shoes unattended.

If he didn't like you, he would poop in your shoes. If you kept your shoes picked up, then he would wait till you went to sleep. He would then poop exactly where your feet hit the floor when you got up He had placement down to an exact science with 100% accuracy He never did it to me or my wife. But started with my wife's ex-husband And carried it on to a few of our sons friends.

He also tattled on the kids Our teenage daughter couldn't figure out how we knew that she was sneaking out of the house. Jack would tell us

He did make it to the ripe ol age of 16. Kept a tight ship in the back yard. No critters were allowed in his back yard or house.

He was also a snake killer. He would snatch a snake in the middle and sling its head and tail like a pair of nun-chucks beating the head and tail into the ground with each revolution. This is how he got his nickname "Jacki Chan".

Smart as a whip as well. I thought I had him contained in the back yard since he would be in the yard when I got home. Come to find out he would go get the neighbor. Escort her to the side gate and get her to let him back in the yard at 3:30 on the dot each day. This way he would be in the yard when I got home at 4:00 This was just before I installed the invisible fence

 

[scootr]

Funny story - I had an old Shepherd mutt. She was getting on in years and it was impossible to get the excess weight off her try as we may. One day I was home from work and noticed she went missing about 9 am. I followed a curious narrow path off the property down the road a bit to a house where an old lady lived alone. I knocked on the door. When she opened the door I saw my dog on her couch with her head in a bag of chips, TV blaring.
I simply told her my dog is supposed to be on a diet and left. I didn't have the heart to break up the soap opera party these old gals had going

 

[Dftodd]

Funny story - I had an old Shepherd mutt. She was getting on in years and it was impossible to get the excess weight off her try as we may. One day I was home from work and noticed she went missing about 9 am. I followed a curious narrow path off the property down the road a bit to a house where an old lady lived alone. I knocked on the door. When she opened the door I saw my dog on her couch with her head in a bag of chips, TV blaring.
I simply told her my dog is supposed to be on a diet and left. I didn't have the heart to break up the soap opera party these old gals had going

We had a neighbors Siberian husky come visit us. She was a knuckle head and full of personality.

She managed to sneak into our backyard one day. Then squeeze her fat booty through a doggy door designed for a 20lb dog. Surprised me when I got home and clicked on the sun porch light and had our two little dogs with that husky sitting between them waiting to come in

Later she managed to train me to give her rides home. She would sit by the passenger door of the truck. When I asked her what she wanted, she would nose the door handle.

I would then go into the house, grab my keys and let my wife know I was giving peanut a ride home Her owner laughed his butt off when he saw me dropping her off and asked me what she was doing in my truck

 

[scootr]

When I was 9 my 7 yr old brother and I were sneaking along the neighbors back fence. We had to keep our backs against the tall chain link fence to avoid sliding down the 10 foot concrete slope to the drainage canal. It was slow going and little brother was getting scared. It was hangon or slide down the ditch.
We knew the owner was a police man but we didn't know he had a K9 alone in the house. At least we didn't know until we heard the glass break and ferocious dog bearing down on us.
I yelled jump and slid down the rough concrete bank skinning up my hands and tearing my pants pockets. Little brother froze in fear. The police dog got a piece of him and he nearly beat me to the bottom. We spent the rest of the afternoon explaining why we were so stupid as the doctor put stitches in my brothers arse.

 

[Gem99ultra]

We had a Jack Russell terrier. He was super cool. A huge personality, and great dog.Did I mention a huge personality

The big issue was keeping him in the yard. We had 1.5 acres fenced. But that wouldn't keep him contained. He was a break out artist. Finally to keep him contained, I had to install an invisible fence to keep him about 5ft from the perimeter.

Although he did know that if the collar quit beeping, the fence was off

Now for the huge personality. He was our Premadogga Very emotional and expressive. Very loving and protective of my wife, kids and grandkids. Pull into the vets parking lot and you would get the "Eat poop and die" look. Just wait till you left your shoes unattended.

If he didn't like you, he would poop in your shoes. If you kept your shoes picked up, then he would wait till you went to sleep. He would then poop exactly where your feet hit the floor when you got up He had placement down to an exact science with 100% accuracy He never did it to me or my wife. But started with my wife's ex-husband And carried it on to a few of our sons friends.

He also tattled on the kids Our teenage daughter couldn't figure out how we knew that she was sneaking out of the house. Jack would tell us

He did make it to the ripe ol age of 16. Kept a tight ship in the back yard. No critters were allowed in his back yard or house.

He was also a snake killer. He would snatch a snake in the middle and sling its head and tail like a pair of nun-chucks beating the head and tail into the ground with each revolution. This is how he got his nickname "Jacki Chan".

Smart as a whip as well. I thought I had him contained in the back yard since he would be in the yard when I got home. Come to find out he would go get the neighbor. Escort her to the side gate and get her to let him back in the yard at 3:30 on the dot each day. This way he would be in the yard when I got home at 4:00 This was just before I installed the invisible fence

I loved reading about your Premadogga Sounds like he was a great companion for a lot of years and definitely a part of the family.

 

[scootr]

My cousin in the Black Hills uses both of those breeds to work his cattle (not mixed). They need to get exercise on those short legs.

It's amazing what they can do on those little legs. Ours were and are (2 Borgies) Agility and Scent dogs. Consistently scoring high in both categories. And great companions. A little timid at times made them easy to train.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Large dogs have a shorter lifespan. We're doing daycare for a Rhodesian Ridgeback. They die about 10. Great Danes have a short lifespan too. OTOH, we have a 17 year old miniature dachshund that is still doing fine. The larger they are, the shorter they live.

My wife and I don't want to leave an orphan dog behind, so we adopt adult dogs from a shelter. We adopted a 5 year old springer spaniel a while back that would be perfect for your specs. Spaniels normally live 15-17 years. Springers are my favorite breed. This one was obviously well bred out of field lines, she's big enough to handle anything outdoors, but indoors she is a warm, snuggly pet who can curl up next to me on the couch. We keep her in a field clip in the summer, and she does not seem to shed much. She does require occasional trips to the groomer.

If you haven't rescued a dog before, go shelter shopping. It takes them a while to bond, but once they know you are their home they will become your dog.

 

[Dftodd]

I loved reading about your Premadogga Sounds like he was a great companion for a lot of years and definitely a part of the family.

Yes he was. He would get exasperated with you if you didn't get his treat quick enough for his liking

He would get over by the pantry, and if you ignored him, you would get a howl out of him signaling his displeasure. That his version of telling you off

He taught it to our German shepherd. If she's wanting your attention and your ignoring her, you get the "Howl"

Usually my wife and I are the recipients of the Howl when we get home from work.

But on occasion the grandkiddos get the "Howl" if they blow past her without greeting her