# Breeds for me?



## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

I'm getting dog fever BAD right now, LOL. Esp with Linsey's corgi and Abi's BC.. 

I've contacted a breeder for possibly getting another sheltie or even a collie in a year or two.. which would be great. Bishop's a great dog and it would be nice to have another low maintenance, happy, easy to train dog. 

But, I've also been getting rescue fever too! I love the hound-y breeds, like bassets, with their big droopy ears. I'd love another Italian greyhound but would not get from the same breeder as I got mine, and they are so hard to find in rescue. Plus they are SO high maintenance emotionally. I love my cuddle-bugs. My boyfriend loves the sporty dogs.

I'm looking at around 10-45lb or so, I don't want anything too big as raw is expensive here in Canada.. but I don't want anything too small as Tess can play kind of rough. She is only 10lb but around 14" tall. I can't really have any bigger dogs that are super rough around her as their legs are fragile- so no bully type breeds (love em but they are not gentle players, LOL). Plus home insurance here bars any bully breeds, dobermans, rottweilers etc. Low-medium energy.

If I do rescue as in my other thread, I'm leaning towards a senior dog. A breed known to be good with cats would be pretty awesome.

I'm still in the planning phase but some ideas tossed my way would be great. I'm still waiting on an email from the basset hound rescue.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

If you are looking at collies I would definitely go the smooth collie route. I will never own another type of collie... Ok maybe one day a Rhett puppy...

Dude plays differently with everyone. With my stepdad and Nick, he will throw himself at them and get physical. With me, he will make contact but never enough to push me around. With my mom and little brothers he never made physical contact during play. He seems to know how rough he can play with various people. He has always been great with other dogs and has never made an attempt to hurt another dog. 

Obviously that is just one smooth collie but that has been my experience with him. He IS 60lbs but he only eats 1.5 lbs per day and is actually the largest collie I have ever seen. Other than his coat, he is a VERY low maintenance dog and with the FURminator his coat takes much less work than people think.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

What about a beagle? They're hounds and super cute....just noisy LOL! Plus they tend to stay on the smaller end of the scale unlike bassetts who can easily tip the scales at 80 pounds!


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

what about a schiperkee? (sp)


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## NewYorkDogue (Sep 27, 2011)

Hmmm... I can't really think of any hound-y type dogs that are that small (besides the beagle). Have you considered maybe a spaniel? There a lot of different types, plus they are smallish, have long droopy ears, and might fit the category of both cuddle-bug and sporty (for boyfriend.)

Of all the spaniels, Cavalier King Charles might be my favorite (they are quiet, sweet, and can be fairly active). They are pricey, though-- and may be hard to find in a rescue...


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## Huginn (Nov 21, 2011)

If you go the beagle route definitely talk to owners and get one from a really good breeder. Beagles, IME, take lots of patience, they are very driven by smell and have very different behavioral responses than sight hounds. If Ajax catches a smell that he likes, there is no stopping him from checking it out, you can take him away from the smell and he will still bay and try to get back there for the next ten minutes. I think if he had a job he would be much more controllable. My experience may not be the norm, so talk to a lot of people and make sure you are ready for the noise (different type of noise than the sheltie noise lol) the work, and the energy. I love the little bugger and he is so cute, but man he is a lot of work. 

I, coming from being raised around herders, will always recommend another herding breed  I loved my shelties, and the BCs are like the shelties but a little more outgoing with people and decision making.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

Dude and Bucks Mamma said:


> If you are looking at collies I would definitely go the smooth collie route. I will never own another type of collie... Ok maybe one day a Rhett puppy...
> 
> Dude plays differently with everyone. With my stepdad and Nick, he will throw himself at them and get physical. With me, he will make contact but never enough to push me around. With my mom and little brothers he never made physical contact during play. He seems to know how rough he can play with various people. He has always been great with other dogs and has never made an attempt to hurt another dog.
> 
> Obviously that is just one smooth collie but that has been my experience with him. He IS 60lbs but he only eats 1.5 lbs per day and is actually the largest collie I have ever seen. Other than his coat, he is a VERY low maintenance dog and with the FURminator his coat takes much less work than people think.



Do smooth collies shed a lot? I figured they were the "no coat maintenance" version of the rough- LOL. My sheltie barely sheds but we do brush him daily, or every other day. I think if we went the collie route, we would go rough, just because we have bad weather here. I know smooths have more coat than my IG but she freezes, LOL. I may do both a rescue and a breeder dog (I can see my boyfriend shuddering in the background- LOL)



DaneMama said:


> What about a beagle? They're hounds and super cute....just noisy LOL! Plus they tend to stay on the smaller end of the scale unlike bassetts who can easily tip the scales at 80 pounds!


Are bassets that heavy? That's nuts. I haven't met the girl I may be rescuing yet but I know she is big for a female. I can't imagine her metabolism being very high, she is overweight and 10 years old. Beagles are ok, we've looked after one and he was NUTS but then he was around six months old.


meggels said:


> what about a schiperkee? (sp)


I've never even seen one in person! Are they quite low energy? Actually, my boyfriend wants a frenchie, but they are so hard to find and I worry about health problems, and even the frenchie rescue here lets dogs go for around $1000..



NewYorkDogue said:


> Hmmm... I can't really think of any hound-y type dogs that are that small (besides the beagle). Have you considered maybe a spaniel? There a lot of different types, plus they are smallish, have long droopy ears, and might fit the category of both cuddle-bug and sporty (for boyfriend.)
> 
> Of all the spaniels, Cavalier King Charles might be my favorite (they are quiet, sweet, and can be fairly active). They are pricey, though-- and may be hard to find in a rescue...


Love the CKCS spaniel.. they are so sweet.. but- their health problems, again. I'd be willing to overlook that but I couldn't find any close by in rescue anyways.

I did get a reply back from the basset rescue and will set up a home visit after we move.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Caty M said:


> Do smooth collies shed a lot? I figured they were the "no coat maintenance" version of the rough- LOL. My sheltie barely sheds but we do brush him daily, or every other day. I think if we went the collie route, we would go rough, just because we have bad weather here. I know smooths have more coat than my IG but she freezes, LOL. I may do both a rescue and a breeder dog (I can see my boyfriend shuddering in the background- LOL)


They shed just as much as roughs but, because their coat is so much shorter, they don't get matted and with 10 minutes of brushing every other morning or so, we get almost no hair from Dude in the house. Dude does well even in snow. Their coats are thick. They are double coated so the cold doesn't bother them. We played out in the snow all last winter and he never even showed a single sign of the cold bothering him. They are very durable dogs that are from the highlands of Scotland. Not much bothers them as far as the cold.



Caty M said:


> I've never even seen one in person! Are they quite low energy? Actually, my boyfriend wants a frenchie, but they are so hard to find and I worry about health problems, and even the frenchie rescue here lets dogs go for around $1000..


Every schipperke I have been around has been very high energy. I have never owned one so I wouldn't completely take my word for it but I have never met a calm schipperke.



Huginn said:


> If you go the beagle route definitely talk to owners and get one from a really good breeder. Beagles, IME, take lots of patience, they are very driven by smell and have very different behavioral responses than sight hounds. If Ajax catches a smell that he likes, there is no stopping him from checking it out, you can take him away from the smell and he will still bay and try to get back there for the next ten minutes. I think if he had a job he would be much more controllable. My experience may not be the norm, so talk to a lot of people and make sure you are ready for the noise (different type of noise than the sheltie noise lol) the work, and the energy. I love the little bugger and he is so cute, but man he is a lot of work.
> 
> I, coming from being raised around herders, will always recommend another herding breed  I loved my shelties, and the BCs are like the shelties but a little more outgoing with people and decision making.


If you get a beagle from a really good breeder you are going to get a beagle with a ton of drive. Buck is from hunting stock and he has more drive than any dog I have ever owned. He is indeed the most active dog I have ever owned and he is definitely the most persistent. The advantage is that he is wicked smart and learns new things in no time at all. The trick is motivating a hound to WANT to do what you ask them to do. They won't just blindly follow you. You have to earn their respect before you can get them to do anything they might not feel like doing at the moment. They are well worth the initial frustration. Buck is, by far, the best dog I have ever had and, after having Dude, I never thought I would say that any dog was better than Dude. 

Hounds are also very food driven. Buck will do ANYTHING for food. I could probably teach him to stand on his head, turn purple, and grow flowers out of his toes as long as I had something edible in return. 

Tif, all Ajax really needs is to be taught that howling like that will get him nowhere. Hahaha. I feel your pain. Buck knows that attempting to pull me back to what he found and/or howling about it will not get him anything he wants. I can actually walk him without him attempting to put nose to ground at all. It took patience but I want a dog who is not going to try to drag me around whenever he catches a whiff of something. He knows that, if he behaves, that I will take him over to "the goose grass" where the Canada Geese spend most of their time and I will follow him around to his hearts content... so long as he doesn't try to go into the bushes! It was a long, hard struggle to get him to come to terms with howling = nothing.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

why not another sighthound.....energy to energy..

my list includes
pugs
frenchies
lhasas
shih tzus
corgis, tho i am tired of the excessive shedding
tibetan spaniel
ckcspaniel
brussels griffon, the ugliest cutest dog in the world
and the schipperke.....another ugly but gorgeous...

but i like the smush faced dog.....


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## NewYorkDogue (Sep 27, 2011)

A bit off-topic, but... I just received a free copy of "AKC Family Dog" magazine and they had a several page article on hounds ("On The Fast Track"). About the Blue Tick Coonhound, (recognized in 2009), it says, "Their voices are so pleasing that people sometimes come to hunts just to listen to them sing."


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

Sorry, I missed low-medium energy. 

I do think schipperke's are pretty high energy. Like Jesse said, a beagle can VERY much be high energy with tons of drive, but for some reason people just get them and turn them into real fatso's. 



I mean, I love frenchies, they are such fun dogs. But yes, you will be paying $2500 or so for a quality one. And it's hard to find good ones that aren't DA in rescues here in US. I always keep my eye out


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

oh. i missed low energy too.....most of my list is not super high energy.

i had read somewhere that when getting a second dog, the second dog should be a little bit lower in energy than the first...

i don't know about other breeds, but frenchies and pugs are very similar

the two spaniels i mentioned are medium energy spaniels...

corgis....i'd love a corgi, but i would not be doing a corgi any favours in an apartment, especially in the young years...

seniors, i have one. i also made the mistake of gettng dogs a year apart, so we got them in order and they died in order....except for the first two who died on the same day. i can't do senior dogs.....it's too soon that they grow old as it is, so you have my admiration for that as does anyone who adopts seniors....


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## Huginn (Nov 21, 2011)

Dude and Bucks Mamma said:


> If you get a beagle from a really good breeder you are going to get a beagle with a ton of drive. Buck is from hunting stock and he has more drive than any dog I have ever owned. He is indeed the most active dog I have ever owned and he is definitely the most persistent. The advantage is that he is wicked smart and learns new things in no time at all. The trick is motivating a hound to WANT to do what you ask them to do. They won't just blindly follow you. You have to earn their respect before you can get them to do anything they might not feel like doing at the moment. They are well worth the initial frustration. Buck is, by far, the best dog I have ever had and, after having Dude, I never thought I would say that any dog was better than Dude.
> 
> Hounds are also very food driven. Buck will do ANYTHING for food. I could probably teach him to stand on his head, turn purple, and grow flowers out of his toes as long as I had something edible in return.
> 
> Tif, all Ajax really needs is to be taught that howling like that will get him nowhere. Hahaha. I feel your pain. Buck knows that attempting to pull me back to what he found and/or howling about it will not get him anything he wants. I can actually walk him without him attempting to put nose to ground at all. It took patience but I want a dog who is not going to try to drag me around whenever he catches a whiff of something. He knows that, if he behaves, that I will take him over to "the goose grass" where the Canada Geese spend most of their time and I will follow him around to his hearts content... so long as he doesn't try to go into the bushes! It was a long, hard struggle to get him to come to terms with howling = nothing.


The reason I say from a good breeder is that Ajax, was kind of a rescue from a really bad breeder and he has a ton of anxiety issues as well as seizures at a young age. He is slowly learning, that is why I said patience lol. If I was on the same side of the state as Ajax more than a weekend here and there, he would be much better. Nate is laid back with him, when he gets frustrated with Ajax's noise, he just gives up and Ajax gets what he wants. We use treats for everything! Haha it's the only thing he would rather have than a sniff of something. For the most part he (Ajax) is a lazy bum, that is how they get so fat. We keep his food intake very low, especially on days that he gets a lot of treats. He probably gets about half of the food that the roommates doxie gets, and she weighs about half of Ajax, but beagles get fat very easy and we don't want him there. Beagles = patience, this is what I have learned lol. I really do love his adorable face, and quirky personality though.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

If this basset rescue works out I can't see her needing a lot of food, lol. The amount Tess gets or less (1-1.2lb). She looks around 50lb, 10 years old. She is quite overweight and has hip dysplasia so I'm sure that once she loses weight her hip will feel a bit better.


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

Well I'll say it again good for you rescuing this girl. Some can be big but like anything there are smaller ones also. Turtle my full basset is 46 lbs. she doesn't eat all that much. I have been trying to get a little weight back on Maddie basset/redbone mix so have been feeding her allot more. My last two girls were a little bigger than Turtle but not much and I didn't let them get over weight. It's kind of fun to get them back in shape because Maddie was kind of a mess when I get her over weight bad hair, she looks pretty good for a senior now. Beagles in my opinion are harder headed but cute.


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

Hounds, in general, equal patience and endurance, imo. You have to have patience in making sure you have their full attention, dealing with a dog bred to work at a distance, using it's own brain to make decisions can be a trial. Then comes the need to be able to endure through training out any behavior that they've "latched" on to, a fav. seems to be baying for scent hounds.


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## BrownieM (Aug 30, 2010)

Can't help ya! I've never looked into any low energy dogs (does not suit my lifestyle). I will ask around, though! I prefer poodles due to them being 'adaptable' in their energy. I would still say, though, that a poodle is most certainly not for you if you want low energy.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

NewYorkDogue said:


> A bit off-topic, but... I just received a free copy of "AKC Family Dog" magazine and they had a several page article on hounds ("On The Fast Track"). About the Blue Tick Coonhound, (recognized in 2009), it says, "Their voices are so pleasing that people sometimes come to hunts just to listen to them sing."


Nick and I ask him to howl all the time just so we can hear him. I absolutely LOVE the bawling.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Celt said:


> Hounds, in general, equal patience and endurance, imo. You have to have patience in making sure you have their full attention, dealing with a dog bred to work at a distance, using it's own brain to make decisions can be a trial. Then comes the need to be able to endure through training out any behavior that they've "latched" on to, a fav. seems to be baying for scent hounds.


Buck was actually very easy to teach not to howl in the house unless told to do so. As a result, he doesn't howl outside either. Our neighbors' pit mixes, although very sweet dogs, bark at everything, including nothing. You hear the back slider open then "BARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARK!!!!" It's ridiculous. We have raccoons and other critters walk by and, if in the backyard, both boys just quietly observe... The dog park is a different story though. I allow him to howl to his heart's content. The way I see it, you wouldn't tell kids to stop laughing and playing at a playground.

Training Buck out of bad habits hasn't been the hard part. The hard part has been convincing him to do what he is told. Hahahaha.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

I guess not LOW low energy, I just don't want a dog like a cattle dog that I have to run for three hours a day. I'd class Tessie as medium energy, she has spurts of insanity doing furniture olympics at 90 miles an hour, then asleep the next minute. She can hike all day and loves it. She is pretty hyper a lot of the time, though. Bishop my sheltie is lazy!


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Buck can go several days in a row with nothing but laying about all day. He is only 9 months old and, while he does still needs lots of exercise and can play for hours at the dog park, he is still completely fine when we can't do that. Most days he just gets a walk with me since I'm stuck at home with no car while Nick goes to work. Yet he is also the type that can go all day without stopping. When he doesn't get enough exercise he will calmly, yet annoyingly, stand right in front of me on the couch and just STARE at me until I take him out to do something. Hahaha. He never actually gets wound up or destructive due to lack of exercise. When we go to the dog park on the weekends we are usually there all day or most of the day with stops at the dog friendly stores afterwards. 

Dude could never get exercise again and be just fine. Dude is the ultimate couch potato yet he is ALWAYS ready when you want him to be.


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## CoverTune (Dec 20, 2011)

I haven't seen a Boston Terrier mentioned here yet.. though they may not appeal to you at all. They can be somewhat high energy as youngsters, but do seem to quiet down pretty well. They're smart and friendly, very low grooming requirements.

My boy George is a Boston-Corgi mix from the humane society. He's older, so definitely low energy. His face isn't as smushed as a purebred, so he doesn't have any breathing issues.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw that into the mix.


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