What's your favorite dog?

[duncan12]

I would prefer to rescue a dog from a shelter, but it is unrealistic. I want a specific dog and they just don't show up in shelters out here in Cali. In fact I have never seen one of these on the West coast. They are really popular in the midwest and in new york.
soft coated wheaten terrier... That's what we had when I was a kid and I really want one for my kids.

[ed_jaxon]

Funny no one mentions the traits of these breeds

Malamutes and Huskies are bred to pull and are escape artists. I had on and it was hell trying to keep him our yard.

Most dogs do what they are bred for so they might look beautiful but they are going to do what they do.

Larger dogs don't live as long as smaller dogs. I am still grieving my dog who died over three years ago.

For me my best dog was a former racer.

I still go to the track when I get the chance.

[lilydev]

THE most versatile hunting dog on the planet.

[lilydev]

Sorry... The Deutsch Drahthaar is my fav.

[Caff_Racer]

Gos d'Atura Català (Catalan Shepherd Dog):



Affectionnate, intelligent, and loyal

It's wonderful to see them at work; they don't need the shepherd around, they can take care of a fair-sized flock of sheep on their own. The first time that my one, who is not a "working dog", saw a flock of sheep in a field, she had them rounded up within five minutes!

[duncan12]

Catalan Sheepdog looks exactly like a soft coated Wheaten Terrier. Exactly. Alike.

Just had a funny thought: What you see is not necessarily what you get. Seems to be a fitting sentiment for this board.

[JANIRA]

Boxers! They are soo fuckin adorable,,,,, and their personality is so much like me ,, Playful,,, Loving,, Hyper,,,, there is no other dog i love more!!!

[longwave]

rhodesian ridgeback



i like the history behind them.

The breed's long history dates back to early in the 18th century when the first European settlers found with the Khoisan tribes a domesticated dog with the hair on his spine being turned forward. Later, to fill specific needs of the big game hunters of the late 19th century for a serviceable hunting dog, tough, resistant to disease, intelligent enough to avoid crocodiles and snakes, with tick repellent smooth coat, tight paw pads to protect against thorns and rough terrain, brave and muscular enough to face a lion or any other big game, but fast enough to stay out of harm's way of horns, claws and teeth. The main person behind this development was Cornelius Van Rooyen of Plumtree, Rhodesia.

The history of the breed is disputed. What is commonly accepted is that Van Rooyen used two ridged, rough-coated bitches from the Swellendam district brought to him by the Rev. Charles Helm in 1879. Van Rooyen crossed these bitches with members of his pack, noting that their ridged progeny excelled at lion hunting.

The Breed Standard is loosely based on that of a slightly enlarged Dalmatian and was first registered by the South African Kennel Club, SAKU (now KUSA) in 1924. At that time KUSA was the only Kennel Club in the territory. The breed was first admitted into the American Kennel Club in 1955 as a member of the Hound Group.

As hunters, Ridgebacks were sent out in packs of two or more to track down, then corner and wear down a lion by taunting and goading it into confusion, this is known keeping the lion "at bay". The dogs, working in revolving groups, kept the lion at bay until the hunter arrived to dispatch the occupied lion with a well placed rifle shot from relatively close range.

The dogs themselves did not kill lions, but somehow over the years this fable began and still persists to this day. When not used for hunting, these dogs were family companions, guardians of the family and property, and cattle drovers.

[sockmonkey]

Well, I saw some of you comment on English Mastiffs, and as an owner, I felt I had to share a couple pictures. His name is Ajax (named after the Telemonian Ajax, king of Salamis, from Homer's Iliad; Ajax was the largest of the Achaean warriors, which I thought apropos), and he's two years old, so he's still a growing boy. He's currently 35.5 inches at the shoulder and 187 lbs. as of last November. He'll probably grow another inch and top out at 240-250 lbs. if I keep him in shape.

He's sweet, sensitive, and demandingly affectionate. He loves to give kisses and clean my ears, he snores when he's happy (and snores like a chainsaw when he sleeps), he moos when he's bored, and he hates not being touched. He loves to lean against people, sleep on your feet, and will always be on the other side of the door when you go to the bathroom. And you have to guard your nuts when his tail is going, because if he hits you, you will drop.

English Mastiffs are the most rewarding dog in the world, if you're capable of not only meeting the demands of the breed, but are capable of raising a dog to be psychologically well-adjusted. The eat in buckets, drool in buckets, make good natural roadblocks, and fart like you wouldn't believe. But they will pay it back to you every single day with their natural devotion. Mastiffs live simply to please their owners, but you have to treat them gently; if I even so much as raise my voice to scold Ajax, he'll go and mope on the other side of the room until I call him back over and apologise. But he's happy all the time, and he loves me as much as a dog can love a human, which is entirely. There is no other breed of dog I'd cherish more to own.

The most famous quote about Mastiffs is by S. Edwards from Cynographia Britannica:

"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sinking before him. His courage does not exceed its temper and generosity and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race. His docility is perfect; the teasing of the smaller kinds will hardly provoke him to resent, and I have seen him down with his paw the Terrier or cur that has bit him, without offering further injury. In a family he will permit the children to play with him and will suffer all their little pranks without offence. The blind ferocity of the bulldog will often wound the hand of the master who assists him to combat, but the Mastiff distinguishes perfectly, enters the field with temper, and engages the attack as if confident of success: if he overpowers, or is beaten, his master may take him immediately in his arms and fear nothing. This ancient and faithful domestic, the pride of our island, uniting the useful, the brave and the docile, though sought by foreign nations and perpetuated on the continent, is nearly extinct where he was probably an aborigine, or is bastardized by numberless crosses, everyone of which degenerate from the invaluable character of the parent, who was deemed worthy to enter the Roman amphitheatre and in the presence of the masters of the world, encounter the pard [leopard] and assail even the lord of the savage tribes, whose courage was sublimed by torrid suns, and found none gallant enough to oppose him on the deserts of Zaara or the plains of Numidia."


Sorry this post was so long; I'm very passionate about these dogs.

[rmdx]

Boxers! They are soo fuckin adorable,,,,, and their personality is so much like me ,, Playful,,, Loving,, Hyper,,,, there is no other dog i love more!!!

Boxers are the most child like breed, i think the purest loving companion out there, mine's a rescue and appreciates her home- now she's a spoiled brat!!!!!!