Dog Question

[Jawbone]

I'm with the no's, but since you can't be de-railed here's my 2cents.
Border Terriers are NOT what you want. They are the toughest, strongest, way too much energy dogs out there. They are soo cute though, aren't they?
Ours only weighed eight lbs. but would fight every dog it ran into. It was not trainable do to it's inablity to focus. Luckly it was an expensive prue-bred, and we found a breeder who would take it. Then we got a Shepard/Lab mix. Best dog we ever had.

My suggestion is a Sliky Terrier. They're small, lack energy and are quite stupid. It will sit on your couch pillow all day and do nothing.

[Jawbone]

Or like others have mentioned a toy poodle. Very inteligent and trainable. But they do come with alot of energy.

[aquaduct]

Thanks, this is very helpful.

Some clarifications:

1) I don't mind dogs, had one or two at a time for most of my life.

2) The winery regularly sponsors events there for rescue shelters, etc. That is a double-edged sword since my daughter is both constantly exposed to cute dogs vs. they can provide some really nice dog acquisition options. They had one 2 weeks ago with Westies. That's also a breed I'm familiar with (had one as a kid) and could be talked into.

3) I live with 2 related females. Rationality is not necessarily a core value and is often not tolerated.

4) Poodles huh? Interesting.

[Village Idiot]

I forgot. You live in Estrogenia. So when are you picking up that dog?

[aquaduct]

Jul 2, 2009 12:18:01 GMT -5 Village Idiot said:

I forgot. You live in Estrogenia. So when are you picking up that dog?

Ah, another native. ;D

[Jawbone]

Here ya go aqua:
www.dogbreedinfo.com/search.htm
If ya do it, let me know, I'm quite curious.

[Deleted]

If I have to pick a breed, it's always a german shepherd, because it gives the best chance of getting the right critter. Picking merely by breed may not be the best way to go about it, though. But, if you have to do that, my experience is that shepherds from relatively good breeders will statistically give you a great shot at having an intellegent, healthy, versitile and trainable friend. Might seem a tad large for your situation, but a larger, very trainable dog might cause less fuss than a smaller one that's harder to train up. In a lot of cases, little dogs come with nervous/insecurity issues, and display something similar to passive-aggressive behavior. Kind of a canine version of the short man complex, I guess. I've had shepherds when living in an urban environment, and as long as they get some exercise, they'd do fine in a small taownhouse.

Unless someone in the house is willing/able to work with the puppy every day, take a pass on the whole deal. With shepherds, if you devote about an hour a day for the first year, you'll have it made: thouroughly off-leash trained, and you can take 'em anywhere.

Best dog training book is by a guy named Koehler. But, if you use that method, don't just "borrow" from it, or apply just the ideas that seem good at the time. The goal is to have the dog off-leash trained, so that you can walk him, eventually, along a busy highway, off-leash, with a million dogs and other temptations everywhere, and never worry about the dog leaving the heel position.

But, you don't need to choose by breed. You can go to an animal shelter and look for an individual critter that grabs your heart, and appears intellegent and responsive.

[Village Idiot]

Another way to go, if there is a track near you, is to adopt a greyhound. You get to skip the puppy stage, they are friendly to dogs and humans, and, suprisingly, need relatively little exercise.

[PaulKay]

Get yourself one of these. At least if it runs off, people will most assuredly bring it back...

[TDR]

Get her one of these. She'll fall in love with it. Or if not it'll be easy to find it a new home.

[millring]

I can see that this suddenly became the "Too Horrible To Imagine" thread.