Family dog, yay or nay?

[HHandbasket]

I would definitely go with a rescue/shelter dog. Definitely. Or one that's going to end up there if it doesn't find a home.

As far as breeds go, of course my first choice would seriously be a mutt dog. I have had the BEST luck in my life with plain old mutt dogs that are a little of this and a little of that. The dog we have had for the last 5 years, our Ginger, is a mutt. Her mother was a chocolate lab mix (very much LOOKS chocolate lab but somewhat shorter & squatter), and her father was a purebred Australian blue heeler that was sniffin' around where shouldn't have been. What I got was a mutt dog that is a GREAT herder but looks/acts like a chocolate lab mix. When I was a young adult, my first husband and I had this seriously UGLY mutt dog we picked up from the pound and had her for probably four or five years. She was the best tempered, sweetest dog, never gave us a lick of trouble.

That has been my experience with mutts.

And mutts tend to really, really love you. They have no shame.

 

[hollymh]

Quote:
We are moving from overseas to Southeast Wi, and I can't wait, we have already started scoping out shelters and rescues to work with and we have found three that look like they have the potential to place a good dog with us. We are going to get settled in and then look into getting a dog, we have done some fostering where we are now and it's been fun but we never commited b/c of the cost and difficulty of importing them back to the US.

 

[bock]

I think it is SO wonderful that you are going to give a deserving dog a second change at life! I rescued my yellow lab mix 9 years ago. She was at a very high-kill shelter, they had already almost put her down three times, but a rescue took her in for a few days each time. Finally, we found her as a eleven month old, a girl that just needed a loving home. She is the best dog ever. She is very calm, assertive, and smart. Despite the yellow lab in her, she doesn't fetch, swim, or do anything more active than a walk.

We love her to pieces, and she is going on 10 now, but she will certainly doesn't look it. We love you Sugar!

 

[E.G.Glayer]

We have a Great Pyrenees/Lab mix female she might just be the smartest dog i have ever had but shes alittle young yet at 16 weeks and about 37 lbs. We got her as a companion to our Aussie Sheppard/Golden Retriever who is definitely not even close to the smartest but he is a good watchdog and loves the kids. We have 3 children so tempermant was important to us as well. Both our dogs were free, Its just hard for me to go to a shelter and pay 200 bucks to rescue one, I prefer to look in the paper and keep one out of the shelter.