Help! I'm looking for a dog breed that....

[chickentrains]

I suppose I'll just have to wait and see who we get to meet and how it works out.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[chickentrains]

1. Bucky "needs to be the only dog in the home" sounds like a way of hiding dog aggression, or not great dog behavior. Most dogs find herding dogs a wonderful playmates, because the chasing and circle behaviors a herding dog does when it herds makes for a great game of "you cant catch me"... The fact that they blame his herding behavior for needing to be the only dog in the home concerns me.

2. Seems fine. You'll have to meet him.

3. Auggie, Are you sure you will be able to handle his energy? You've ruled out aussies, border collies, etc, for excessive energy. Auggie seems like a LOT of dog to handle. Will you or your parents be interested in keeping him in a sport, and otherwise making sure he is exercised a and stimulated every day?

4. Micheal also seems like he is a high energy dog. I think you will be able to handle it, as it seems he exersises himself, as he likes fetch, but you will also have to suppliment him with extra mental stimilation, as well.

5. Calm? Jack russel? um. I don't know if I believe that, but if its true, seems like a good fit.

6. Sounds lovely. Would have to meet him to understand him better

 

[black_cat]

If they become unavailable, then I guess it's just not meant to be, but hopefully we can meet at least one of them. Hoping it's this guy, I love him and he's perfect

 

[black_cat]

1. Bucky "needs to be the only dog in the home" sounds like a way of hiding dog aggression, or not great dog behavior. Most dogs find herding dogs a wonderful playmates, because the chasing and circle behaviors a herding dog does when it herds makes for a great game of "you cant catch me"... The fact that they blame his herding behavior for needing to be the only dog in the home concerns me.

Well frick.

3. Auggie, Are you sure you will be able to handle his energy? You've ruled out aussies, border collies, etc, for excessive energy. Auggie seems like a LOT of dog to handle. Will you or your parents be interested in keeping him in a sport, and otherwise making sure he is exercised a and stimulated every day?

I'll do whatever's necessary for any dog that we get, but you're right, he seems like a bit too much.

4. Micheal also seems like he is a high energy dog. I think you will be able to handle it, as it seems he exersises himself, as he likes fetch, but you will also have to suppliment him with extra mental stimilation, as well.

Training counts as mental stimulation, right? Like obedience and tricks?

5. Calm? Jack russell? um. I don't know if I believe that,

XD

but if its true, seems like a good fit.

6. Sounds lovely. Would have to meet him to understand him better

 

[chickentrains]

Well frick.

I read through this thing the other day, a study about common lies shelters put out. LOTS of shelters will lie and sugar coat the dogs issues to get them adopted.

https://blog.dogsbite.org/2020/07/125-behavior-terms-for-shelter-dogs-decoded.html

 

[chickentrains]

training does count as mental stimulation

 

[Namentuppen]

Does that reflect mostly on level of training and socialization as a puppy, or the breed in general?

It's both. All of these look like adults though, so the socialization window is pretty long gone. Old dogs can learn new tricks though!

I've never even heard of them. I assume that the rescue knows the exact parentage of the dog, because it doesn't seem like something that would be guessed.

Depends on the rescue/shelter and if they know the dog's background. A lot just throw up a guess. We personally have a lot of dogs down here at the shelter labeled "lab mixes" that are pretty obviously full Staffie or close to it. Most puppies will be labeled "lab mix" as well. Could be true. Down here if it's not a pitbull breed it'll be a lab or hound mix. I got my dog DNA tested so that's the only reason I have any idea what exactly he is. Brussels are pretty rare so I'd be kind of surprised if that dog has that in him.

The black, slightly floofy one that you said looks like your dog. He apparently has short legs.

Gotcha! If lab personality, I'd consider. If corgi, I'd personally pass.

How could you check the prey drive?

It's kind of difficult to do safely. There are multiple types to consider and different dogs will react to different things. Some dogs will go after chickens but won't touch a cat. Some dogs will go after anything that moves. Only way I can think is to have some sort of 'prey-like' animal with you behind a chain-link fence and see how the dog reacts. If it generally ignores the animal might be alright, but no guarantees.

Note: Me questioning 'why' isn't me trying to be sassy or undermine you at all, just legitimate curiosity. So, with that being said, why?

No worries! For #1, Aussies/their mixes I just am generally more cautious with; they have a tendency to be head-shy and some are snappy. The nice ones are still shyer. I just personally love a dog you can walk up to, baby-talk and scratch and it'll love you (tail-wagging, comes to you, wants affection) even as a stranger holding fecal loops and a thermometer, haha.

What makes you say that?

My personal experience with collies or ACDs at work (minus rough collies, they're pretty good but I've only met a couple). I feel like a lot of these dogs just need better training though, so if you find the personality on that dog is good, just work on the other (minor) aspects.

My dog was extremely head shy when I got him. I worked with him and he's not now. I can also hold him for blood draws and nail trims without him "alligator rolling" and he'll allow his ears to be looked into without screaming. However, I have not managed to work out his prey drive. We've had fosters with food aggression and touch aggression (no medical reason), and I will not own a dog with those issues again.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Having recently adopted a rescue (an older puppy), I'll tell you some of what I learned. The main thing I would have done differently is: choose a dog that is super friendly with EVERYBODY (especially all shapes and sizes of dogs, men, and kids)!! The people at my local rescue said my dog was good with dogs and kids. Turns out she is very fearful of them and also has a fear of men. I can't comfortably take my dog to public places and let people pet her. Not an easy thing to fix! I believe it is possible that moving to a new home and family can create behavior issues, such as separation anxiety and aggression, even if they supposedly didn't have them before. And yes shelters/rescues will guess the breeds. If they don't know the breeds of the dog's parents or did not do a DNA test, there is a big chance they are wrong.

 

[chickentrains]

Having recently adopted a rescue (an older puppy), I'll tell you some of what I learned. The main thing I would have done differently is: choose a dog that is super friendly with EVERYBODY (especially all shapes and sizes of dogs, men, and kids)!! The people at my local rescue said my dog was good with dogs and kids. Turns out she is very fearful of them and also has a fear of men. I can't comfortably take my dog to public places and let people pet her. Not an easy thing to fix! I believe it is possible that moving to a new home and family can create behavior issues, such as separation anxiety and aggression, even if they supposedly didn't have them before. And yes shelters/rescues will guess the breeds. If they don't know the breeds of the dog's parents or did not do a DNA test, there is a big chance they are wrong.

So the shelter lied to you? How awful. The shelter lied to us, too.

 

[StinkyAcres]

So the shelter lied to you? How awful. The shelter lied to us, too.

I don't know if they lied to us, if they just didn't see the signs, or if the dog changed once we brought her home. We took her to classes after we had her for a few weeks and she was barking at kids out of fear and obviously more wary of men than women. I guess she wasn't fearful of dogs at the beginning, but she was rough and dominant with the other dog in the class.