Help me find my future dog breed?

[Amelise]

Looked into min pins a bit more and it seems like they may be a good match because:

-short coats
-pretty trainable
-healthy
-energetic, but not crazy


Not quite sure about they prey drive though, but I can trust myself to do good on the training and socialization of the dog to be obedient around the chickens.

There’s also people that cross them with king cavaliers, which seem to mostly turn out short haired and may inherit the more mellow traits of the cavaliers.

 

[fluffycrow]

cross them with king cavaliers, which seem to mostly turn out short haired and may inherit the more mellow traits of the cavaliers.

Sounds more like a good way to introduce the health problems some Cavaliers have into the more healthy min pin. I don't see how a good Cav would sell a puppy to someone looking to mix. So chances are, the mixes come from unhealthy parent stock, especially on the Cav side

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Any dog could really match what you want.
We have 2 golden retrievers and before that we had a lab/aussie(who had such a strong prey drive and was a amazing hunter, but due to some problems that arose we couldnt keeo him and he went to live on a farm with chickens, and never once has he touched a chicken, but other birds are free game)
Our second lab had no hunting drive, we did train him, but again we didnt keep him for different reasons.
5 or 6 years later we got our first golden(she is the laziest couch potato and loves the chickens, she will lay with them and if i have chicks and am holding them she has to be there, she is a show/pet golden)
Now our second golden is a field golden(i absolutely cant trust him in the same room as the chickens alone. With chicks he scares them if i leave him for to long. He is less than 2 years old so i am still working with him)

Ive seen some really strong prey drive dogs be good with chickens. pointers, blue heelers(which i wouldnt reccomend for a first dog), pinscher, labs, antolian shepherds(short haired livestock guardian) , mastiffs(but they can be hard to train and drool a lot)

A friend of ours rescued a catahoula lepord hound(blue heeler i think) and a few other breeds when he was 8 weeks old and he is perfect around their chickens and ducks.

So no matter what breed you choose, if you train it properly it will work.

 

[Logar]

Ok, this may not be a popular opinion but why not a pit bull/pit bull mix? They are in every shelter and are available at every life stage. Every single one I have owned/met are extremely friendly, low prey drive, active, easy to train, etc, etc, etc.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Ok, this may not be a popular opinion but why not a pit bull/pit bull mix? They are in every shelter and are available at every life stage. Every single one I have owned/met are extremely friendly, low prey drive, active, easy to train, etc, etc, etc.

Mine is amazing!!! Although he’s definitely high prey drive LOL but he was really easy to train and left all my animals alone when I had other animals still.

 

[Amelise]

Ok, this may not be a popular opinion but why not a pit bull/pit bull mix? They are in every shelter and are available at every life stage. Every single one I have owned/met are extremely friendly, low prey drive, active, easy to train, etc, etc, etc.

Yes this was something else I was thinking about. There’s a lot of puppies in shelters, and a lot of short haired dogs in shelters. Adopting a puppy is a bit of a gamble on the personality but I suppose if the dog is adopted young enough she can be socialized and trained very well.
Also more viable to me because it seems like min pins are pretty expensive.

 

[Amelise]

Sounds more like a good way to introduce the health problems some Cavaliers have into the more healthy min pin. I don't see how a good Cav would sell a puppy to someone looking to mix. So chances are, the mixes come from unhealthy parent stock, especially on the Cav side

Gotcha. I forget that cavaliers can be pretty unhealthy. My cross dog seems to have turned out pretty good tho, and since his dad was a bichon frise his face is not smushed at all

 

[NatJ]

Ok, this may not be a popular opinion but why not a pit bull/pit bull mix? They are in every shelter and are available at every life stage. Every single one I have owned/met are extremely friendly, low prey drive, active, easy to train, etc, etc, etc.

I saw that OP did not want a dog that drools, and did not want a brachycephalic (short-nosed) dog.

The short-faced ones are obvious as soon as you look at them, so no trouble avoiding them at a shelter.

For drooling, you want to avoid any dog with loose dangly lips. A nice trim muzzle, with enough lips to close but not flop around, gives the dog the most ability to control their drooling.

(I'm not making a point for or against a given breed or mix, just commenting that certain traits can be recognized even if no-one knows any history of the dog or its ancestry.)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

French bulldogs could be good but they can be drooly

They do not drool, but they have a high prey drive. Boston's are less prey driven in my experiences. Bulldogs are tenacious.

 

[ShrekDawg]

They do not drool, but they have a high prey drive. Boston's are less prey driven in my experiences. Bulldogs are tenacious.

I was going to suggest Bostons but then I read they didn’t want smooshed faces I don’t think. But they’re so cute!!!!