Dogs are good when they are old and stay still and don't bug you, but not so old that the incontinence and house soiling starts.
Outside only ranch dogs are fine, but spouse thinks all dogs must be house dogs.
I liked the ranch dog we had when I was growing up. It never killed chickens, it barked whenever anyone drove up the drive, it kept deer and coons out of the garden, and killed all snakes on sight.
It was also excellent if you needed to track a deer.
That was an excellent dog, and I don't think it ever tried to get me to pet him.
His name was "Dog" when we took him to the vet, at home we called him "Wolfgang"
The dog that currently lives in my house is one of those "designer" dogs.
I told spouse that if we HAD
to get a dog, I wanted one that would never move, and that would be garunteed to never kill my chickens, a very obedient dog, and a dumb dog, but perfectly house trained.
Spouse thought that we needed a dog that would run around and play fetch with the kids. :
We got an "Aussiedoodle"
And yes, it killed a bunch of my chickens before I trained it to not touch them. -sigh-
