- Messages
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- Reaction score
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As a general type, I like big dogs rather than small, & double coats more than single. By “big”, I mean somewhere between 50 & 100#, with the sweet spot around 75 to 80.
I’m not keen on giants only b/c of their short lifespans - dogs’ lives are so brief already, 7 to 9 years seems criminal.
I did, however, have an intense love affair with an Irish Wolfhound in my youth - my employer’s dog, a lovely tempered monster named Black Michael.
I don’t care for yappers of any size, breed, or mix, or barky dogs, period - if they bark with cause, that’s fine; but if they bark for any & everything... excitement, boredom, gimme, alarms, complaints!... I don’t want them.
A Finnish Spitz will never cross my threshold unless they belong to a visitor, or s/he’s a client’s dog, or is in foster, & I am doing B-mod. Karelian Bear Dogs, same flaw. Most Chis, ditto.
I do prefer dogs who don’t adore everyone, as my personal pets - so Larry or Linda Labrador types aren’t my cuppa.
That said, I had a wonderful little dog, my 1st self-trained therapy pet, who worshipped every human alive, & Beau was a real sweetheart. I miss him still - my then-fiancée kidnapped both him & my Groenendahl bitch, & delivered them to his mother.
I don’t like excessively guardy types ... COs, Dogos, Filas Brasilieros, Presas, Corsos, & especially Boerbels are dogs I avoid as much as possible. Despite meeting only a few of each breed, I had far-too many bad experiences with them in Virginia, where novices with more $$ than brains got overdogged with expensive pups, then couldn’t or simply didn’t train them, & they became paranoid, unpredictable, & potentially dangerous adults.
As an example, not ONE Boerbel over 12-weeks age that I met, could be so much as touched by nonfamily - not even petted on a nonthreatening area such as their chest, let alone examined by a vet, or manipulated in any way. // One & all, M or F, they growled deep & serious, & informed U that if touched, they intended to rip yer arm off & beat U unconscious with it.
Even the 12-WO gave me the dead-eye Dick look, like a jaded cop eyeing a criminal with a rap sheet a yard long. Very off-putting. // I made no attempt to touch or even approach him closely, his owner was my client, & she did all the leash handling and any touching, while I coached from 5 or more feet away.
(He’d bitten 4 adults, so far, & I wasn’t going to be 5.)
I do, however, like good tempered guardians with cautious but tolerant personalities -
Akitas, well-socialized stock guards such as Pyrs & Tibbies, & similar. // Rottweilers used to be wonderful dogs, then popularity struck in the mid to late ‘80s, & now they are very hit & miss.
I don’t like beards, brachy faces, spaghetti drool, or dreadlock coats.
I don’t like indeterminate-length single coats (e-g, Maltese) which grow forever — like human hair — as they’re tangle-prone, & high maintenance.
I don’t like bad structure.
Vertical rear legs (popular in Asia - Chow-chow, Shar-Pei, etc), banana backs, dropped croups with wobbly hocks as seen in show-line GSDs, excessive wrinkle as in Dogues, massive skulls & itty-bitty toad butts as in English Bulldogs... any form of exaggeration, it leaves me cold. :shrug:
I like moderation & above all, function - a dog who can move easily & freely, reasonably agile, with strength enuf to work, decent endurance, sturdy rather than delicate.
I like dogs with forefaces, & I demand open airways - no stenotic nostrils, thanks.
I like dogs with off switches - who can work, but who then relax. // OCD workaholics are exhausting.
I usually like working line dogs better than their show-line counterparts.
- terry
.
As a general type, I like big dogs rather than small, & double coats more than single. By “big”, I mean somewhere between 50 & 100#, with the sweet spot around 75 to 80.
I’m not keen on giants only b/c of their short lifespans - dogs’ lives are so brief already, 7 to 9 years seems criminal.
I did, however, have an intense love affair with an Irish Wolfhound in my youth - my employer’s dog, a lovely tempered monster named Black Michael.I don’t care for yappers of any size, breed, or mix, or barky dogs, period - if they bark with cause, that’s fine; but if they bark for any & everything... excitement, boredom, gimme, alarms, complaints!... I don’t want them.
A Finnish Spitz will never cross my threshold unless they belong to a visitor, or s/he’s a client’s dog, or is in foster, & I am doing B-mod. Karelian Bear Dogs, same flaw. Most Chis, ditto.
I do prefer dogs who don’t adore everyone, as my personal pets - so Larry or Linda Labrador types aren’t my cuppa.
That said, I had a wonderful little dog, my 1st self-trained therapy pet, who worshipped every human alive, & Beau was a real sweetheart. I miss him still - my then-fiancée kidnapped both him & my Groenendahl bitch, & delivered them to his mother.
I don’t like excessively guardy types ... COs, Dogos, Filas Brasilieros, Presas, Corsos, & especially Boerbels are dogs I avoid as much as possible. Despite meeting only a few of each breed, I had far-too many bad experiences with them in Virginia, where novices with more $$ than brains got overdogged with expensive pups, then couldn’t or simply didn’t train them, & they became paranoid, unpredictable, & potentially dangerous adults.
As an example, not ONE Boerbel over 12-weeks age that I met, could be so much as touched by nonfamily - not even petted on a nonthreatening area such as their chest, let alone examined by a vet, or manipulated in any way. // One & all, M or F, they growled deep & serious, & informed U that if touched, they intended to rip yer arm off & beat U unconscious with it.
Even the 12-WO gave me the dead-eye Dick look, like a jaded cop eyeing a criminal with a rap sheet a yard long. Very off-putting. // I made no attempt to touch or even approach him closely, his owner was my client, & she did all the leash handling and any touching, while I coached from 5 or more feet away.
(He’d bitten 4 adults, so far, & I wasn’t going to be 5.)
I do, however, like good tempered guardians with cautious but tolerant personalities -
Akitas, well-socialized stock guards such as Pyrs & Tibbies, & similar. // Rottweilers used to be wonderful dogs, then popularity struck in the mid to late ‘80s, & now they are very hit & miss.
I don’t like beards, brachy faces, spaghetti drool, or dreadlock coats.
I don’t like indeterminate-length single coats (e-g, Maltese) which grow forever — like human hair — as they’re tangle-prone, & high maintenance.
I don’t like bad structure.
Vertical rear legs (popular in Asia - Chow-chow, Shar-Pei, etc), banana backs, dropped croups with wobbly hocks as seen in show-line GSDs, excessive wrinkle as in Dogues, massive skulls & itty-bitty toad butts as in English Bulldogs... any form of exaggeration, it leaves me cold. :shrug:
I like moderation & above all, function - a dog who can move easily & freely, reasonably agile, with strength enuf to work, decent endurance, sturdy rather than delicate.
I like dogs with forefaces, & I demand open airways - no stenotic nostrils, thanks.
I like dogs with off switches - who can work, but who then relax. // OCD workaholics are exhausting.
I usually like working line dogs better than their show-line counterparts.
- terry
.
