Need help finding perfect breed!?

Breed specific discussion of your favorite breed.

Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost

Post Reply
maddyandshantie
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:00 pm

Need help finding perfect breed!?

Post by maddyandshantie »

Hi Guys,

So I have been researching and researching to find the dog for me. And I know it is up to the way and how you train he/she. But I also know that some of it can be part of the breed. So what I am looking for is a dog that will stay beside me. I also would like a reserved dog with strangers but when he gets to know them can be friendly. For the size I am looking for a large dog. It needs to be good with cats, young children and other dogs... And one last thing now it does not have to do this but it would be fun if it could do a search and rescue... If you need any more info then I am happy to give you more details.

Thank you,
Maddy :D
JudyN
Posts: 7018
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:20 pm
Location: Dorset, UK
Contact:

Re: Need help finding perfect breed!?

Post by JudyN »

Are you planning on getting a puppy, or an older dog? Also, could you give the ages of the children you have in mind? Obviously, you would like the dog to get on with all children, but it makes a big difference if the children it lives with are old enough to understand and follow rules such as not to poke it, and not to screech if it jumps up :wink:

Also, can you say why you want a dog who is reserved with strangers but then friendly? Is there a specific reason, or just a personal preference?

When you say you want it to stay with you, do you actually want it to stay close all the time, or just have excellent recall?

Also, an important factor - how much time will you have each day to walk/train/play with the dog?
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
emmabeth
Posts: 8894
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:24 pm
Location: West Midlands
Contact:

Re: Need help finding perfect breed!?

Post by emmabeth »

'reserved with strangers' is something I would train for, NOT breed for - when thats bred for, it tends to turn out to be fear, and fear is the last thing you want to be breeding in.

So, I would avoid like the plague any of the breeds known to be reserved with strangers, particularly those also commonly used for protection or guarding - that would include dobermans, gsds, all the livestock guarding breeds, some of the mastiff types too.

Good with cats is another thing you train and habituate to as a young pup, so a great breeder or a really superb rescue centre, who socialise and train before you home the animal *(yes, puppies can and should be socialised pre 8 weeks old, if a breeder or a rescue aren't doing this, they are not great!)


So - large dog, athletic dog, good with other dogs and potentially search and rescue - these are likely to fall within the scent hound and the gundog groups.

Scent hounds tend toward gregarious and easy going with other dogs, they are on the whole athletic (not the show type bassets though!), they have some of the skills necessary for search and rescue.

Their downside is that they tend to work away from the owner (which for search and rescue is necessary to some degree) and recall can be difficult - it isn't impossible, but it is something you'd need to work on from day 1 and be seriously committed to achieving. If you think that tracking might be something you'd enjoy, that is more easily achievable than working completely off leash.

Gundogs probably fit the bill a little better than the scent hounds, but are less gregarious with other dogs (and more so with people), you'd want to work a bit harder on the socialisation there, but recall would be easier.

I would avoid the HPR breeds, so the weims, vizslas, look to the retrievers or possibly spaniels. If you like scent hounds and you can handle the more independent nature, look at bloodhounds, otterhounds, Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen (low wheelbase but not by any means a small dog).

All of these dogs tend to be pretty good and friendly with people, its up to you to teach them not to approach people unless you say they can, and thats not hard to achieve. If you do want a dog who can bark on cue to look scary, thats also easily taught (and MUCH less likely to land you in legal trouble than a dog that is actually wary of people and will more easily bite!).
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
Post Reply