Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Anyone have a cool little dog?

My kids want a dog. We haven't had one since our Lab died 4 years ago. I've always been a big dog kinda guy and don't have any experience with small dogs.

My wife would like something smaller than our Labs,and I'll admit that something less than the 80lb dogs we've had, sounds ok to me.

I was kind of thinking something in the 40lb range (Springer,Brittany,etc). My wife is thinking even smaller.

Her and the kids have fallen in love with a Chihuahua/Dashsund mix at the local shelter. He is all of 9lbs.

I've always thought of small dogs as yappy,pains in the ass. This guy seems to be really laid back,and happy go lucky.

Have any of you guys had a cool little dog,that wasn't a PITA?

schipperke, bout 10 pounds, smart as hell, is a barker though but they were bred to be watch dogs among other things such as a ratter and a herding dog.....loves everyone in the house but is dead set about protecting the property from all comers....basically bout what you would get if yah started with an akita or husky or other spitz type dog and bred them down to be a small sized farm dog....

we also have a small dachshund

Like asking about rifles, everybody will tell you their choice is best!

I have a Border Terrier, and he has been a super dog with bags of character. Like a lot of terriers, he doesn't realise he is only 18lb soaking wet and has bags of heart and a lot of character.

As a breed, they are just about the perfect small dog, very trainable, bright, and a great temperament...They are also a very healthy breed, although mine is very much showing his age now at 15..

The only real downside I can think of is that having a rough coat, they do shed hair in the house...

With what ever smaller breed you pick, I would strongly recommend staying away from the toy breeds and pick a breed and just as importantly a line, with strong working background..

A lot of breeds have been ruined by the show people breeding simply for looks and confirmation and paying little heed to things like temperament or health..

Dogs from a strong working line tend to be the opposite, and tend to have been bred for ability and healthiness...

Regards,

Peter

yep lots of good choices and as with Pete, ive got no interest in the lil toy breeds, always afraid im gonna break them for one thing, and also for the reasons Pete says.....im not worried bout the small dachshund and schipperke rough housing with my bird dog and getting hurt.....tough lil SOB's....terriers are another good group but havent been around a Jack Russel i really liked, some of the others have been neat, just seems like every other JR is neurotic as hell....kinda like chihuahuas....

Australian sheppard, cattle dog, I don't know what she is, but she's cool!

JR's are very mixed bunch and I've seen little bitchs that I bet only weighed 10lb to South African bred dogs that would weigh 30lb all called Jack Russels. Temperments seem to be just as variable..

In the UK, there is a move to re establish the breed along its orignal lines under the title of the Parson Jack Russel..They've adopted a sensible bred standard, and one that includes the requirement that the dog most be capable of work...

I doubt it will ever replace the Heinz57 version of the JR thats popular now, which in reality is just a terrier sized cur, but if i were buying a JR its certainly the standard I'd be using...

Here's mine, a freebie hound. This morning he was on guard duty, watching my Brownell's catalog, as per my instructions. Looks like he's sleeping, doesn't it? Actually he is tired from yesterdays rabbit hunt and it takes him a day or two to be himself again. Of course a solar recharge never hurts either.

A friend has two dachsund/chihuahua sisters, and they look nothing alike, but both are neat friendly energetic dogs. Get that shelter dog--he'll love you for rescuing him.

why do you have my eener weener dog and why is he wearing a pink collar?

Our first Russell was a Parson's- the breeder is an investor that spends a lot of time in Europe, and was obsessed with the breed. His Russells were all from your area. This was the best dog I've ever had, and likely ever will have.

Our current JRT is turning out to be exactly what everyone describes them to be in the USA-bred version. Neurotic, nervous, aggressive, and hard to train. I would recommend only the Parson's Russells. Downside, they shed.

We used to breed Scottish Terriers about 20 years ago, as it was a breed I was raised with. My mother and my grandparents had them, and we've had a bunch ourselves. They and their cousins the Westie and Cairn are highly intelligent, generally not yappy, and don't shed everywhere. We have a Westy pup that keeps our present JRT in line, at times.
Scotties are great dogs- be prepared to pay for a good blood line.

We've got Miniature Aussies. All the traits of a full sized aussie (loyalty, intelligence, activity) in a 20-30 lb package. You can fit two in a back seat instead of one!
aussies for sale here

We have always had Medium sized dogs also but my daughter wanted a small dog so we got a Cairn Terrier. They are very hardy and he has been very good with kids. For a little dog he is one tough bastard.

she is somewhere under 10 pounds cause she is lighter than Bear but its hilarious watching her play tug of war with my 50 pound bird dog cause alot of the times he lets her win though with a toss of his head he could send her flying 20 feet.....

the three of them


the Weasel dancing for a treat....

The wife talked me into a little schnauzer.

Awesome little fella. I was leary at first, always had bigger dogs except for a JRT years ago, but The Nullster rocks. New years day he killed a wharf rat that was HUGE. Now he's a killing machine. He is the harbinger of doom for all of vermin kind!

Pretty damn cute to.

i've had blue and red heelers all my life and truly love the breed. when i moved into town i discovered that my heeler did not like town life so i had to give him up to my folks in the country.

since then i've had welsh pembroke corgis. we had 3 1/2 of them ( one is mixed with a basset hound i think ) they've been excellent dogs. very personable, easy to train and friendly. these dogs have great personality. there only downfall is HAIR.

i'll post some pictures of my babies later.

Corgis are really cute; I watched some work cattle in chutes years ago. They built benches so they could run along the chute and flank-bite the cows, to move them.

are there dog breeds that dont shed? ive never had one

occasionally when we are out of town alot of weekends in a row and dont get much cleaning done ive been known to do a double take thinking a saw a mouse running across the kitchen floor but it was just a hair tumbleweed rolling across the floor

People tend to forget the origins of the breed in that was bred for killing vermin from rats to foxes in the tough Scotish highlands. Although its suffered a lot from the show fraternity, there's still alot of fire left in them, and most will take to killing rats without a second thought...

That is another plus to the Cairns, they shed very little.