Best All Around Dog for TEOFTWAWKI

[hiker]

Funny Post about the Mastiff sneaking..... Are there any types that don't drool? My hubby can't stand drool.

 

[ninny]

Funny Post about the Mastiff sneaking..... Are there any types that don't drool? My hubby can't stand drool.

Not really. Its from them having lose jowls(lips). Any dog that does will drool.

I think something else to consider is male or female fixed or not. Up till this pair of dogs i have now the females have aways been more aggressive fixed or not. My male is now and hes fixed. My family has always raised pups from eight weeks. My female now is from the pound. We got her at six months. So that may have caused the difference. With our working dogs we were told to fixed them so we did. I don't know how well dogs work when their not. We have found that males tend to be more laid back then females. Females more willing to jump into danger. That is until my two now. Fixed or not fixed it has always been that way for us. Has anyone else had this with their dogs?

 

[MsPony]

I have to say this as a person working in the dog industry, meeting dogs daily.

I hate little dogs. They are normally little or not at all trained. Every dog I've been bitten by while working in this industry is little.

Now, there are cute ones. I love the ones that I see that are happy and excited and just have to give me a lick.

But every attack has been by those little things. I've crawled around a dobbie before, running my hands on him in weird ways, touching his belly...never once even looked at my cross eyed. He was the scariest I've ever worked with, simply because he was a large dog, and I was doing weird things to him. He could have easily taken my face off.

Nope, but those little things have attempted taking off my fingers over and over.

I totally blame it more on the owners and lack of training or reprimand.

 

[savingdogs]

I have to say this as a person working in the dog industry, meeting dogs daily.

I hate little dogs. They are normally little or not at all trained. Every dog I've been bitten by while working in this industry is little.

Now, there are cute ones. I love the ones that I see that are happy and excited and just have to give me a lick.

But every attack has been by those little things. I've crawled around a dobbie before, running my hands on him in weird ways, touching his belly...never once even looked at my cross eyed. He was the scariest I've ever worked with, simply because he was a large dog, and I was doing weird things to him. He could have easily taken my face off.

Nope, but those little things have attempted taking off my fingers over and over.

I totally blame it more on the owners and lack of training or reprimand.

I agree. I think people just allow little dogs to get away with more stuff and they tend to get little Napoleon syndrome. I worked in veterinary six years and was bit three times, by a toy aussie, a pom and a mini doxie. The mini doxie I was giving a bath and it sprang from the tub and went hurling to the ground, which was about four feet down. I had the good fortune to catch the slipperly little thing, and the dang dog turned and BIT me! Didn't let go either.
It was funny because later that dog was a boarder there and she and I became friends but I always remembered to warn new people about her, she would bite people she didn't know if they made her do stuff.

 

[ninny]

Yup the smaller it is the more likely it will bite. I just kinda use that as a rule. My DH calls all small dogs puntables. Case he just wants to drop kick them.

 

[Rebbetzin]

Ok, I am sort of prejudiced here, BUT... our Cane Corso, Spartacus

(Roman/Italian Mastiff) is the best dog we have ever owned! SMART, STONG, DISCERNING, PROTECTIVE, KIND, ENERGETIC, (he can follow a 6 year old boy all day long!)

In Italy they are an all around farm dog, herd, drive, protect stock and humans, take on preditors, guard the property.

They can be a bit big, our Spartacus is 150 lbs.

He appears to understand everything we say to him. Knows hundreds of words. You only have to show him something once and he "gets" it.

I can tell you lot of stories of how Spartacus is a great guard dog! If you are interested.

I think they are GREAT!!

My next most favorite dog is an Old English Sheepdog. I had a few as my kids were growing up. They are great too!

 

[Denim Deb]

I think if you put a saddle on him, he could give pony rides to small children!

 

[Farmfresh]

At least it is easy to train a small dog NOT to bite.

If they want my hand in their mouth they get it ... only I decide when it is coming back out! About two times of getting my big thumb crammed down their throat is usually sufficient for most small dogs to think twice about taking a bite out of me and often that thought seems to transfer to other folks as well.

This is an interesting thread for sure.

I have to give another vote to the medium sized American mutt as dog of choice. If you look at wild dogs all over the world most are a medium sized animal. They seem to have the strength, stamina, versatility and longevity enough to be very successful. It seems to me that a dog breed or mix that is close to wild dogs would be the best over-all. Some of the dogs mentioned already, like the Australian (heeler) Cattle Dog (which was bred by combining the genes of a Australian Shepherd with a wild dingo) or a northern breed (Husky) which still resembles a wolf would be a great choice.

All of this said I gotta put in a plug for MY "breed" of choice. A hybrid half Siberian Husky/half German Shepherd. We are on our fourth dog with this gene mix and all have been calm, intelligent, vigorous, protective and willing hard working dogs. Here is a recent photo of my Sage (7 months) sitting and Cassie (6 years) laying down.

 

[pinkfox]

little dogs have bad reputations because of bad owners...

unfortunatly its easer to brush off a little dog misbehaving because they cant do as much damage...

but its unfair to the dog...
little guys should be trained and controled just as much as the big guys...yall would love my little guys, there nutjobs but in the good way lol...and by little i mean our smallest is 3lbs LOL!

ive heard the "newer" mastifs (and by newer i simply mean newer to breeding int this country) arnt as drooly as some of the other mastifs, they all drool a little, but the corso, the boerboel, the pressa, dogo ect. look for a "tighter lipped" dog but life with any masitf generally requires at least 1 drool rag lol.


and tortoise i do agree a personal protection dog is there as that, they are there to give you time to protect yourself and your family, but from the origional post i didnt get that that was what the poster was looking for...

for me personally i dont have kids, i wouldnt have family to protect so my dog is more use to me (and in a situation like S.H.F its harder to replace those dogs) alive and in good working condtion as an all around farm dog...
i dont think any dog should be disposable for any reason but a good "ALL AROUND" farm dog would be even less disposable...

i hope that makes sense...

what a beautiful corso BTW, love that big smile.

 

[hiker]

FF-They are simply beautiful. I think that a mixed breed may be the ideal way to go, now that I think about it.

I don't want to offend any small dog owners, but I do think that most of the bad behavior comes from a lack of training. Many ownwers spoil their little furry "children." If I were to allow my 120 lb dog to jump all over everyone at the vet or not properly socialize a german shepard mix, you can bet everyone would be all over me.

BTW- I have a little saying, if a squirrel can beat it up, it ain't a dog......