Salukifan

Brittanies are a utility gundog, not a spaniel. Frankly, if they want a smaller, calmer, outgoing dog very suitable for obedience work, they could go a long way before finding a better suited dog than a CKCS in my opinion. Very capable little sports dogs. I know a GR owner who has just "downsized" to a CKCS and is very happy. Anyone who thinks that Australian Shepherds are all easy going needs to read the aggressive dog suspensions in their state canine journals - they feature regularly. That is not a dog to treat like a teddy bear - they need boundaries.

Me neither. Unless your dog has allergies, what's the difference between grain as a filler and starchy vegetables or beet pulp as fillers? Kind of echoes the gluten free fad for humans at the moment.

Then you best prepare them for a fair bit of rejection. No one I know would sell a pup onto an insecure country property. Turn your back and the pup is gone... and I'd be far more worried about my neighbours shooting it than cars. Then there's stock and wildlife chasing.... That's a lot more exciting than hanging out while your owners are in the garden. It's not the walking your dog offlead bit that worries me but the rest of the time. I think any dog with any kind of prey drive (and that's most of them) would not be ideal in this situation. I rate a Weimeraner as potentially disastrous Are they really planning to lock the pup in the house every time they go to town? A dog run would be so easy and so much safer.

Choose carefully. It is unlikely you're going to get many Rottweiler characteristics other than colour in a smaller dog. I doubt you'll find an ETT or a Min Pin much like a Rottweiler in character.

In all my years of horse riding and ownership, the only horse I ever saw pace was my friend's off the track Standardbred, the day she long reined him. At all other times that horse walked or trotted. Actually I am mistaken, I meant to say that he said tired horses will amble, not pace, similar but not the same. Ambling is 4 beat I think?

In all my years of horse riding and ownership, the only horse I ever saw pace was my friend's off the track Standardbred, the day she long reined him. At all other times that horse walked or trotted.

I dont' find "laziness" a particularly useful concept in explaining why dogs may pace. In essence they'll do it if they can't trot comfortably. The most common reason is a lack of balance between reach and drive at that speed. The dog can either crab to avoid front and hind feet hitting or switch it up and pace. It can also by symptomatic of other structural issues. For bike work, I'd use working trot as the standard gait with perhaps a bit of uphill cantering for cardio

And what colour? I have a couple of friends who have recently lost poodles to old age and may be interested in another. :) Both poodles were a hell of a lot older than 9 by the way.

You need a veterinary opinion. A quick google suggests a range of tests need to be conducted to check the depth of the sinus and that surgery may be required to remove it.

Have you spotted any fluffy nests yet?

Why not? One dog will be and if she's not taking the role by warfare, what's the issue?

Be careful where you move to if you want to own a Dogo. I'm pretty confident they are banned in at least a few cities or counties in the USA. Check out local law carefully. How did you go getting a green card?

Want my honest advice? Save your breath. The only think I'd even think of mentioning is that she'll need to have money put aside for a caesarian birth as few BBs whelp naturally.

I've only seen a few GSD specialties but this is how they are different from what I've seen: * The ring is far larger than an allbreeds ring. * There is a lot more emphasis on movement and the dogs do a lot of it. Handlers appear to dress to run because they are going to run hard. The dogs are out in front of the handler on a longer lead and end up trotting with lots of reach and drive. * Double handling is permitted and there appears to be a lot more noise with people attracting the dog's attention. * There are big classes of dogs (no great surprise for a speciality I suppose.)

Agree. "Bull breeds" describes a range of breeds bred for completely different purposes. Bullmastiffs, Bulldogs and SBTs are going to be very different behaviourally.

If people want to refer to such dogs as "breeds" that is their prerogative. I was never discussing crossbred dogs. They are a genetic lottery - and their characteristics are far less predictable. I think its a complete no brainer. No active selection for the trait means that dogs that don't display it aren't culled from the breeding pool. You're bound to see less of it or at least less intensity of it.

Bad analogy. Standardbreds are trained to pace and harnessed when racing to ensure they do. Outside of harness racing, every Standardbred I've seen has trotted normally. You're also talking about a physical trait, not a behavioural one. Not every bull breed will demonstrate dog aggression. But owners need to know to watch for it, particularly as the dog reaches adolescence and not to put their dogs in situations that may trigger it. Managed well, such dogs may NEVER aggress which is the ideal. But for many dogs the potential is always there. Drives me nuts to see people ignore their dogs hardwiring. Whippets get surrendered for killing chickens and cats. Why give them the opportunity to do what comes naturally to them????

There has been no vilification here. There has been a suggestion of caution only and its warranted. The "bull breed dogs" cop more than their share of negative stereotyping because they tend to be involved in more than their fare share of dog aggression incidents. It's hardly negative to acknowledge what a dog has been bred to be and to react appropriately. Are you going to act the same strolling in the front gate of a house with an Anatolian or Central Asian Shepherd as you do with a Greyhound? I know I'm sure as hell not going to.

OK... Oh please right back at you. A dog is what we want it to be regardless of what it's been originally bred for. Consider nature vs nurture. Sorry, but that statement demonstrates that you clearly have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. It's nature AND nurture that make a dog. But nurture cannot change what nature has hardwired, nor can it add what isn't there. That's why you don't see Golden Retrievers doing protection work or working sheep. Or Whippets livestock guarding. No doubt you think its always the fault of an owner if the dog has dog aggressive tendencies? Wonderful.

Yes, and that was done deliberately and, in the case of temperament, with the idea of improving the dogs' affability. Furthermore, they are NOT Terriers and they do not act like a terrier. The same cannot be said for the SBT or the APBT. There are plenty of folk who don't want to change the dogs gameness but as breeders, they manage it, not deny it. So do responsible owners. Its ONLY an issue when not acknowledged or managed appropriately.

Sorry but we just have to disagree. It has not been my experience at all. Breed traits and predispositions translate to parenting/responsibility requirements in this context. Oh please. Are you suggesting that all breeds have the same predisposition to prey drive, territorial aggression, protectiveness, the same levels of reactivity and the same bite inhibition and thresholds? There is more to a purebred dog than "personality". Anyone who spends enough time around purebred dogs will work that out. Terriers, gundogs, sighthounds, working breeds come hard wired with certain traits that socialisation and training can modify or harness but the traits are still there. That's the whole point of purebred dogs. Its about increasing the certainty of certain traits within a population - that's what selective breeding IS.

Why is it fine to acknowledge the strengths of breeds and deny that they have weaknesses - often caused by exactly the same traits?? The biggest threat to the future of dogs of fighting ancestry is those who own them and refuse to acknowledge their gameness with other dogs and to manage them appropriately. EVERY TIME such a dog is involved in a dog aggression incident, it reinforces a stereotype that the dogs are dangerous. Many of the incidents that saw APBTs make the news prior to BSL had dog aggression triggers or utterly clueless owners. Your average member of the public does NOT understand that dog aggression and human aggression are two very different propositions and rarely found in the same animal. I have absolutely no issue with these breeds. I do have an issue with people who fail to recognise signs of dominance in their dogs and to avoid situations where challenges to that dominance can occur. That's how the trouble starts. A failure to submit, or a reaction to being postured at or barrelled and its on. Offlead encounters with posturing dogs and oblivious owners when you have entire males are no fun and frankly I've had more than a few of them. I've been bailed up with my onlead dogs by two. And shocked owners when their dogs react with gameness and tenacity just make me want to slap them. Honestly, what do they expect? If you want a dog that's going to act like a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with every dog it meets then for Gods sake buy one. If you're going to be offended when people cross the road to avoid your dog, then don't own one. Respect the fact that some people are not going to give the dog the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes negative generalisations are based on experiences with dogs that are easy to trigger to aggression and damned hard to deter from finishing what they start. That's what prompted the warning to the OP. Deal with it. And guess what, the OP has already had a negative experience. Should they simply chalk it up to bad luck and allow it to happen again and again? Most of us can acknowledge the more challenging characteristics of our breeds and deal with them. What's so different about bull breeds in that regard? And to refer to people as "breeds" IS racist. Natural selection and selective breeding are not one and the same thing for pity's sake.

Funniest thing I've seen for a while is a friend's young BC hell bent on herding my Whippets. Have you any idea how hard it is to herd an animal that is doing fast laps of you barking to get you to chase it? I've also had a pushy young SBT try to dominate my boys - a big game of chasey ensured and the SBT soon found it's hard to strike a dominant pose at a dog that's faster than you are!

Me either. And I wouldn't be upset if anyone suggested that my Pug wasn't cut out for hunting or tracking. Or bite work. Strange, most Pugs I know are pretty good on the fang where food is concerned. This is true. Pugs love their food! By the way, there is a Pug in Victoria with a Tracking title. :)

Me either. And I wouldn't be upset if anyone suggested that my Pug wasn't cut out for hunting or tracking. Or bite work. Strange, most Pugs I know are pretty good on the fang where food is concerned.