be honest - pros and cons of your dog's breed?

[tinymeteor]

Just for curiosity's sake, really. My theory is that picking a breed is all about working out which bad habits you can live with.

Our is a beagle. Pros: gorgeous to look at, no grooming required, amazing with kids, no issues with other dogs, very cuddly. Surprisingly, no real problems with recall and he doesn't bark, contrary to breed reputation.

Cons: steals stuff, all the bloody time. Obedience is temporary and only for food rewards. Will immediately break the rules once your back is turned.

What about yours?

Border collie X poodle bitch, 7 yo.

Pros:
Never been destructive
Easy to housetrain (although now slightly incontinent!)
Very, very smart
Easy to train (but stubborn!)
Adores kids
Happy with a 10 mile or 10 minute walk
Gets on with most dogs
So quiet and undemanding that it's easy to forget she's here!
Very loyal and affectionate

Cons:
Very, very smart!
A complete food thief and can get onto the worktops, in the bin and open cupboards
Very high prey drive and very collie in her rounding up techniques
Very excitable and tends to jump up, despite training (she never jumps up me but have to watch her with everybody else)
She also seemed to miss the lesson on body language and tends to approach dogs head on whilst making eye contact, leading to her being beaten up on several occasions, as she looks threatening but it's just her way and she's not aggressive at all

I forgot a con which I think probably applies to most breeds....the rolling in smelly stuff. God she loves to do that, good job she likes showers!

Working Cocker Spaniels

Pros
Extremely cute
Very people-oriented and affectionate
Like to be involved in EVERYTHING you're doing (could also be a con!)
Very funny and cheeky, real characters
Always enthusiastic about life in general, always overjoyed to see you
Only bark if they hear someone at the door
Very active and athletic, great running mates
Good size, easy to pick up but not trip-hazard small
Tough and pretty robust health-wise, real all-weather all-terrain dogs
Brilliant in the car, they've been used to long journeys from day 1 and whether it's 10 minutes or 6 hours they conk out and you don't hear a peep from them
Guaranteed to get you out of the house and traipsing your ass across fields and around woods several times a day, every day, come hell or high water (can be a con when it's hurricane-esque outside and they are still bouncing off the walls for a walk)

Cons
Extremely active, they are bred to go all day and have massive amounts of stamina. Need a lot of training and physical and mental stimulation
Ideally should have a job to do
High hunt/chase drive. We live rurally and mine are trained, so although their absolute favourite thing in the world is flushing pheasants they will just flush them and don't ever take off and chase them, but that control has taken a lot of work!
Very attention-seeking/demanding of attention
Can be suffocatingly clingy; mine aren't so bad but a friend has one and her nickname is The Limpet
Shedding, I could knit myself another one every month from the hair they lose
Absolutely love mud, water and best of all, muddy water
One of them will roll ecstatically in fox sh1t at any given chance
Enthusiastically pick up any and every rancid, decomposing carcass they come across and present it to me while looking absolutely delighted with themselves
One of them - who is 8 and should know better - chews fabric when overexcited and has ruined many cushions, blankets and throws, some clothes and a seatbelt in the back of the car!
Greedy, mine don't steal food but they are total gutbuckets
Absolute magnets for grass seeds in the summer which get lodged in their ears and/or paws and require sedation/GA to remove

Oh and another one, they are obsessed, OBSESSED with socks. To the extent that you can be laid on the sofa and will suddenly feel a very gentle nibbling on the ends of your toes as Cocker2 is trying to grip your sock in her front teeth to pull it off your foot and then lie there looking blissfully triumphant with her tail going 19 to the dozen. I have on several slightly alarming occasions pulled 3 or 4 socks out of her mouth in one go in the manner of a magician pulling a string of hankies out of a hat, I don't know how she hasn't ever choked herself or swallowed one but thankfully she just likes to carry them around. Cocker1 does too but is marginally less obsessive about it. I don't know if sockthievery is a pro or a con, I find it equally funny/cute and annoying when I can't find a matching pair of socks because the fecking dogs have stolen them all

I have a 1.5yr old Jug

Pros: She's a beautiful little thing with the most expressive face, when I was really ill, she just wanted to snuggle up to and be near me, she's very clever (when it suits her) and she's the ultimate naughty child in that she behaves perfectly for everyone else. Oh and she loves a lie in.

Cons: She's too feisty for her own good, she does this mental struggle when someone she is weary of tries to pet her, she gets offended by ANY kind of noise and then has a go at us for not sorting it out immediately. She can't play fetch outside, it's ridiculous. A dog. Who can't play fetch. She steals all our underwear and socks.

Miniature Schnauzer. Just lost one and about to get a pup. Based on our old one:

Pros

Loves to be with the family. If he can't be sitting on you, will be sitting on your shoe or your newspaper or one of your possessions. Very much a family dog.
Doesn't shed.
Loves to play ball, especially football but only in the house.
Will 'talk' to you.
Will take as much or as little exercise as you give him.
Hates going out in the rain.

Cons
Loves a good bark.
Needs to be stripped or clipped regularly and the beard can get tangly.
Loves to sniff. Will spend the entire walk with his nose to the ground or up another dog's bum (embarrassing).
Likes to steal dirty underwear and hide it in his bed.

Jack Russell Cross (rough coat) - Male - 3 yrs - we got him as a rescue at 6months with no training.

Pros:

• Cute little thing, very cuddly and affectionate, loves to be around people and is good with people including children. Appears to be happy to be left alone (we spy on him sometimes using a webcam, he seems to play/sleep when we're out). Clever - was able to house train him and teach him basic commands very quick as a pup so now can do a range of things on command like rolling over, standing on back legs, etc. Is pretty well behaved for the most part - including around food (e.g. I could leave a sandwich or something on the coffee table and he won't touch it without permission, also doesn't beg for food when we're eating - unless my grandad is around, but that's another story!). Good recall (mostly!). Sensitive to DH and I (e.g. if we're feeling ill he'll curl up with us for hours at a time). Very photogenic.

Cons:

• Thinks he is very good at protecting the house from that damned postman/anyone who dares walk past our house, likes to bark - can be VERY chatty at times - haven't worked out how to stop that one. Can be tricky around other dogs (possibly related to spending the first few months of his life in a puppy farm and wasn't socialised properly at a critical age - there are some dogs he's fine with, but others he takes an instant dislike to). Fur everywhere!

Could be seen as pros or cons, but things we love:

• Very active and needs a lot of exercise/brain stimulation.

I seem to have written a list specific to my dog rather than his breed... But there are several traits linked to Jack Russells there!

Lab:
Pros - So easy to train, loves cuddles, adores children, very intelligent and loyal as anything. As long as she has had a good amount of exercise, she is very placid and quiet

Cons - the hair, oh god the hair. Needs her first walk of the day by 9am and whines and fidgets until she gets it - not compatible with ill days and lazy weekends!

Staffie:
Pros- soppy and adores cuddles, easy to train (although not food motivated) and a total people pleaser, adores children. Hugely entertaining repertoire of facial expressions and noises - the staffie smile and bum wiggle walk! Fair weather dog who doesn't want to be walked in the rain.

Cons - the looks you get from people when walking her. I've had someone run over to me before to warn me that my lab was being attacked. Of course, they were chasing each other around both wagging their tails but the staffie was about to attack

German shepherd, though just a pup of 4 months.

Pros.
All the fun pup stuff.

Incredibly affectionate, greets us as if we've been away for years not half an hour..

Super easy to train. Recall, sit, wait, etc all done very quickly.

She's changing my life already!

Protective of us yet very friendly people and dogs, unless they bark and then she gets slightly nervous.

Cons
Shedding!
Puppy stuff..jumping, biting etc

Cavachon. She's very cute and friendly, chilled out dog. Good recall. No shedding. The con is the grooming and her being a muck magnet.

Podengo. No shedding, very clean, no grooming. Great recall, obedient. Would have been my perfect dog apart from him attacking Dh on a daily basis.