Which breed?

[Minihero]

Which breed dog do you have?

We are planning on getting a puppy in Spring and looking at breeds. We love golden retrievers and have the space for a medium-big dog. We also like the idea of cocker spaniels and cockerpoos. There's also a maltipoo in our family that we adore.

We have 2xDC age 8 and 6 and DH works from home every day.

I'm not in disagreement with you. We need to work out exactly what is going wrong here. We have a much bigger problem now with these monster XL mongrels killing people. They need to be assessed, categorised, labelled,.....not registered or muzzled but culled. The original stock dog was a pitbull, banned breed.

ok, so let's take a few examples EBT....very easy to distinguish just on sight, mostly KC registered breeders, how many go on mad random people killing sprees?
Boston terriers, easy for a novice to distinguish, mostly pure bred examples KC registered, how many attack people?
Boxers? English Bull dog? Not many in the hall of shame statistics.

For two very important reasons, careful breeding and they don't apeal to a specific sub section of society that equates status with having a dog that is known to be potentially dangerous.

I don't for one moment deny the problem with Bull breeds. I personally would not go in a house where there is a Bully or a Cane Corso. I'm terrified of them.

I was just pointing out to Edith Stourton exactly what you say; we all have bad experiences and some of the breeds recommended here have their issues. Vets don't call GR Golden Deceivers for nothing...

Wasn't denying issue with Bull breeds at all, just responding to a specific post.

Oh I know @PyreneanAubrie sorry! I was kind of replying to multiple points at once 😂

@KeebabSpider sadly I think much of it as you say - a cute, fluffy golden retriever or a tiny little Boston terrier is just not going to appeal to the kind of people that want a dog to look and act intimidating.

That doesn't mean all staffies are bad dogs or that they all go around eating babies, but when the statistics consistently show they it's the same breeds that kill people (whether they're pure KC reg dogs or not) then it's hardly surprising when people are wary of them.

I've personally never met a staffie I didn't like, but that doesn't mean I'm not well aware of their history and the kind of damage they can do, and I get a bit fed up of people trying to pretend that that history doesn't matter, tbh.

Also got to say while its relevant that there used to be an English Bull Terrier in my area years ago who was a complete gentleman. He was enormous, an elderly chap, he just plodded about, perfectly amiable with other dogs and was a lovely old boy.

Other thing I need to mention in relation to this idea that people don't differentiate: as a long-time owner of a guarding breed I am really feeling that. Too many posts on social media saying "Guarding breeds are dangerous" blah de blah. Guarding = macho owner = aggressive. I'm a 60 year old petite female, never had a problem dog but reared 8 pups in 50 years. People cuddle my dogs and call them a teddy, thinking they're just a big fluffy sheepdog but on here they're dangerous because they're big and a guarding breed 🙄The Cane Corso does not help the cause of the LGD breeds, that's for sure.

I remember when I was about 10, so over 35 years ago, my friend had a staffy. My dad was really wary of me going to her house so I assume there had been issues with them even back then before all sorts started being bred with them.

Personally I've never had any issues with them but now I have my own dog I do avoid any that I see on our walks. I'd never own or recommend one to a family. I just don't understand the desire to own a dog that probably won't, but is far more likely to attack than the numerous other breeds available. I'm not including the dickhead status kind of owners in that either, as we all know what the draw is there, I mean normal families 🤷‍♀️

I just don't understand the desire to own a dog that probably won't, but is far more likely to attack than the numerous other breeds available

This is my thought process too, especially when there are young kids involved.

I'd agree - there are dodgy or badly bought up dogs of all breeds.

But the fatality stats feature the same handful of breeds over and over and over again.

We have a toxic teddy of a border terrier in these parts, and there used to be a decrepit and almost toothless Yorkie who was a little shit, and a standard poodle likewise. There used to a GR who was a bit of a git (not a biter, just a threatener). But the blood has always been breeds with a guarding or fighting background.

It's all about relative risk. We all know people who've broken a wist or ankle while doing something harmless like walking to the shops, and others who engage in high-risk sports like climbing or skiing who have never hurt themselves. Yet the risk of badly hurting yourself when falling off your horse or your skis is much higher than if you trip off a pavement.

My girl at 5 months 😊
They are very strong and inclined to be a bit stubborn, so I wouldn't recommend them for a novice owner, but I just want to show that not all "powerful guarding breeds" are cut from the same cloth, as it were.

I'd agree with this with my boy. Alabais and Turkish Kangals avoid the bad reputation AND the wannabe gangster owners but I would be nervous if my child went to play at a house that had one. I like to think my dog falls into this category.

Sorry, p.s she is an absolute floof monster! Looks adorable



Oh wow she is gorgeous I’m afraid if I saw her with you I would find an excuse to come and talk to you ( but really it would be to see her close up!).

Are kangals increasing though?

I’ve been waiting for ages for a photo of your girl 😍😍you’ve made my day. She’s stunning

No, that’s my point. The knowledge of them is increasing and there are so many posts about them that is good marketing for them as a breed and the “job” they do but for some reason, they’re not the breed of choice like an XL bully and the like.

people regularly come up to me and talk about my dog. A few say something like “he’d be better in a fight than a pitbull any day”. But his breed also isn’t marketed that way. They’re not cut from the same cloth as @PyreneanAubrie says.

I meant parks where there will be other dogs. I take mine to a local huge nature reserve/park or to my local recreation ground - they are full of people with dogs but it's not the archetypal dog park in the sense of a little paddock. Anyway, my point is that I don't see staffies in either. People walk them around the streets.

I just meant somewhere with other dogs.

You'd be very welcome. She gets cuddled all the time, everywhere, and she laps it up. She has started to remember people who've cuddled her before and it honestly sometimes makes their day, particularly if it's an elderly person who used to have a dog but can't any more. That happened yesterday with a gentleman whose face lit up when she recognised him, he said he couldn't believe how sweet and gentle she is.

I have bernese mountain dogs and plenty of people were scared off by them - this isn't about class or anything like that. I'm making the point that if you have a young family and want a dog, certain breeds will worry other people and make socialising more difficult.

Thank you. She is a sweetheart albeit it that she can be a bugger to walk 😆She stood up with her paws on my shoulders last night to wash my ear 😝and she must be about 5 foot tall 😨She's miles bigger than my previous three girls were.

Because both breeds are a true LGD that's still widely used for working with Livestock. That is not true of some breeds like Cane Corso and Caucasian, which are largely now considered to be more macho breeds.

I'd prefer that my breed retains its "Gentle Giant" status, it is much better for them to be viewed as a good family dog, which they are, provided you know what you're doing.

On page two of this thread someone recommended the Bedlington terrier. I see two of these lamb like dogs regularly. The two I see look soft, gentle and docile. But they share something in common with the KC reg properly bred Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bedlingtons were bred to be pit fighting dogs in Northumberland. As a consequence some can still show aggression towards other dogs.

No one here has mentioned crossing the road to avoid bedlington terriers, avoiding them, advising others to avoid them or recounting stories of how they know a person who knew some person who had one that went on a mad killing spree, and they do not figure in the statistics for attacking humans.

Why? it can't be because they were bred for fighting but look like lambs that no bedlington felt so aggrieved at being discriminated against. It is for two primary reasons; the dog doesn't appeal to a certain sub culture who have sought to modify it and bring in other traits and characteristics, and in its pure bred form it simply doesn't do the job of looking terrifying. It therefore has no reputation that precedes it and recommends it to numpty chavs, its not bred by backstreet greeders and gansters. The second reason is that the aforementioned subculture know that the Bedlington terrier has no propensity to attack humans, because like the SBT any aggression towards humans is actively bred out, as the dogs would have to be handled.

The poor, poor SBT. As someone else pointed out the issue starts about 30- 35 years ago. The pitbull is an entirely American dog, it enters the UK and takes off as dog de choice with a certain type of person. To start with the dogs are in small numbers but the demand for them grows. People start to cross them with other dogs to create more of these dogs. Most notably Staffordshire bull terriers, and they were not chosen because SBT don't show aggression towards humans, that was an irrelevance to the ganster breeder, but because of muscle, tenacity and bite pattern,(not who but how) and supply.

The pitbull was banned, but since then many many dogs sold as, bought as and believed to be "Staffie dogs" have been seized under BSL because these dogs match the breed PITBULL TYPE. https://www.facebook.com/excempt/?locale=en_GB here is an example. Whilst the lady naively believed the dog to be staffie, the dog is certainly not a Staffordshire Bull terrier. BSL is not working, as greeders and gangster breeders are always circumventing this by creating different cross breeds. The XL bully (another American abomination) is on the BSL list, but what of the American Bully pocket and standard? both have pitbull in them!

Breeding needs to be very strictly regulated. Buying needs to be regulated and owners need to be made to neuter family pets. Ultimately Humans are the problem.

PyreneanAubrie
What a beautiful dog. Like you though I have faced issues with other people. Mostly crossing the road to avoid us.

I saw a prime example of nature v. nurture today and people buying breeds they are ill suited for.

Guy near me got a golden puppy about a year ago. Lovely little dog. I see him daily and have done for the whole year he does the same walk I do. Every day I’ve thought ‘poor dog’ - he walks it on a choke chain, yanks it, taps it in the nose, it’s clinically obese and he’s back at his car long before I’m at mine (can see the car park from the beach). Each time I’ve seen it it’s become a bit more nervous, fearful and today it attacked another dog. The first few months of life it was fine. Now it’s clearly actively aggressive and living proof that in the wrong hands, any dog can turn.

These conversations about Staffies being aggressive are all well and good - but very often it is piss poor ownership that results in particular dog breeds being aggressive (bought by idiots cos it makes them look ‘hard’). The actual problem is humans.

No dogs are measuring up to Golden Retrievers for us. Some are coming very close, but I think that's what it'll be. It won't be until Easter, so plenty of time to replace all of our black clothes, get some washable sofa covers and a robot vacuum cleaner...