What breed of dog wouldn’t you have again?

[PizzaSophiaLoren]

We have a little Beagle/Poodle cross and my word she had the worst characteristics of both. Stupid, disobedient and scent driven like a Beagle. Fussy with food and snappy like a miniature poodle. We do love her despite this.

This evening she pushed us to the limit by chasing rabbits for two hours in the local tiny park. Her recall goes out of the window when she is scent triggered. We thought she’d got better. But no, she’s still a dick.

What breed or cross of dog would you never get again and why?

What do people think of Rottweiler? We're thinking of getting one soon and from what I've read (and been around one) they seem a good choice for a family?

In my total unscientific research of dogs I have come across during my 9 years as a dog owner I would never have a poodle mix or a spaniel. Just too neurotic, needy and/or fuzzy with food. I would have a pure bred poodle though. All the ones I have met have been lovely and seem to have so much more personality than a mixed poo dog

Well, they were originally bred to hunt rats. And the rats were often bigger than the dogs, which pretty much explains the attitude.They were bred to be mean little fuckers, and then someone came and made them into an accessory.

Poodle. They come in three sizes and a well bred one is mostly healthy, cheerful, friendly, funny, trainable and they don’t shed.

Reinforce your fence. Socialize. Socialize. Socialize. They are "bullies", figuratively and literally. Socialize.

Sign up for obedience training asap. Be prepared for high energy and playfulness in a huge body. Also give them a job. Be confident but kind-otherwise the rottie will decide for himself how to behave.

Any dog is a good family dog when you put in the time and effort.

My friend had one when I was a kid and deathly afraid of dogs. That was the dog that changed my mind and made me a dog lover for life.

However, the whole family had put a huge amount of work into training him and caring for his needs. I think they can be tricky if you aren't experienced or you don't spend enough time and effort training them.

I currently have a Eurasier.
Perfect in the house..toilet trained amazingly, no separation anxiety, utterly chilled, never steals and is totally docile around babies/kids. Utterly devoted to family.
They are supposed to have a low prey drive. Well no-one told her that! The number of times I've been left standing in a field or wood waiting for her to decide to come back because she's seen a rabbit or hare.. (no kill instinct and she's never actually caught anything she just likes the chase) She is an independent thinker.
And the hair.. dear god the hair ..no matter what we do it's in everything!

I'd like my next dog to be non shedding and have no prey drive... but it still needs to be a larger dog!

Someone mentioned Havanese as the perfect small dog.. my brother has one. He's lovely but he does bark and sometimes has short man syndrome!

In defence of corgis, our corgi (a Pem) adores children - he's very silly and gentle with them, although obviously we supervise very closely, as you just don't know what'll happen next with any dog, particularly one bred to herd cows with its teeth. His main flaw right now is alerting us at 3am to whatever's decided to use our garden as a short cut. Which, if it was a burglar, we'd appreciate but I think it's just a fox, which is now trolling both the dog and, by extension, us.

I remember years ago, an aunt bred her chihuahua, the pups just fought each other and she had to separate them at feeding times, she never did it again.

I have cavapoos who make my life miserable daily. I have yet to meet a poodle mix dog that isn’t a bastard…never again 😩

It was in the 90's, my father just said that it wasn't her fault, it was her instincts. Mum said the vet said a noise could have just triggered her and she went into attack mode. I was very upset and mourning my other dog and cat but couldn't bring myself to be cruel or ignore her when she came up wagging her tail, so I just sort of pretended it didn't happen.

We were an immigrant family and for some reason my father thought having 'hard' dogs would protect us.

As an adult I've only had companion breed dogs.

We currently have a golden retriever , but I’m considering a goldendoodle in the future. I’m surprised to see so much negativity about X - poodles

My friend owns a dog walking business and she actively turns down X- poodle breeds. She says the vast majority she’s encountered have been a nightmare.

I had a Rottie bitch for 12 years until we lost her to cancer. She was a fabulous dog, loving, gentle, including with other animals. We had a cat that had kittens (we had her neutered, but the vet was apparently a fuckwit). Whenever she left the kittens to eat, toilet etc, our Rottie went over and lay with them until she returned. She did come across a couple of blokes she didn’t like the look/smell etc of. All she did was not allow them to move until I said it was okay. The males are much bigger (bigger difference than most breeds) and stronger though. I would stick with a bitch.

@Nowornever222

A Rottie was my very first dog.

I could never have one again as she was irreplaceable.

I very carefully chose her breeder, and after 2 interviews one by phone and one in person, I was allowed one of their puppies. Sadly they no longer breed or if they do it's smaller dogs due to their age.
( actually they do breed / show - pomerians ! I just googled their names )

We went to a wonderful dog training class somewhere in South London for rotties ( it was probably a breed club as most were showing their dogs so had different classes for that )

She broke my heart when she died of heart failure 3 days before her 8th birthday.

Lived with cats, and I had a baby whom grew into a toddler then a school age child before she left us, as good as gold around everyone.
Very playful when young, so I adopted a golden lab for her as a companion. She was around a year old by then and the lab was 9 months.
Couldn't get a 2nd rottie - people were already crossing out of our way on the pavement.

There are 2 beautiful Rottie sisters that walk in my local park, sadly my little yappy pug x shih tzu goes wild when she sees them so we have to stay away as the Rotties would get the blame if anything ever happened.

What can you offer the dog? How will you go about buying it?

If you've thoroughly researched the breed and are able to give it sufficient mental and physical exercise, are committed to training it, and you buy from a reputable breeder who prioritises both temperament and health - great dogs.

If you are likely to buy from a backyard breeder because it's a bit cheaper, with no health testing and no ability to see the dogs behind its pedigree - not so much.

I feel awful saying this but… Old English Sheepdog.

My first was a dream and a typical Sheepie- huge, goofy, affectionate.

I love my current one but she’s very difficult. Extreme anxiety (and now medicated for it- it’s not really helping), very VERY territorial and constantly resource guards. We’ve spent a fortune on training and are experienced dog owners but I think she sadly has some form of personality disorder (we had a dog behaviour specialist in).

I know that sounds bizarre but I’ve never seen a dog like her. We’re now on our fifth groomer because the other four just couldn’t cope. Obviously, it’s a breed that needs a lot of grooming and we do a lot at home but for bigger jobs we’ve been having to sedate her to bring her to the groomers which we hate and is very upsetting. She gets very agitated if her coat is anything over a few inches long so we’re constantly having to shave her down and, whether at home or at the groomers, she hates it.

She’s gorgeous and great fun and we adore her but she’s 6st of muscle and angst. She is so strong that when she’s unhappy about something, she uses her size. She’s very dominant over smaller dogs- including her (non-OES) sister so we have to keep a very close eye (they adore each other but play can very quickly turn to dominance).

She breaks my heart sometimes when she looks at me because you can see by her eyes that she’s stressed and doesn’t understand what’s happening and it’s impossible to calm her down. she just doesn’t seem to be able to self-regulate at all.

She has many, many good points. She’s affectionate and funny and is well trained so can do plenty of tricks. Her recall is excellent but when she’s gets wound-up, everything goes out the window. She’s very clever and knows a huge amount of words so is always one step ahead of us. She’s also quite wary of cats (we have several) so it’s funny to see her slink back if a kitten wanders into the kitchen and then she very tentatively approaches with kisses. Two minutes later the kitten will have basically had a bath.

And, obviously, she’s gorgeous. When we’re out and about she attracts a lot of attention because of her size and fluffiness. She’s really good with kids- especially boisterous ones where she seems to move into Nanny mode and herds them around the place.

I love her, I just wish she would realise that if she relaxes a little, she’d make life much easier for herself.

Labrador
Nothing against them but I got a lab as my first dog as a teenager still living at home with parents permission.
They encouraged the breed and while they still own 4 of them they just aren't the breed for me

German shepherd and belgian Malinois
I had one of each and both boys broke my heart when they passed away.
I don't have the energy I used to havr to be able to give the correct level of excersise and training.

I’d only ever have a retriever or a setter, with a hankering for a corgi at some point but surely there is some combination of breed/socialisation/specific personality that makes some particular dogs a pain rather than a breed as a whole?

I have two French bulldogs and previously had a third, I don’t know what I was thinking. I adore them and they’re fine in the house with little barking, but one of them is insanely dog reactive on walks and anxious to the point of needing medication. They seem to think they’re 5 times bigger than they are and will square up to anything! The other has had two lots of surgery to enable him to breathe properly. They throw themselves about without fear and I am endlessly worried about their backs as lost my third to IVDD a few years ago. They also have a weird undercoat and shed like you wouldn’t believe. I will never have another. Previously I’ve only ever had staffies who were wonderful, if dog reactive (both rescues) and I think I thought they’d be a smaller version! I’m thinking about a border terrier next time, and seems like a fairly good bet judging by the comments on here, shedding I can deal with!

I have a neighbour who seems to go through dog walkers. The doodle is as mad as a box of frogs. I know the current walker obviously she won't say anything to me but I wonder how long they will last.

I generally wouldn't own a dog again.

Cats are the way forward.

I get what you say about whippets I grew up with them.

My antidote to a Whippet is a Tibetan Terrier. Absolutely adore the breed! Clever, loving and full of character. Sold to me as a dog with a sense of humour.

Downside is the grooming and they need very understanding owners- believe it or not they do have a sulky/ stubborn side.

Really? I worked at a Vet practice for over 10 years and don't think i've ever met a calm one.

Poodle 🐩

Our miniature poodle was beautiful but UNBELIEVABLY high energy, suffered with bad separation anxiety and the grooming was awful.