What was the best dog you've had?

[Larry Caldwell]

I have owned dogs my whole life;all have been house dogs and hunters.Labs for thirty years,more recently pointing breeds;English Pointers and German Short-hairs.
I own an uplands preserve and see about every "bird dog" breed out there.Family owns 3 GSP's,1 English Pointer(had as many as 7) and one English Cocker(daughter's);multiple beagles and an ankle biter.
Love all dogs but prefer the hunting breeds that are low maintenance and big enough to deter trespassers.

I love the disposition of hounds, and would have one in a minute except for that short circuit between their nose and brain. I would have a beagle in a hot minute if I thought I could keep it home, but there are too many game trails where I live. Mostly I stick to bird dogs for their intelligence and disposition, but I had a Border Collie when I was a kid that was the world's best farm dog.

 

[bunyip]

Chinese crested, he has a unique temperament, foul tempered and not tolerant of any outsiders, bit like me really.
We also have a huge german shepherd, a cavoodle who can't walk (runs everywhere) and two tibetan spaniels who are quite demanding, the big pitiful eyes don't work with me though.

 

[goeduck]

We also have a huge german shepherd, a cavoodle who can't walk (runs everywhere).

It must be related to my Border Collie x Whippet cross. It does everything at 190 MPH.

 

[cqaigy2]

Chinese crested, he has a unique temperament, foul tempered and not tolerant of any outsiders, bit like me really.
We also have a huge german shepherd, a cavoodle who can't walk (runs everywhere) and two tibetan spaniels who are quite demanding, the big pitiful eyes don't work with me though.

Tibetan spaniels, are they those small dogs lots of hair? I think my neighbor's have one. The story goes, as told to me was the Tibetan spaniels were used as alarms that would wake up the Tibetan Mastiffs. The Mastiffs doing the actual work of discouraging unwanted occupation. Two Tibetan dogs on both ends of the size/weight scale.

 

[BoylermanCT]

I grew up with big dogs. Doberman, black lab, yellow lab etc. After marriage and living in an apartment, we got our first small dog, a Schipperke we named Leia. Fell in love with the breed and we now have 5. 15-18 lbs, all black. They look like a black fox. Very smart, protective, loyal, great family and companion dogs. Very brave. Leia went nose to nose with a black bear, not realizing she was a potential bear snack! The bear backed off. We love the pack dynamics of having 5 dogs. We have coyotes around us, and while one Schip would be very vulnerable, a pack of 5 is quite the force. We know we will always have at least one Schip in our family.

 

[goeduck]

Tibetan spaniels, are they those small dogs lots of hair? I think my neighbor's have one. The story goes, as told to me was the Tibetan spaniels were used as alarms that would wake up the Tibetan Mastiffs. The Mastiffs doing the actual work of discouraging unwanted occupation. Two Tibetan dogs on both ends of the size/weight scale.

Exactly. Watch dog or guard dog. Some are both.

 

[Dftodd]

Very sorry to hear about Cooper’s misfortune!

Our Maine Coon was named Alex and he would lay in the yard and at first glance he seemed perfectly still but he was scanning the yard for any movement then when he spotted something he would shoot out to get it. It was fantastic watching him catch birds in the air too.

My grandfather had a springer spaniel/ black lab mix that would snatch birds out of the air.

There was a section out in the woods behind his house that had swale grass about 4ft tall.

I used to walk him out there periodically. He would used to hop through the grass. Disappear, then hop again. Head popping up over the top of the grass. Then you would hear a partridge take off. Just as the partridge cleared the top of the grass, you would see the dogs head pop out of the grass and snatch the bird.

He used to remind me of a shark

 

[two_bit_score]

My grandfather had a springer spaniel/ black lab mix that would snatch birds out of the air.

There was a section out in the woods behind his house that had swale grass about 4ft tall.

I used to walk him out there periodically. He would used to hop through the grass. Disappear, then hop again. Head popping up over the top of the grass. Then you would hear a partridge take off. Just as the partridge cleared the top of the grass, you would see the dogs head pop out of the grass and snatch the bird.

He used to remind me of a shark

That’s pretty amazing!

 

[Sigarms]

There were / all great, but the top 5 in my adult life

Other than the English lab which my wife got before she moved to NC, all rescues, all each had thir own stories.

All of them long gone now, each with their own memories. If my wife and I had to pick the most loyal "easiest" dog in our home, would be the dog in my avatar.

All 5 of these dogs helped us immensely when we got into fostering dogs as they helped trained newer dogs in our house sometimes better than we could train them so the newer dogs would know how to behave.

The black aussie mix we knew immediately we had to take her in because she couldn't go upstairs to sleep with one of the boys (which she did loyally for years). Had to have her put down the next day due to internal bleeding that we ran the risk of putting her through more due to the operation with no promises.

 

[scaredychicken]

past - Jack Russell Terrier (small)- I loved that little 20 lb dog, fearless, loyal, attitude, chased a 200 lb bear away, and treed it several times. probably my favourite dog ever.

present - Anatolian Shepherd (large) - weighs in at about 140 lbs, very loyal, protective, great farm dog, deals with the bears. The Breed is prone to wander down street and around our property, as they patrol area, and one of our neighbours (a real jerk) has threatened her with his shotgun, so we are needing to leash her for now. That neighbour mistakenly THOUGHT our dog was chasing his horse, has had it in for her since day one (and she has never entered his yard). Love this dog so much. Would get a lab in the future, so that the patrolling is not a concern.