Dog owners.. Share your experiences

[Kleineganz]

1.What breeds of dogs do you have/had?
We have 2 dogs, a brother/sister pair. They are a mix of Australian Shepherd, Border Collie and probably some Coyote (they were rescued from a reservation in south-western Colorado).

2.What was/is their personality like? ( I know all dogs are different but certain breeds have certain traits)
They are super smart, and really friendly. He's more shy around strange humans, she's a little more shy around strange dogs, but in general they are never aggressive.

3.How often did/ do you walk them? Do they need a lot of exercise?
We have a large backyard and a doggie door, so I'll admit we don't walk them as much as we should, but they spend the day chasing after squirrels so they get plenty of exercise on their own. In our new house the yard is smaller, so I will probably be walking them at least once per day and I'll try and take them to the local dog park weekly (when the weather is good).

4. Do they shed a lot? How much do you have to groom them?

She sheds a lot more than he does. We take them to get professionally groomed about once every 6 weeks (she gets something they call the "furminator" treatment which really cuts down on her shedding).

Thanks Kleine. I just googled Australian shepherds and they look gorgeous, really unique looking. When you say 'furminator' are you talking about the brush? because I have a similar brush to the furminator and it really gets a lot of excess fur out of my cats coats.

No the "furminator" is a special treatment they do at the PetSmart grooming salon (combination of how they wash, trim and brush the fur in order to reduce excess shedding).

Here is what our dogs look like (we're not sure what % exactly is Autralian Shepherd):

[nothinggold]

1. Boston Terrier

2. He's goofy as hell. Loves to chew. Barks when you come home. Affectionate. Curious. Stupid. Friendly. Attention whore. He is not that smart and kinda hard to train.

3. He's walked once a day for about two miles or taken to the dog park. I think that's really all he needs, he does get tired when you walk him a lot or talk him to the dog park and walk him. He doesn't handle extremes well, in the winter we have to put a coat on him and in the summer I walk him in the evening and bring extra water. I jog with him sometimes but only if I'm doing a very light jog. He gets pretty tired jogging so I don't jog with him much. If you're looking for a dog to exercise with, something with a smushed face like him or a Pug isn't really the best breed. He can, just not very well.

4. I wouldn't say he really sheds at all. We give him a bath if he gets dirty and that's really all the grooming we do. He's very easy grooming wise and that's really nice.

[Pixiepink]

No the "furminator" is a special treatment they do at the PetSmart grooming salon (combination of how they wash, trim and brush the fur in order to reduce excess shedding).

Here is what our dogs look like (we're not sure what % exactly is Autralian Shepherd):

Wow, theyre gorgeous Kleine !:love2: the coat/colouring reminds me of a golden retriever.

[Wombat]

1.What breeds of dogs do you have/had? We've had a few over the years, all either from the SPCA, pound or given to us, so: cross with heavy amounts of bull terrier breeds x2, cross with largely jack russell terrier, corgi.

2.What was/is their personality like? Started with our bull terrier based girls- very clever, very sweet, very protective. Our first of the two learnt the difference between someone we let in and someone who entered the house without our knowledge, and while she would never threaten the former, she promptly escorted the latter out with force. The second did not develop this skill, but had a little more intuition emotionally- she knew to approach people who were nervous with dogs with caution, and was stuck to your heels when you were upset.
Moving to the jack russell based girl- nervous. Very, very nervous. She needed a lot of reassurance, and a lot of training. She had the terrier dominance issues and as such needed a very firm hand, especially around strangers and children. Loyal to the bone, though.
The current dog, a corgi- friendly, gentle, lazy. No issues with strangers, loves children, about as dangerous as a wet rag. Very submissive, to the point the younger of two cats can sniff her mouth for food and she is unable to object. Prefers to only go outside for toileting. So lazy she'd prefer to be an inside dog despite having a very large garden to play in.

3.How often did/ do you walk them? Do they need a lot of exercise? For all the first 3- at least one walk a day, complete with a good run and some sort of stimulation like chasing after a ball or stick. Swimming at the beach or river for a real treat. For the corgi? She gets forced to go for a gentle walk most days, and attempts at a proper walk 2-3 times a week, the occasion failed attempt to make her run.

4. Do they shed a lot? How much do you have to groom them? First two, no. Brushing once a week briefly largely because they liked the attention. The second two? Oh god, yes. So much. Preferably a brief brush once a day with a really good going over at least once a week. And there will still be fur on every piece of clothing to go near them.

All four have been family dogs, the third (jack russell-based cross) the one I bonded with most. With that said, when I own a property and can thus get a dog of my own, I would prefer a bull terrier based dog. I will be getting one from the SPCA when I do, so lord knows what I'll end up with, but that is my preference. They're loyal, intelligent, easy to train and in my experience, have little in the way of dominance issues or nervous tendencies.

[Wombat]

1.What breeds of dogs do you have/had?
Mongrels of various flavour- 2 mostly bully breed mixes growing up, then in my teens what we can only describe as a jack russell/foxie that never got the memo to stop growing, and now a kelpie (unsure what else is in there, we can only assume a dog of some kind) of my own.

2.What was/is their personality like? ( I know all dogs are different but certain breeds have certain traits)
All the bully breed mixes- loving, protective, intelligent. The first had more of a protective nature, and was an amazing guard dog, but was a perfect nanny dog as she put up with anything from us as kids. The second wasn't quite as protective, and was more prone to escape attempts to explore. She was also brilliant with kids, though.
Our jack russell/foxie on stilts girl was nervous, dominant, but very loyal. Essentially, we had to train her to hell and back to make her a safe dog around strangers as she was scared of wheels, strange men, plastic bags, bad weather... you name it. A scared dog is of course an unpredictable dog, so she required a lot of control when out of the house. With our family, however, she was the mostly fiercely loyal animal I've ever met. She would have died for us, and not known that she'd done more than was to be expected.
My kelpie is still young, but so far he is energetic, friendly, and very intelligent. He's very sweet-natured, came with a built-in love for children and other dogs, and he's happy to be manhandled. He is however true to the herding breed nature, and can try to herd anything that moves, and needs a lot of training and exercise to keep him from chewing everything that I own.

3.How often did/ do you walk them? Do they need a lot of exercise?
Our first two needed walking once a day, and were happy enough running about the garden and playing with myself and my sister outside of their walks.
Our terrier-on-stilts was higher energy, and needed a much longer walk, with a good chance to run every day, as well as exercise around the garden.
My kelpie requires a good morning and evening walk, a good long run around the dog park every second day, and weekly agility classes. We're trying to get him swimming as well, for an extra dose of exercise that is gentle on his muscles.
All have had a garden to run about in as they wished.

4. Do they shed a lot? How much do you have to groom them?
First two no, third yes, fourth no. Regular brushing is all we've gone for, in the case of our terrier, daily.

My strongest bonds have been with our terrier-based mongrel girl, as I was in my mid-late teens when we had her, and my kelpie boy. I think in both cases it's because I've been the one training them. I always thought my first dog of my own would be a bull terrier-ish kiddo, but my boy just snuck up on me and I couldn't resist him. If my boyfriend and I get a second dog, I'm unsure now what we'll go for, but my preference would be a bull terrier cross with something with a bit higher energy, to keep up with my boy.

[vegasazhure]

I'm going to preface this with: I don't like dogs. This wasn't my dog, but my sister's when I still lived at home. My dislike may color my opinion.

1.What breeds of dogs do you have/had?
Dalmatian (She fell victim to 101 Dalmatians and had to have one.)

2.What was/is their personality like? ( I know all dogs are different but certain breeds have certain traits)
Extremely energetic and playful, generally good natured but stubborn as all hell. However, he had a tendency to be neurotic and was very territorial. My sister did not know how to handle him at all, and as a consequence he became very hard to handle as he would test his boundaries and try to push. If he found someone more alpha than he was, he'd be unpredictable.

3.How often did/ do you walk them? Do they need a lot of exercise?
Two 1-hour long walks daily. These dogs need a tremendous amount of exercise, as well as consistent, firm obedience training.

4. Do they shed a lot? How much do you have to groom them?
He shed a TON. Daily, or at least every other day grooming. And the hairs were awful, they'd get into everything and poke you, and make you itch like crazy. He also had to have his claws trimmed regularly.

Now, like I said above, my opinion may be biased. But I lived with this dog for three years and I can say that I would never recommend a Dalmatian to a novice owner, or at least not someone who isn't prepared to take a firm but gentle hand. I stayed away from him as much as is possible in a household, but he still got in my face and scared me silly on a couple of occasions. He never bit, or actually attacked but would growl and be very threatening. I am NOT saying that all dalmatians are like him, only that the breed CAN exhibit these tendencies if not given the correct training.

My sister left him home when she went away to college and my opinion is that once he had a firm, consistent leader in my mom he was able to gain confidence and settle down. My mom loved him to death, he was her constant companion. He lived to be 13 years old.

[gizcorn]

1.What breeds of dogs do you have/had?
Only Pomeranians, and we have 2

2.What was/is their personality like? ( I know all dogs are different but certain breeds have certain traits)
They are like night and day. One is very relaxed and laid back, barks at dogs but apart from that is a happy-go-lucky sort of guy, the other is very frightened and timid outside of the house and runs from new people/dogs so we have to keep an eye on him, but in the house he's a little bugger, chews everything demands all the attention and love and hates to be alone.

3.How often did/ do you walk them? Do they need a lot of exercise?
While I'm at uni my Dad will walk them both for about 20 mins every evening. When I'm at home I walk them in the daytime for about 25-30 mins and then depending how much time has passed he might walk them aswell in the evening, and we play with them in the garden if the weather is right.

4. Do they shed a lot? How much do you have to groom them?
They do moult a lot. Double coats shed constantly and give two different types of shedding too. My Mum will usually take them to the groomer once every 8-10 weeks and they refuse to be brushed by anyone but them so that's all we do haha, invest in a lint brush with Poms.

Here's a pic