Breed recommendations? For a couple at two ends of the spectrum.

I've been reading about breeds since I was four years old, first book I ever read, but I have yet to master picking out a breed for someone who isn't me (because they ALWAYS seem to leave something out it seems) and in particular my boyfriend.

He is a hard sell on most dogs. I think he thinks I'm trying to trick him.
Anywho, we want a breed for the both of us. Most likely, we will end up adopting first, but I eventually do want a dog from a good breeder that I may be able to start things with (not breeding). But it's nice to have something to shoot for even in a rescue dog, even if we don't get it.

So, here's our specs, if you will:
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Right now we're in an apartment, but we are about 90% sure we're going to be going into a pretty large townhouse with a smaller yard soon. We're by parks that allow dogs both on and off leash, and they aren't really ever crowded (usually a dog or two at a time, if that). We're also right on the lake. At the moment, I don't work, and when it eventually is able to change (working on citizenship at the moment) I won't be working too much due to health reasons, so the house wouldn't be empty for long at all at any one time.

He's not had as many dogs as I have, and I grew up taking in a lot of rescues and having to learn how dominant dogs are worked with. He has no clue, and I would rather us both be able to train the dog. I don't mind stubbornness, but I think something a bit on the less-challenging side would be best. He is, in the nicest way possible, a complete pet pushover dork. I'll probably be training him as much as the dog.

We do own a cat, and we will be owning other animals, and most likely have another dog in the house for at least a little while while we have a roommate (no worries on her, she loves dogs and doesn't mind if we have one either as long as it doesn't pick up her small, Eskie sized Pom-mix as a snack!).

Shedding isn't an issue for any of us. Between ourselves, the cat, and our future roommates dog, we could make some pretty hideous sweaters, I'm sure. But, something that requires pretty simple grooming would be best.

I don't like a ton of barking. The roommates dog can be yappy, but I'm going to work with her and him. The boyfriend doesn't mind but said to me "isn't there a breed that doesn't bark?" so I showed him pictures of the Basenji. He loved it. I showed him videos of Basenjis singing and he said he'd rather listen to barking. :lol-sign:
I don't know how he'd feel about general hound howling, but I definitely don't rule any hound breeds out if they fit in with our little family.

As far as looks go, he likes bigger dogs, but he's not at all macho to the point that he will get embarrassed by walking a little puff of a dog down the road with a pink leash. Actually, he'd probably enjoy that.

So that's the jist of it. Most breeds I show him, he just nods and says "thats a nice dog". He's only showed real interest in larger breeds like Danes and even deerhounds. The dog he had living at home who he stills adores is a Beardie/Border mix they picked up from a farm who has the scruffiest of scruffy hair, so he is really a big fan of that look which is the biggest reason that certain breeds appeal to him off the bat without knowing anything.


So, he says to me "what about your forum? could they help" so I figured, why not!? It's worth a shot to see if we can be paired with a dog that fits us both. And any other suggestions as well such as what I can do, sportswise or whatever, with said breed. Any help is really appreciated.


opcorn:

how about a greyhound?

HUGE fan of Greys! I think he'd really love them if he got around them.

One of his favourite smaller breeds is the Italian Greyhound so I think it's a good one. And I'd love to rescue one.


On another note, just now thinking about it. Is it okay to ask a breeder if you can go and spend some time around their dogs, even though you have no intentions of buying (at least not any time soon)? I'd like to do that so we can be around them.

That was my thought too. Surprisingly good in an apartment or townhouse situation. Capable of long walks around a lake, but also perfectly content to sleep. There are tons of nice ones in rescue too. Would a greyhound eat a kitty though?

What about a lab? I know a lot of people don't like them because they're too "common", but if you adopted an older (3-5 year old) one, they'd be happy with a trip to the park or the lake each day, are big but are fine with smaller animals, and are generally very biddable and trainable.

I do agility with the most gorgeous yellow lab ever. She was adopted from a shelter, and is just the sweetest, most docile dog, but can really turn on when it's time to play.

I've thought about Labs too. One of my first dogs was a yellow Lab named Elmo and he was one of the best dogs I ever owned, so I've always leaned toward them.
I've brought them up to him, but he is sort of shy about overly common breeds. Not because of their commonality but more because he is afraid of what happens to breeds when they're overbred. His biggest example of this when we were talking about it was Dalmatians because I showed him one on petfinder because I was just browsing. He had a few myths swimming around about them that I cleared up but he still brought up good points that I really can't deny.

Personally, I think, since we're rescuing first, it's not really going to matter too much because we won't know where the dog came from at its birth, most likely, anyhow. But he's on the paranoid side about health and temperament and all that horrifying stuff.

There's so many drop-dead gorgeous Labs in our shelters and rescues here, too. And we live across from a guide dog facility too so I'm aware of a few breeders at least. I'm still trying to open him up about more common, overbred breeds that seem to come a dime a dozen so we will have to see.

I think because of the few dogs he was raised around he has some misconceptions as well. The dogs he knew were awesome examples of their breed and he feels like it's so rare to find that regardless of breed and that's been a pretty difficult shell to crack away from him.
Which is surprising, because I've met his Beardie/Border family dog, and to be quite honest, she is horribly trained, horribly socialized, snappy and overly protective and has resource guarding issues but his family thinks she's the best dog in the world. Go figure.

I don't normally suggest this breed, but if you're able to find a good breeder, I think a Chow Chow would be a good match. Don't know why this was the first breed that came to mind. I've seen some wonderful chows in the past, and they aren't known for barking.

Some greys will eat kitty and some wont depends on the dog. Also for a low barker MAKE SURE to ask if it is. :lol-sign: I have the total opposite my grey is LOUD and obnoxious. My beagle is quiet LOL

Hehe, that's one we both agree on. They're my all-time favourite breed and I've only ever known great ones, but I feel I may be lucky (none of the dogs I knew were from any sort of a good breeder even).
He loves them too and loves that we can get the same dog without all the hair if we don't want a very hairy running around the house.

The only thing I'm worried about is that all of my past Chows and Chow mixes were very attached to me. One of them had some dig aggression issues but it seemed to be more jealousy than anything.

Since they're one of my favourite breeds, they are literally always in the back of my mind. I can't help myself and inevitably find myself at a breeder's website every time I'm browsing. And I know we'd both be open to them if they fit well into our life.


Not to mention, I showed him pictures of Grab's pup, Goose, and naturally he let out a very manly 'AWWWWWWMYGOSH' :lol-sign:

LOL, I will definitely keep that in mind.
If we got a Grey, I'd assume we'd probably go through a rescue group that deals only with them.
I watched a show on Animal Planet once about Greyhound rescue. The potential adopters took a few of the dogs home one at a time to see which fit best. I'm not sure if that is standard for rescue groups or not since I've always gone through shelters/pounds, but if we could find that it would definitely be awesome.

Greyhound rescues usually have foster homes and a few times at the request of the adopters or the situation itself we did foster/adopt situations. You foster the dog and then you sign adoption paper work to make sure it will work.

If I didn't have papillons I'd probably have a half dozen greyhounds. There are several ways to adopt greyhounds, sometimes you can go through the owner right off the track, othertimes you can go through greyhound rescue groups. I love track bred greyhounds, they tend to be uber healthy, and depending on the owner sometimes even have a little bit of obedience training.

If your interested in IG's, I know a couple of very good breeders here in Ontario. Send me a pm if/when you want the contact info.

Thanks so much! I'll keep you in mind.
I'm a little bit worried just about if they might be too frail.
I've never been around them to know so I've only heard stories.