Another breed suggestion thread

This is for the SO, I figured I'd compile a list of good breeds for him to check out. And since we have a bunch of other ones going on.... LOL.

At first he liked just playing with my dogs, but recently he's been asking me about getting his own dog. I think he took it kind of hard when Walsh passed bc Muffin is a true momma's boy and Walsh would at least give him the time of day. Anyway, this won't be until we buy a house... So at least 2 years away.

His requirements:

1) Size: not a small breed, preference will be given to med breeds but large will not be excluded.

2) Shedding: preference will be given to no/light shedding but heavy shedders will not be excluded

3) Barking: alert barking only and dog must stop once human acknowledges the thing. An example: there was a fox making freaky noises outside the front door two days ago... Keeda went ballistic. As soon as I said, "yup, I know now go to sleep." she stopped barking.

4) Energy: Med-Low energy. He will train basic obed he will not go any farther. The dog will mostly play in the yard during the week with any dogs I may have at the time plus play with him in the yard a few times a week, go to the shop with him, and go on a 4-6 mile hike 1x every other week.

5) Random: needs to be a Velcro-dog(he wants to be adored), not huge prey drive he wants a dog he can trust to stick around him off leash when he's got the shop door open or is fixing something outside in an unfenced part of the property.

6) This is a MUST: ABSOLUTELY NO AGGRESSION of any kind. People are in and out of his shop all day, along with other dogs... I will always have multiple dogs and I don't want to crate and rotate again if I can help it... Also there will be kids in this dog's lifetime.

We're going the breeder route, so along with breeds I would be more than welcome to breeders(you can PM if you want). I want him to get a breeder rehome... He wants a puppy... I have a few years to try to convince him but we may end up with a puppy... So again, breeder recommendations would be great!

TIA!

Adult Labrador. Just saying. ^^

They obviously are heavy shedders and as puppies I would not deem them low-medium energy, but even then, the Labs I grew up with were satisfied with basic exercise outlets (play, short walks, etc.) if they were given enough mental stimulation during the day (and if he takes the dog to the shop with him, that might be stimulating enough - I don't know).

you need to come up this way sometime and meet Hudson. He might be a little higher energy than you guys would want though

1) Size: not a small breed, preference will be given to med breeds but large will not be excluded. Currently 36ish lbs at 8.5 months old. Both parents were around 20" at the shoulder and 50 lbs

2) Shedding: preference will be given to no/light shedding but heavy shedders will not be excluded This is a better question for someone who has had one longer. I think he sheds less that I do

3) Barking: alert barking only and dog must stop once human acknowledges the thing. An example: there was a fox making freaky noises outside the front door two days ago... Keeda went ballistic. As soon as I said, "yup, I know now go to sleep." she stopped barking. He will keep going on after i tell him everything is fine, but I think that has more to do with puppy and less to do with the breed over all. He barked at a jogger this morning, but wasn't crazy about it. As soon as she was out of sight he was fine

4) Energy: Med-Low energy. He will train basic obed he will not go any farther. The dog will mostly play in the yard during the week with any dogs I may have at the time plus play with him in the yard a few times a week, go to the shop with him, and go on a 4-6 mile hike 1x every other week.
Hudson, I feel, falls pretty firmly in the 'medium' energy category. We play in the yard and on the weekends do fun things (eg. dock dogs last weekend, festival the weekend before, festival this weekend), those normally knock him out for a while.

5) Random: needs to be a Velcro-dog(he wants to be adored), not huge prey drive he wants a dog he can trust to stick around him off leash when he's got the shop door open or is fixing something outside in an unfenced part of the property. Herdy..Since he is a puppy, I don't trust him a whole lot because...puppy, but he is pretty velcro-y Hudson is my boy. I can't go to the bathroom without him barging in. They don't call them English Shadow's for no reason

6) This is a MUST: ABSOLUTELY NO AGGRESSION of any kind. People are in and out of his shop all day, along with other dogs... I will always have multiple dogs and I don't want to crate and rotate again if I can help it... Also there will be kids in this dog's lifetime. Hudson has shown 0 issues towards aggression, well, except for the time he felt dad was being aggressive towards my niece and Hudson politely put his teeth on dad's arm to tell him to knock it off (after his warning barks were ignored)




Other ideas -
Standard Poodle?
LHW or Silken? Don't know how velcro-y they are.
Cocker Spaniel? I was in a shop this past weekend and the guy had a cocker. He just hung out in the shop while the guy was working on bikes and stuff. Pretty cool little dog. And he was happy to play with Hudson

Some of the other sporting breed types, like weim or GSP, or Vizsla - Probably too high energy for him.

I thought adult lab too other than the shedding and the puppy energy. But the adult labs I know are really great dogs. Most are pretty easy going, friendly, and not all that hyper. So yeah.. if you could handle the puppy years I think the dog could grow into what he wants. I'd pay attention to lines though because some of the field line dogs I know are on fire all the time.

I also would say, "He needs a Cynder." So maybe look into the various Spaniel breeds? Field bred English Cocker, Field Spaniel, Welsh Springer, etc.

I defiantly think the right adult lab would be perfect for him, if I can convince him to go for an adult. My main concern is that I KNOW during annoying puppy years I'll have to make up his slack and I have my own dog things to do... not to mention, I'm trying not to do to much with it as I want it to be fully bonded to him. This will be his first dog, I want to take away from that.

I am still going to push for an adult as hard as I can, since he's not dog savy and he really just wants a pet to hang out with him knowing the adult temperament would make things 900 bajillion times easier.

I told him to get a poodle, he shot that down super quickly. LOL. It's just the poodle reputation though, not the actual dog.

I'm not sure what the energy levels of GSPs and such are, but I'm assuming they're up there? I'm mainly expierenced with herding breeds. The dog will have time to play fetch or play chase with my dog(s), but it won't be doing agility or trailing at all.

I was considering an English Shepherd, I'd really have to meet a few first. I have zero expierence with them... But they're supposed to be lower energy than BCs and Aussies right? So if I could find a low-key one it might work.

As far as whippets, don't they have high prey drive? He needs a dog that is more interested in sticking around him than taking off to get a squirrel.

ETA: I can add cocker to the list, but I think they might be a little on the small side for him.

I took the Iams breed selector, the questions weren't great though... Anyway this is what came back:

1) Boykin Spaniel
2) American Water Spaniel
3) Vizsla
4) Basset Hound

The only one out of them I have experience with is a Basset.

I was going to suggest either a golden, or some kind of spaniel.

I also though beagle, but they're small, and I know they can be wanderers so you'd have to ask someone more experienced about it staying inside with the door open or going into unfenced areas off leash. Bassett also crossed my mind, but again, not sure about the leash thing.

Standard poodle was another I was going to say, just because of the lower shedding.

I couldn't think of any other breeds and felt dumb because of it, but since everyone else gave the same suggestions, I guess I wasn't too far off

A lot of sporting dogs, Viszlas, GSPs, etc. are pretty high energy. But honestly, with the exercise you're listing, I don't think a medium-high energy dog would be stir crazy or too much to handle. IME viszlas are the less high-strung/wired of the pointing dogs. Weims and GSPs seem to be more energetic. And all of them bond VERY closely to their owners.

If you ever come up this way, let me know. There really are quite a few English Sheperds in the NJ/NY/CT area. I know one lady in NJ is wanting to organize a meet up in this area

What about the larger spaniels? Like an ESS or...ummm...other spaniels, lol. Brain dead today

Although cockers are relatively small, I think Field Spaniels and Welsh Springers are in that 40-50 pound range. Perfect size, IMO.

Besides, they're so good looking!

I would stay away from any of the hounds. They are not a good off leash dog and they tend to be a bit more independent than what it sounds like you are looking for.

What about a PWD? The ones I know are great dogs with alot of energy.

Spinone. They're so mellow and chill and friendly. They're a perfect manly hanging-out-in-the-shop-with-the-guys dog. They're also wire coated, so don't shed all over the place. You might want to rake out the under coat with a mars coat king once a month or so, but they're pretty low maintenance.

The ones I've met were like goldens that were really mellow and moved in slow motion. They're pretty smart too, at least that's the impression I've gotten. Everyone I know with one has sworn they'll never go to another bird dog breed again, for both hunting and companionship.

The other that comes to mind are gordon setters, but they shed more than a spinone. I don't know how their shedding is compared to a lab though.

ETA: I just looked up spinone grooming and am wrong, they DON'T have an undercoat. Which makes shedding even less and grooming even easier than my old griff.

ETAETA: They're also bred to be close working with a hunter on foot vs. GSP which were bred to work far afield with a hunter on horseback. One guy I know that has them used to have WHPGs, but he's in his 80s now, still loves bird hunting and just wanted a bird dog that moved at his pace and stayed close by, was easy to handle as a puppy and adult, etc. So now he has spinones and is totally hooked on them. "Never looking back," in his words.

OMG! Romy you're a genius! I just read the description and they sound PERFECT! I am defiantly going to have to look up some shows to meet them. I think they might have even just made my future dog list. LOL.

I'm still keeping everyone else's suggestions bc obviously, it's his choice of what breed to pick. So if anyone else thinks of one that would fit, the list is still open.

And yeah, I wasn't going to suggest he get a hound. They're pretty notorious for wandering off. I was just saying out of the Iam's list, I only had expience with the Basset.

I love Spinones!!!!! I've met quite a few (they were everywhere in the UK) and they just seemed so chill and never went too far away from their people. And they're freaking adorable.

I would suggest looking into the smooth collies if he's interested in a herder or maybe a well bred bench golden retriever.

English Shepherds may be too high energy, especially if you get one from the only Ontario breeder (Quinn's breeder). Her dogs all have good off switches, Quinn included, but do tend to be a little higher drive.

eta: I'm an idiot! I thought you were in Ontario. Sorry about that. There are definitely more breeders in the US and enough variation you could probably find a lower energy pup.