Who's more loyal?

Do you think that certain breeds, or dogs of a certain "age" are more loyal than others, or that it's different between all dogs?

Today I had my door open so dogs could go and run around inside since it's kinda hot outside. After a few minutes, I notice Kiba beside me just chilling. It wasn't all that out of normal, as she often chooses me over the other dogs. But then I notice Stryder laying on the floor next to the bed (which is beside me too).

The poodles... are off doing who knows what. LOL.

The schnauzers are 5.5 and 4 years, and the poodles 17.5 months-ish.

Well Teagan is VERY loyal and follows Tyler and I everywhere. We are pretty much her whole world and no one else exists in it. lol.

I had a female Bouvier as I was growing up. We were her second home and we got her when she was about 3 years old. We also suspected that she was abused. Well Shadow was so loyal and protective of us. When we went outside she was right beside us. my brother and I would always go for walks and she was attached to us. We live on a farm so occasinally we would get coyoties fallowing us from a distance and shadow was right at attention making sure thoes Yotes stayed far away. Plus she loved chasing them haha

Milo's the most loyal dog I've ever known. He's the kind of dog that would run into a burning building looking for me. He'd rather die than be separated from me. He's 4 years old and a JRT....I think maybe younger dogs or puppies are more prone to running off or being more curious about things other than their people, but a lot of it is just personality...

I would think most dogs want to be with their person... My sister always knows where to find me if I'm out around the property - she just looks for the dogs. Interestingly enough, the dogs ignore her for the most part (they must know she's the cat person).

Sis still brings up the time she did a favor for me by going home at lunch to let Patch out (Patch was my first dog). I, of course, had given her the whole lunchtime routine - let Patch out to potty, play fetch with her, see if she wanted to potty any more, then put her back in the house with a treat.

She let Patch out, who immediately ran to the car, peered in the windows and when she realized I wasn't there, went back in the house. Didn't potty and didn't want to play, (Sis did try and wound up fetching the ball herself) - she wouldn't even take the treat. Anyway, that was the first and last time Sis did that favor for me.

To me loyal is too abstract to really pin down. It means something different to each person and I'm not even sure it can be said of dogs at all. I think it depends most on what we as humans perceive as loyalty more than what the dog's actual motivations are.

If loyal means the dog that stays with me the most during the day and never runs off, then it's Summer. She spends all her time where I am.

Mia is much more adventurous and is often off playing with her toys instead of being glued to my side. However, Summer will gladly leave me for someone else with food or pets. She will always come back to me eventually but she wants to meet people many times more than she wants to stay with me, lol. Mia, however, doesn't want a thing to do with anyone else. She is extremely affectionate... but only towards me. Summer dotes on everyone. So in that way I would choose Mia over Summer but then again, Mia totally leaves my side to go play and do her own thing. But then Mia is more affectionate and more apt to be sitting on me whereas Summer likes space. lol I tend to just call Mia a one person dog and Summer clingy. I don't know who is more 'loyal'.

If I had to pick any dog that was loyal I would pick Trey. He was so simple and seemed thus to have more pure motives. He really in many ways lacked the complexity that Mia or my other dogs (but especially Mia) have. The relationship with him was also much simpler. He was not trusting initially so it took me years to get him to bond to me. But towards his last years, he was so incredibly devoted. He would just look up at me and have complete adoration in his eyes, nothing else. With Mia there's always something else going on in her head as well but with Trey there never was- just love and complete faith and trust. His love for me was so strong, people who had just met us would often comment on it. I really just think he did one thing at a time and put his whole being into it. He was just so simple and I miss that many days. Mia is the total opposite of him in most ways, lol.

Oh gosh, I rambled.

I think of loyal as like...if someone has some really yummy food they're feeding your dog, and you get up and walk away, will the dog follow you or stay for the food (or toy, or whatever).

I mean if Milo goes running after a squirrel at the park, he might not have a perfect recall, but if I head towards the car, he's right there because he wants to be with me. Or I screamed, he'd run back to me to make sure I'm okay.

Or like I said, if I was trapped in a burning building filled with smoke and stuff, and someone got Milo outside but then let him go, he'd run straight back inside, even if he got burned or something, to get to me. If someone was attacking me and they started kicking Milo really hard, he'd keep fighting to get to me, regardless of getting hurt.

I don't think loyalty has much to do with breed or age. I think it has more to do with the dog.

Lizzie and Blaze both have the same breed in them. But Blaze is way more loyal than Lizzie. Blaze is fine to chill with me, walk off leash and stay with me, just happy to stay with me most of the time. Where as Lizzie is -more- than happy to go off and do her own thing then come back home when it's feeding time. So to speak. lol But I think that difference also has to do with there personalities. Blaze wants my approval. He wants to know that what he's doing is the right thing. Lizzie could 99% of the time care less what I think is right. As long as -she's- happy, that's all that matters to her most of the time.

I dont think loyalty to their owner has much to do with age, or breed.

Romeo is what I call loyal, has been since the day I brought him home. follows me around everywhere, cuddles, and is never really farther than 2 feet away from me.

See, to me that's clinginess, not loyalty, lol. Summer is very much that dog.

To me that is something more than staying physically with a person. And to me that is very very hard to define and more difficult to measure in dogs.

ya thats probably more clingyness than anything else now that I think about it

as for loyalty.. I dunno. Romeo is very ATTACHED and DEVOTED to me.

but its hard for me to pinpoint "loyal". like...if somebody is nice to him, hes more than happy to go on over and cuddle with em and do tricks for cookies. and he has no issues being babysat. but I think of that as being friendly..not as a sign of him not being loyal

Mine were never really put into a loyal position as far as I was concern , but one time our two goldens went to the creek with my very young daughter . She was just sitting on the bank and the creek was only about 6 " deep , but the dogs were nervous and one ran home while the other stayed with her . I knew something was wrong so ran to the creek . When I approached the dog that had stayed with her danced for joy ! All was OK but to me that's being loyal .

To me, clinginess is a dog that wants to be by you 24/7, instead of going off and playing, etc. not a dog that would risk their life for you or in the long run choose you over a reward or someone else.

Lucy will follow whoever has the best smelling treats. At dinnertime, you can see her calculating who her best option is (who is most likely to slip her treats from the table)

She is loyal to cheese, not me.

All I can say is that I've been privileged to have the love and loyalty of some extremely devoted and loyal dogs in my life (and a cat), but it is different with a Fila. It can't be explained; it has to be experienced.

Someone once described watching another's bond with a Fila as "something holy and sacred." That's about as close as you can get. There is a reason the Brazilians use the proverb, "faithful as the Fila."

I think there's sayings about that for most breeds.... Papillon people will tell you papillons are not like having a dog, they are like another extension of yourself. I've found that to be true. To me they are totally different than other dogs, but it may be because I'm just madly in love with them. My mom used to say, "If you want a dog, get a dog. But if you want a friend, get a papillon." She was also slightly biased, lol.

I am not sure on the term 'loyal' too. Its a human concept involving morals.

Now if you want to talk devoted. Well that would be Dekka to a 'T'. You don't get much more clingy or devoted than her. Even with a whole farm to run around on she is 99% of the time right near me. This is the dog who will walk back and forth as a mow the lawn (though she does eventually get tired and lie in the shade to watch), and who will trot along side the horse as I ride circles and things in a ring...

I think some breeds are more loyal than others, my favourite ACD trait is loyalty. i've seen them described as "hopelessly devoted" and its true. Harry isn't pure ACD but he's got the personality. We're his family, meaning his entire world. We got him at 4months and he never wanted to talk to other people even from that young age. He really just doesn't have the time for other people.

That said, I think it also greatky depends on the dog, Buster is very loyal to me I think although I can hand him over to people and he'll go with them (not happily mind you)

It's not a breed saying in this case, though. It's a long standing part of the Brazilian culture, not just Fila owning Brazilians

I am not saying filas are not loyal or special it's just I see the same claims about virtually every breed by breed people. I am sure there are other breeds that have similar sayings in their home countries too.

I just think everyone tends to think their breed is the most 'special' or most X. Of course, I think the same about my breed too.

^that.

I don't think most dogs are loyal in the Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, etc sense of the word. I think we tend to teach dogs that ZOMG we are the best things ever and therefore they are very attentive to us and then we call them loyal. I don't really believe that dogs have the ability to conceptualize loyalty by human definition.