*throws Merlin in the pile of dogs up for grabs and runs away*
:rofl1: HAHAHA HES YOURS NOW!
one of those nights guys lol
:rofl1: HAHAHA HES YOURS NOW!
one of those nights guys lol
What would you say your ideal pack (or dog, if you just want one) is like? How many?
My ideal dog is Journey. Confident, happy, playful, eager to learn, brilliant, friendly and easy to live with. That is what I will try to find in all of my future dogs. My ideal pack to live with would be two dogs. I will probably never have my ideal two, because somehow I always end up with a third haha. But three is good too as long as one is low maintenance. I just want two dogs that mesh well together and are able to entertain/play with eachother well, and one that mostly just hangs out and is older and wiser and stays out of trouble. And some days I kind of wish I could make myself be a one person dog so that I could devote all of my time and attention to just one, but I really do love having two and like three as well most of the time.
What types? Herding breed types. Eager to learn, quick to learn, plenty of energy but knows when to relax, no more than 45lbs. I think I want mainly Aussies in the future. Two Aussies and Dance. Or an Aussie, a Koolie and Dance. And once Dance is gone I'm not sure what that third dog would be if I end up getting a third. Perhaps another Toller or perhaps something else or perhaps yet another Aussie haha. But I definitely want two herding dogs at least.
Ideally I'd also have only girls forever. But I have a feeling Journey will be happier with a boy in a handful of years when I want another dog. She's super friendly but can be a bit bitchy with other girls sometimes. We'll see. Might just be dependent on individual personality too.
What roles do you want them to play? Active pet and hiking buddy and good couch cuddler mainly haha. I love having a sport dog too, but I don't know if I'd want to have (be able to afford to have) multiple sport dogs. Being an enjoyable companion is my first goal as I have to live with the dog day in and day out, and everything else is just fun.
Are you at your ideal now, and if not, why? Nope. I currently live with four. Of the four, two are of a breed that I really don't mesh with very well and I love them very much, but they frustrate me (and I frustrate them too I am sure). Said two are also much larger than I prefer if I am going to have multiple dogs. And even though I have four dogs, their play styles aren't matched and I wish they were. Journey is super rough and physical (and loud), Dance is quiet and very non-physical, Ripley is rough and spinny and twice the size of the two hairy dogs, and Keira either doesn't play or just flails around on her back and confuses the other dogs haha. I really, really wish I had a dog that was well matched to Journey. She and Ripley play all the time, but I worry about the size difference with the way they play.
With that said, if I am only counting Dance and Journey as my dogs (because they are, and they are the ones that I will be taking when I leave home), they're pretty close to ideal except that they aren't great playmates. But otherwise they go together well. They're complete opposites and opposites attract! I do enjoy the two of them together very much.
Who knows if I'll ever have my ideal. Maybe someday when I live on my own and choose the types of dogs I live with I'll have a better chance at that.