Dog Breeds Rated for Feistiness

Discovery.com ^ | June 26, 2008 | Jennifer Viegas

[Oyarsa]

June 26, 2008 -- Little dogs -- think Chihuahuas and Dachshunds -- tend to be feisty, while certain breeds, like Golden and Labrador Retrievers, are as mellow as their reputations suggest, found a new study that identified the most and least aggressive common dog breeds.

[Slings and Arrows]

An exception.

[BruceysMom]

This is the love of my life;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H91m_lOiBzk

Some of the pics in the slide show are from Angie Wheat. That’s who I got my Brucey from.

[shibumi]

110 lbs of Old School, Open Coat Shepherd. Meet "Major", son of V Vikingland Juventus and Gretchen von Lupine. >

[NavyCanDo]

Stardust is cute. Regardless of the mix, She does have a Shiba look.

[Joe 6-pack]

Beautiful Family!

[steppinhi]

You know your dachshunds! I had some friends who owned a male that would try to mate with a tree, given the chance - LOL. Although that’s stretching it a bit, that little doggie was once “caught in the act” while he was attempting to achieve a serious degree of intimacy with the family tom cat. The cat, which was significantly larger than the dog, quickly (and permanently) cured the pup of his delusions!

[AnAmericanMother]

If you got a field type black Lab, they have almost no undercoat and a very short, slick topcoat. More like a pointer.

My Ruby's coat feels like a seal's and she literally has no undercoat at all. You can see that there's no fluff at the back of her legs or under her belly - even there the hair lies tight and close. The pup's our trainer's little Golden, and you can see how fuzzy she is! Sweet little girl named Jazz. She's as big as Ruby now.

She does shed, but it's all the slick outer guard hairs which don't fly around and make you sneeze. And if you feed them one of the premium dog foods with the skin and coat additives (something like AvoDerm or the Blackwood's with the fish oil in it) they don't have much dander (which is what really makes you sneeze).

My poor husband is allergic to both cats and dogs, but it was a package deal -- love me, love my livestock!

[AnAmericanMother]

Now that's a fine looking Shepherd.

I like the old style - mostly to avoid the "tricycle look" of the modern show Shepherd. The Malinois haven't been messed with as much either.

[cubreporter]

Well, he never had any collapse or anythng like that. Just the heat when he would hear a backfire or a cap gun. Needless to say he and his buddie were inside the house with music playing and the TV on when it was fireworks time. WE never used the fireworks but you could hear them. Of course, there are always the spoilsports who continue late into the evening firing off crackers days after Fourth of July is long over. Those egg heads though we can’t control. :)

[allmendream]

After my house was robbed I got a bull mastiff named Fury (I have a Lab named Jake, he didn't scare off the robbers).

A few weeks later was Halloween. Everyone in the neighborhood saw I had a scary looking dog. The funniest part was that she would want to lean in to sniff the ‘goblins’ but wouldn't’ let anyone touch her, the hand came out to pet her and she jumped back like it was a snake. :)

Now my mom has her. Bull Mastiff's are the best guard dogs EVER.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We got Prior Lake Jake as a pup and noted he had the biggest head and feet of the litter. Sure enough, he grew to 120 pounds by 18 months and the vet suggested we ween him back a bit on his ration. He maintained 90-95 pounds though out his short life.
At about age eight, Jake developed a fast growing cancer on his lower jaw. No surgery was possible. We kept him through the last winter until the ice went out on the lake so he could have one last swim and then had him put down. I still choke up when I think about it.

[allmendream]

My condolences on the loss of your Jaker! I still love my Jaker so much and am dreading the day he gets sick. He is 11 so he doesn't have long now. He is about 90 lbs as well, about 10 lbs overweight :(. I take him for a swim at least once a week, although I skip the week after his monthly bath.

[mupcat]

Thanks so much S&A for sending this. Just wonderful! They really are magnificent dogs. I’ve had both the Siberians and their close cousins the Malamutes. Really a great and mostly lovable breed.

[AnAmericanMother]

Never better proof that my Labs aren't very cautious . . . they chase bottle rockets and roman candles -- sometimes they catch one.

Fireworks and Hot Dogs

(obviously not my dog) - we usually just have 5 ball candles, so if they manage to sneak around and steal them there's just one or two stars left . . . they say that dogs teach each other to be afraid of fireworks, I think my Chocolate taught my little Black NOT to be afraid of them. Fortunately, the little Class C stuff is unlikely to scorch anybody.

[AnAmericanMother]

Have you gotten another dog (not necessarily a Golden - or maybe a female rather than a male)?

They're never the same, but they can help console you.

[brytlea]

LOL sounds like a boy dog! I’ve loved the few I’ve had, but they are soooo goofy!

[AnAmericanMother]

It's true, the boys do seem to be goofier. Bootsie is a loon - a cute loving loon but a loon nonetheless. He was working at a retriever training day one time, I was sitting behind the line in my camp chair, and Bootsie goes out, lines the mark, brings the bumper back, and runs right past Tim, comes to heel at my left side and dumps the bumper in my lap. I kind of looked at him and finally said, "Honey, thank you, but here - " handed him the bumper - "take it to Tim." And he did.

Even my girl dogs have a sense of humor, though. I guess they pal around with the boys too much. Ruby can be VERY goofy at times.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We live at Lake of the Ozarks so a water dog would be best. I still travel for my job so the dog would have to be kenneled, which I don't like.
No dog yet, until I retire. We got our first cat four years ago. Not the same...

[AnAmericanMother]

What a wonderful place to live! Water, water everywhere!

My dogs are crated during the day when I work, they don't seem to mind. If they had an outdoor run, they would be ecstatic (our neighbors are close, so I don't leave them out when I'm not home. They do bark when bored.) I work at home two days a week, so they don't have to put up with the crates every day.

I have cats also, and you're right, it just ain't the same -- even though I had a male Siamese who would retrieve anything you threw, and a couple of females who would retrieve particular toys. Our current Siamese simply lies around looking regal, when she's not teasing the dogs.

If when the time comes you decide on another Golden, brytlea is your FR connection. Her dogs are beautiful! I can put you in touch with several good conformation and field Lab breeders (whichever type you should decide on) and I even know a Chessie breeder if you want to go that route (they are hard headed but wonderful dogs once you convince them to work for you.) There's a FReeper with a really handsome Chessie, wish I could remember who it was.

[brytlea]

ha, he was flirting with you!
susie