I recently adopted a 3 month old German Shepard/Lab mix and he's the best puppy I've ever been around. We have small children in the house and he's gentle, polite and very well mannered. I'll teach him to kill later.
I wish I had some pics of him.. "bullet" was his name. The vet said the ONLY difference he saw was that the ears had NOT been cut, so they had a fold over at the tops and his tail was like an iron rod. The markings were black and tan identical to a dobie, from the collie. Can't say why. He was the runt of the litter and the oNLY one to survive the whole 8 pups she dropped. People were scared to death of him, just due to his markings! He was very intelligent, and was trained in Denver...way back in 1974-75.
In any area with laws pertaining to specific breeds a mix can be nice. Same for insurance. There are many "lab" mixes in my area.
German Shepherd mix with Border Colllie... great dog protective, medium size and super smart easy to train.... may try to herd your chickens but shouldn't hurt them if introduced as a pup....
I've had a few different breeds over the years. Golden Retriever was a great dog when we were younger. Basset hound was cool. Rotties were awesome dogs. But the ones who have stood out among all other breeds to me have been the Australian Cattle Dogs (Blue Heelers). I bought mine in 2000, she came from strong working stock, and has all of the herding instincts one could have hoped for. She is loyal to a fault, and very protective of me, my family, my truck, and my property. About 5 yrs ago I rescued another heeler off a jobsite. She took up with my wife more than myself. With both of them being female, there was a power struggle until mine asserted herself as the alpha dog. My wife's dog hasn't been allowed to show her true potential as a result. But when alone with her, I can tell she has all of the intelligence expected of the breed, she just doesn't get to show it often before mine jumps in and shows her up. To speak for the breed. They are very durable dogs, with few inherent medical issues. Very intelligent, while it took a few years, mine can read body language and know what I expect of her. Protective of anything within their own domain. Smaller in stature means better portability, agility, and a longer avg life span. Mine is 11 years old this year and acts like a 4-5 yr old dog. Extremely resilient and have awesome stamina. They were bred to run cattle in the outback afterall. High energy can be seen as a pro as well as a con. In their younger years, they can be a handful, even tho they are eager to learn and earn your approval. Given their level of energy, they will be busy. And unless you give them something to do, they will most likely be doing something you don't approve of. Don't get a heeler if you live in an apartment! They need room and attention to truly shine.
Haha! Seems to me that the BEST breed each one of you loves, is the one you either just lost or the one you have now! Wow, we really do love our canine friends, don't we....and why not, they are a heck of a sight more loyal and trustworthy, not to say loving, than a lot of the people in our lives!! My daughter who died in August, "bequeathed" her two old dogs (and a cat) to us....they are both 14, one is an Akita, she is stone deaf and going blind but is still full of pep and the other is a Husky, one blue eye and one brown and is the wiliest dog I have ever known. It has been a huge adjustment for them to lose both their "mum and dad" (Janet's husband died in May - it has been a very bad year for our family) and then to have to move to a different home, at their age, but they are doing OK. You can't keep a good dog down! Please, folks, if you would let an old woman have her say.....Please, please, please, don't get a dog just to leave it tied everlastingly outside. Doesn't matter how wonderful the doghouse is, or the food and other care, these creatures are PACK animals and NEED COMPANIONSHIP. It is just about the cruellest thing anybody can do, to leave them alone for extended periods of time. One of my neighbours had a beautiful dog tied up outside, away from his house, for TEN years. That dog was never once off the leash in all the ten years. He would cry and cry and cry with loneliness. He kept the neighbours awake sometimes but not his owners, they never bothered their backsides about it. The neighbour was spoken to by everybody about it but he was quite obdurate and refused to budge "because the dog shed in the house". I am I am not a particularly sentimental or emotional woman but that dog tore my heart out...they never went near him except to drop food and water in front of him once a day, and even then they would not give him a pat or a kind word. What was the point of having him at all? He died when I was away in Scotland in the summer, apparently dislocated his hip somehow with his chain, his screams had the whole neighbourhood in an uproar. At last, he is off his chain and is free. Thanks for letting me get rid of this....it has been eating at me for months! But tell me something, if a dog is a man's best friend, why do so many of them get treated like worst enemies?
I was watching something on my porch last night that reminded me of this thread and something I forgot to mention about the family Rotties. Our "Mom" (she is the mother of the other female) "adopted" a stray cat a few years ago..it seems nobody ever taught her she that dogs don't like cats...and, since she is the "alpha dog" in our little tribe, the others "go along". Mom and Mama Cat (as she has come to be known) share a food dish, play together and sleep together on the back deck. Mama Cat has recently had her third (and last) litter of kittens. She is a very protective Mama and will not go away and "do her business" when either my wife of I are playing with the kids...but she will wander off and stay gone for extended times if Mom is there to watch the kitties. One of the funniest sights I have ever seen is an 80+ lb Rottie "playing" with 8- oz kittens. They use her for mountain climbing practice and have major battles with her paw...which she will leave stretched out and occassionally turn the paw over, which dumps whatever kitten might be attacking it at the time. The Rotties also were easy to teach not to accost the deer on the property (we do not hunt on the land or allow others to...partly because we like watching them in the area between the house and river and partly to keep up the population on our land in case the time comes they are needed for meat), but will bark at them if they come to close to the house or deck. At the same time, I pity any human who should try to come over the fence or be discovered roaming the land...
It's wonderful what friendships animals will make with each other sometimes! They don't care if it's black or white, yellow or polka dot, it means nothing to them...too bad ol' homo sapiens can't be the same! You must have some happy times watching the interplay and interaction between these critters! We have had an ongoing mini-WW3 going on here since the two old dogs and their cat came to live with us....they thought they could boss my old Tiggy-wiggy around but she wasn't having any of that. And Pussinboots, the "new" cat was so mouthy to Tiggy, yowling her head off every time they came near each other. It was pretty hectic for a while. However, we have proven that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks, in fact two old dogs! They are now co-existing quite peacefully with Tiggy...they'll never be bosom buddies but they will tolerate being near each other without any reactions and are getting along quite nicely. Thank heavens....it was a long seven months of patience in the face of trials!
I have a twelve legged, three tailed Golden Weinermon Pinscher. It stared out as three distinctly different dogs but transmogrified into one with three tongues.
I think even a Kodiak would think twice before messin with a dog that size. I also know some bad neighborhoods you could clear out,just by walking Him down the street. I dont know where the pic originated,but it's probably one of the better photoshopped pictures I've seen on the web. I've had experts(self proclaimed)argue(To the point of a flame war)over it's authenticity. This is my buddy"Jazz"right after I brought Him home a year and a half ago(87lbs then). When I found Him,He was a little less than a year old,and was getting on I-75 in Jawja. He had chewed through the poodle leash that someone had tied Him up with,and had a little collar on that if it had stayed on Him much longer would have been cutting into His neck. He weighs in at about 120lbs now. Matt
German Shep's are my favorite. Very loyal and very gentle around their family, but very protective and instinctive.
Yeah that worked for me about as well as trying to ice skate on the lake on a 105F summer afternoon. I adopted what turned out to be a very determined chicken killer and I tried that on the advice of a rancher who, like most, hadn't actually ever tried it. His version was to tie it around the dog's neck, and leave it until it just rotted off. My Lab was DELIGHTED with her new accessory. Callie spent hours trying to get her mouth on it, and then once the stink began, she joyously rolled in the rotting carcass until she and the dead bird became one. Beating her with a dead bird didn't work either. She just thought it was a huge game and with every swing she would lunge for the bird trying to play tug of birdie. I finally broke Callie of her obsession of all things flappy and squawky by standing at the mouth of the stable with a 2x4, and as she came flying through it in hot pursuit of yet another chicken, slamming the board into her chest hard enough to send her ass over teakettle. When she got up, she looked at me in utter shock, as if to say "Gee boss, all you had to do was ask me to stop!". Never looked at another bird after that. Took a brick upside his head to break one of my Akbash from killing them. For him it wasn't the chase. He just enjoyed a chicken dinner, and every so often he'd go catch himself one and eat it down to the feet and beak. I tried everything, but by the time I caught him with the last hen left, I snapped. Grabbed up a brick and *THWACK* on his head. He let go of the still alive bird and stared at me in shock. "NO!" I shrieked. He shrugged, and grabbed the bird again. *THWACK* went the brick again, and this time he yelped as he let go of the bird. I thought, I'm a horrible person. I've beaten my dog with a brick. He'll have brain damage for sure. He just got up and stomped off in disgust. Not too much longer after that, someone dumped some game roosters off at my place. I figured he'd polish them off like he did the other 28 hens I'd had, but he left them alone.
