Help me pick a dog

Rhodesian Ridgeback- No shedding AT ALL, Does great in the heat, decent in the cold. Mellow, lazy dogs in the home, but get them in the field and they'll out hike you. Great guard dogs and instinctively bark their heads off. Won't hurt a soul. My dog used to pick up my cat and carry it around in her mouth and lick it until it was soaking wet. The best family dogs ever, when I was a baby we had one and I used to ride it like a horse all the time.

You can't go lab with a lab mix either. I say the most problem free best family dogs are either labs or golden retrievers. When you get one of the two you are ALMOSt guranteed a good dog.
 
I just read the first post, so here I go. I seem to think I have the perfect dog. I own a Med. sized Rottweiler. He is 100#'s, very gentile, great with all my children, very good on walks, eager to please, ......... Rotties are "VERY" misunderstood ! This seems to be my perfect family dog. Allways Faithfull!! (Semper Fi) ,M
 
All good choices to be sure. My vote would be a lab. Great camping and hunting dog. Fantastic with kids.

Old camping partner and upcoming one: :)
IMG_0036.jpg
 
There were alot of posts to read so i didnt read them all. If i second something im sorry. I had a doberman that done great on my hiking camping and backpacking trips. But it realy is has nothing to do with the breed. Its all how you teach them that makes all the diffrence. Check out John muir he had a mutt that hunted his own food and walked for miles. My advice would be go to the animal shelter walk around find the pup that has that smile on his face when you look at him. We all know that dogs do smile right??? Take him home and teach him well. I dont think you would find a better one. Yes some friends did go to the shelter. They said that the dog knows that you saved there lifes that makes them bond to you more and they would never let you down.

Sasha
 
Hyper for the first few years unless you are good about daily exercise and they do shed, but the German Shorthaired Pointer is a wonderful family, house and field dog.
 
skammer said:
German shorthaired pointers GSP are great dogs.

The have much the same traits as labs. they have the stamina you are looking for but winter they may need a thin coat as their fur is short. They drink a lot of water when working so this maybe an issue in the mountains.

they are not terribly protective but do have some instincts.

Like labs they are energetic when pups, need training.

A good all round dog.

PLEASE DONT DOCK THE TAIL! There is no need.

I will remind again off trail off leash exercise is good for pups but not on hard flat surfaces until they are 2.

Do not neuter them until 2 or until they get male behavior dominance issues.

I know of one of few cadaver trained SAR dogs in the country trained well for SAR work is a GSP.

http://www.earlham.edu/~biol/amy/home/searchdog.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Shorthaired_Pointer

Skam
Click to expand...


I concur. My GSP, "Mauser" is 10 now and still going strong. Never heard about the neuter issue until 2, but he's been great for us. Natural hunter, great family dog, stays with you off leash, good watchdog and companion.
 
Thanks for all the input, guys! Keep it coming. Just FYI, we've put off the dog search until closer to the summer. We're leaning strongly toward some kind of lab mix, maybe with a German Shepherd. We'll probably go to the pound in a month or 2 and start looking.
 
Lot of neat dogs and suggestions here.:)
Good luck on whatever you get. I would spend $10 and get "How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With". This is an old standard on training with great background info including puppy tests on picking your dog.
Also, remember there is a wide range within the breed standard.

Here is our Golden Retriever. I forgot to put on his Frontline before this trip and ending up picking off around 200 deer ticks off of him (this is not an exaggeration). He can pull a dog sled in winter and wears a saddlebag pack (for his own food, leash, etc.) in the other seasons on trips.
attachment.php
attachment.php
attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1269.jpg
    IMG_1269.jpg
    74.7 KB · Views: 40
  • IMG_1226.jpg
    IMG_1226.jpg
    52.8 KB · Views: 40
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top