Favorite Dog

[Siggie]

Re: Favorite Dog

My favorit dog is the bullmastiff. They are effectionate and loving gentle giants.

Beautiful dogs!


If I could deal w/ the jowls and the accompanying drool, they'd be on my list too.



This photo really illustrates how large these mastiffs can get.

[gmd]

Re: Favorite Dog

If the breeders are doing the health testing then it doesn't matter if they have a narrow gene pool, it'd be healthy. The Havanese for example is a very healthy toy breed. Tested for eyes, hearing, elbows, hips, etc. You must let the breeder know if there's ever a problem (many will pay the vet fees) and they will never breed those parents again, removing them from their gene pool. I verified all the testing for my puppy online back 5 generations. The experiences you had with purebreds may not have been from reputable breeders that do all the necessary testing. Even worse with others' experiences; you don't know where they got the dog from. For all you know, if came from a pet store (i.e. puppy mill). In your own case, if you're getting the pure breed from the shelter then you don't know where it came from. There are however some issues that plague the whole breed. For example, Great Danes tend to suffer from many ailments.

While PETA for instance may say that mix-breeds are healthier, that's not necessarily the case. If you take breed two breeds with their respective illnesses, you'll just get a mix bag and could get any of the diseases from either (unless recessive).
People should get breeds that are compatible with their lives, situations, and other pets. With mix breeds you do not know what traits the dog will have.
Further, with the "designer breeds" it's not clear always whether they breed breed 1 and breed 2 or mix-of-1-and-2 w/ either 1 or 2 or mix and mix. So, once they start breeding chi-poos with chi-poos to get chi-poos you'd have the same situation as pure-breeds that you believe results in illness.

danes are one of the pure breeds we have. my wife likes them. they are from a good breeder and healthy but as stupid as a rooster. the pure breed dogs we have had always came from reputable breeders with a long history. i find one of the problems is that in breeding to a breed standard the dogs regardless of breed will display some problems. i am not an expert on all breeds but the ones i know of do have problems in their gene pool. the ones we have from pounds are all mutts. depending on the area/pound you go to there are certain breeds that are obvious in the dogs. my own favorite dogs happen to be a mix of cattle dog(probably Australian) with probably some pit. the dogs are intelligent and healthy. the other advantage I have is that I let my dogs live as dogs, as a result they develop naturally and are not trapped in perpetual puppy state yapping for no reason.

[Siggie]

Re: Favorite Dog

danes are one of the pure breeds we have. my wife likes them. they are from a good breeder and healthy but as stupid as a rooster. the pure breed dogs we have had always came from reputable breeders with a long history. i find one of the problems is that in breeding to a breed standard the dogs regardless of breed will display some problems. i am not an expert on all breeds but the ones i know of do have problems in their gene pool. the ones we have from pounds are all mutts. depending on the area/pound you go to there are certain breeds that are obvious in the dogs. my own favorite dogs happen to be a mix of cattle dog(probably Australian) with probably some pit. the dogs are intelligent and healthy. the other advantage I have is that I let my dogs live as dogs, as a result they develop naturally and are not trapped in perpetual puppy state yapping for no reason.

My understanding about Danes is that a lot of their health issues are related to their size. I couldn't deal with the heartbreak, otherwise I think they are very regal looking and sweet dogs. That's beside the point however... I acknowledge there can be variability and that illness can occur even in health tested purebreds. I do not think the answer is to breed mutts. Instead, the parent clubs need to be more proactive about health and encourage testing. By testing, the gene pool can be "cleaned" and the incidence of illness can be minimized and the breeds can still be preserved.

I think you're getting away from breed issues and into training, but I don't know what you mean about allowing them do develop naturally. I have socialized and trained my dog since I brought him home at 8 weeks (the educating of myself started the day I reserved him and put down my deposit) and he not yappy. Quite the contrary, he is obedient to me and others because he knows numerous commands. Among them, "quiet!"

[Anush]

Re: Favorite Dog

I love my mutt Baby




And my Shih Tzu ChopChop... they are the best

[Pazooki]

Re: Favorite Dog

My favorit dog is the bullmastiff. They are effectionate and loving gentle giants.

Meet Hercules. Hercules used to be the worlds biggest dog.

http://lighthousepatriotjournal.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/herculesdog.jpg

[Pazooki]

Re: Favorite Dog

Aww and I remembered the cutest dog ever. My cousin has a Pekingese in Armenia. Their so cute.

[jgk3]

Re: Favorite Dog

Meet Hercules. Hercules used to be the worlds biggest dog.

http://lighthousepatriotjournal.file...erculesdog.jpg

A noble stead that can bite off the necks of rival horses in battle.

[Pazooki]

Re: Favorite Dog

A noble stead that can bite off the necks of rival horses in battle.

[iberia]

Re: Favorite Dog

nagzi is not armenian because:
armenia is not even in caucasus.
armenia has not caucasus mountains.
armenia has not village in great caucasus.
armenians are not caucasians.
this dog is from georgia, and north caucasus

[Mos]

Re: Favorite Dog

nagzi is not armenian because:
armenia is not even in caucasus.
armenia has not caucasus mountains.
armenia has not village in great caucasus.
armenians are not caucasians.
this dog is from georgia, and north caucasus

troll please ban immediately..