The only serious dog bite I've ever gotten was from an intact male Am-Cock, totally unprovoked -- Also, another psycho Am-Cock (this time it was a spayed bitch) broke out of her own yard two blocks from our house, came onto our property & attacked our mild-mannered English Setter, so I guess you could say I'm biased against the breed in general <:-(

Sorry, Holly, nothing personal (and I'm sure there are a few decent ones around)...

Boston Bulldogge

As cute as a boston terrier without the high $ and health problems. The ones I have seen have tremendous focus.

Patterdale Terrier

These range from feisty hunting dogs to quiet house pets, so research the bloodline thoroughly.

Be sure to look carefully for an individual dog with the personality you want.

I've had great experience around English springer spaniels. I've been around one for a long time awhile back and she was awesome. No mindless barking but she did a fine job as an alert dog, but only when people came up to the house, not just passing by. Very active without being too much, very smart, and a real lover. She was cat-safe too; lived with two cats of differing temperament. Another one I knew was an intact male springer. He was a regular at the kennel I worked at and could be out with pretty much any dog or group of dogs (not that I recommend that) and would be very social. He would do his own thing, greet other dogs, but was always very "gentlemanly" and never got excitable or responded to any threats. He was very neat.

A lot of the traits you mentioned come down to the individual. Make sure that whatever path you take you either choose a good breeder (if springer, I would go with field over show mostly for brains, also for coat) or evaluate a rescue dog well.

Good luck! Let us know what you decide <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

All right ... I am going to tell you the perfect breed of dog for you.

A Brittany.


Super intelligent, trainable, very friendly and loving but are not dependant on their owners. They have excellent health. Long life span. Minimum grooming. Not noisey. Clean. They are everyone's friend so they are not a guard dog. Inexpensive to purchase and maintain. Not prone to the over breeding that Labs/goldens/cockers have. And IMO they are a very attractive breed of dog.

Of all the Brittanys I've worked with, they are hands down one of the greatest breeds as an all-around family dog. If I could get a brittany to do schutzhund, I'd have a kennel full right now <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />


As a side of some of the other breeds mentioned...Dachunds will never shut up unless you cut the vocal cords. Shiba Inus are absolutely evil. So are Basenjis. And most terriers. If a Brittany doesn't do it for you, the smaller version of that (which I mentioned before) would be a Cavalier King Charles Spanial. Its like a little Golden Retriever. You would have grooming to deal with.

Probably the best advice is to hit up petfinder.org and start searching for a nice mixed breed dog.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Brittanys are the best. I would go with the French Brittany. In my opinion they have less health problems and are far more trainable. You can google French Brittany for more info. Take a look at a kennel called Plum Creek. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

The Westies that have come into the grooming shop I work at, and those I've seen, seem like great little dogs--they're not barky like a lot that come in (and when 2 or 3 dogs start barking in the kennels, 3/4 of the dogs join in!) and very friendly.

Jim, I think you have probably figured from all these posts that there are many great breeds that fit your pre-req's! It all boils down to what you personally want in a dog, . If you go the purebred puppy route, put a lot of work into finding a good breeder, that will be the most important thing. By the way, I think Corgi's are super dogs, they are smart, easy to keep & have a wonderful sense of humor.

I'll recommend some potential breeds but first as far as barking or chasing your cats goes, much will depend on you and consistent training. Too many people treat small dogs like spoiled infants and that is the main cause of their reputation for yappiness.

Breeds: Rat terrier, Toy Fox terrier, Border terrier, Maltese (require grooming or clipping), Miniature Pinscher, Sheltie (grooming), Whippet, American Eskimo, Welsh Corgi (Cardigan more than Pembroke but either ok), Tibetan Terrier, Collie (rough or smooth but rough requires a lot of grooming), And possibly even a Shiba Inu.

WOW I really like the look of the Basenjis!!! I might get a Shiba and a Basenji!!!

This is my kinda dog :-)

John

I had a Pembroke Welshi Corgi for years. She was a usually sweet dog but had some aggression issues with strange men - she actually bit my grandmother's lawnmower repair man! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> (He had made a sudden move toward my grandmother and luckily he understood that my dog was protecting her.) I don't know if was personal or indicative of the breed but I have met a few corgi's with much the same problem. Other than that one issue though, she was a fantastic and loving pet. Very good with the (few) children we had around and a wonderful travelling companion.

Sabrina