How/Why did you choose your breed(s)?

[StarFox]

I never liked dogs. *Gasp* I know how horrible! :wink: I never grew up around dogs, was never allowed to have one. My parents were told when I was very young to not get any pets because I was very allergic to cats, so naturally everyone assumed that I would be allergic to dogs too. I was always very fearful of dogs because I was never around them. I was especally afraid of small dogs, big dogs never did scare me that much, go figure. :roll: Then when I was around 11, or 12 my grandfather found a stray puppy. A small GSD mix, must have been 3 months old at the most. I had that dog, Rex, for three days. That was the first dog I realy fell in love with. He was so gentle for a puppy, never bit me, only barked once. But my baby brother was terrified of him and my parents told me that there was no way we were going to keep him. I was devistated, I cried and cried. We ended up giving him to my aunts father. Who apparently named him "Ceaser" and docked his tail! :x

So I went back to being afraid of dogs, up untill I meet my best freinds Golden, Remy. I was 14 years old and was still not sure about dogs. But Remy was an old show dog that didn't get any love from my freinds family. I took care of that dog more then they did, played with her, gave her water, tended to her open wounds, got the "sleep" from her eyes, pet her even though she smelled REALY bad. I bonded with that dog. She passed away over a year ago, poor girl.

Then almost two years ago I saw that little GDS/golden mix at Petsmart and HAD to get him. And ever since I got Zebra I've been obsessed with GSDs and GSD mixes. That is my breed. I just love the way they act, there intelligent, yet stubborn at the same time. But I think I will always own mixes, because you realy never know what your going to get. :lol:


[quote]you'd be hard pressed to find a dog that is as visually striking as a DalmatiAn.[/quote]
:lol: :wink:

[Malamum]

I guess for us deciding on a Malamute was one of those things that just happened.

Michael and I both wanted a big dog and between us came up with a list of dogs that was quite varied and was something like:

Golden Retriever
Dalmatian
Rottweiler
Alaskan Malamute

Michael had had a thing for Malamutes since he was about 5 and used to collect pictures of them and keep them is a scrapbook (how cute huh), but it wasn’t really a breed that was on my radar. We were more leaning towards a Rottie as that was something that we both seemed to be able to agree on. However after hoping on the net and doing tones of reading on Malamutes I was convinced they were the dog for us. The main points that drew me to them were that they don’t often bark (incessant barking drives me nuts), don’t need to be bathed very often, don’t have that doggy smell and are great house dogs. The thing that I love about my two the most is their cheeky personalities and the fact that they make me giggle by doing something silly at least once a day. Oh and who could not love snuggling to something that is like a huge fluffy teddy bear.

[xavierandrea]

When I was growing up we had a Dobbie and a Golden Retriever. My older brother moved out and had Beagles ( I hope I'm spelling these right.) I gave my dad one. When me and Ro decided the time was right for a dog I wanted another Dobbie or a large breed dog. Ro grew up with Noreign Elk Hound, Rottie and I beleive a Mutt. Ro was always very found of Bear the Rottie. So I compared the pros and cons of Dobbies and Rotties, I still wanted the Dobbie but somehow Ro has X convinced with getting the Rottie. I didn't want to dissapoint them so Rottie it was!

[katetsai]

I always wanted a dog when I grow (doesn't most kids) but since we live in an apt, that was no go. When my hubby and I move into our first townhouse, we talked about having one, but i was not so sure, thinking about all the time it'll take & stuff. But one day we decided to go to HS and look for a short-hair dog, while we're there all the dog were barking for attention except one. After interacting w/the dog for a bit, we went home empty handed. But the next day we've decided that's the dog for us (short-hair pointer mix), but when i called the HS, he was already reserved. We waited for a day, but no luck... the dog was adopted by another person. So we head back to the HS the next week. Same as the first time, all the dogs were barking frantictly for attention excepted one. She look to be very scary in her kennel, pasting herself to the kneel door so I can pet her. After 10 minutes, I was sold. So we ended up adopting a one year old dobie girl. Although my hubby express some interest in getting a dobie, but we know chances are it won't happen because we didn't want to pay premium for pure-bread. We never though we'll find one in the HS but we did. We brought her home, change her name, got carpet chew-up, found a dog park, and she's been a spoiled baby ever since. She was my first dog, and I am hooked now to dobies. Although i would not mind owning a Rottie someday, Dobie will always be the first choice for me.

[Daisysmom]

First, I must say that I have really enjoyed reading all of these posts!!

Okay, now my story....

I can remember being a little girl and getting a puppy from the icecream man. I guess he was giving them away and my brother and I convinced mom and dad to let us have one. Well, mom wasn't great at training dogs and just left him chained outside most of the time because he was BIG and wild!! (of course he would be) I was given the job to feed him on day and can remember the poor thing being so excited that he, his name was Tiny, jumped on me and knocked me to the ground. I think shortly after that my parents gave him to some people on a farm. Or, that is what they told us!!

So, I thin that is one reason I have always loved big dogs. It broke my heart when Tiny went to the farm. That had a huge impact on me and have never forgotten it (and I was very young... maybe 5 or 6)

So, when we got married we got Trixie who was a GSD/Sheltie mix and fell in love. She was the best dog in the world!!!! Everybody loved her.... this is going to make me cry :cry: . I miss her.... Any way, Trixie was getting older and we knew we could NOT be without a dog, we heard about a liter of Chocolate Labs from a co-worker of mine. We went and met ALL the dogs and fell in love!!! :iloveyou: Daisy actually picked us!! She made her way over to us and we were hooked!! Trixie wasn't happy with her new sister at first, but grew to love her. We thought it was Trixie's time again, and decided to make it easier on the kids and us we should get another pup. That's when we got Chelsea. I fell in love with her face over the internet. She was posted on the Sommerset County, MD humane society's page. I thought she looked like a lab mix, and after having Daisy for a few years, grew to love the breed's real character. When Trixie traveled to the great dog park in the sky, something came over me and I had to have another............ I really grew to love the lab breed and decided I needed one of each color. That's when we got Jake!!

Labs do it for me!! They have such personality and are BIG dogs with big hearts!!! I know I will always have one, or two.... at least :D

I will never forget my Trixie..... she will always be my favorite dog, if not my favorite breed. She has a very special place in my heart and her ashes are on our mantle and will always be.

[LisaH]

We always had dogs. We lived in a rural area on a dirt road and people constantly dumped dogs out at our house.

So as a kid we had all kinds from Poodles to Labs. One day someone dumped a purebred Collie at our house and I fell in love with the breed.

My ideal dog was big. I always wanted a Mastiff or Newf and I always wanted a Borzoi too.

But about 9 years ago I got a call asking if I could take in a female Pit Bull whose owner had been arrested.

I had been around Pit Bulls before and knew the hype was bullcrap. One of my boyfriends in Florida had a roommate that had a Pit Bull. And on and off through the years, I had been around others. So I wasn't really nervous about the breed.

But-I was hesitant because I knew the breed had a tendency to be dog aggressive and I had my own dogs here as well as a couple of other rescues. But I set up a kennel and told them to bring her on.

Before Peaches got here, I was imagining a huge,bulky,big headed thang. She was actually tiny! Little bitty thing with funky ears and big brown eyes.

She was dog aggressive as well as cat aggressive, but I wasn't unprepared for that. It was her temperament towards people that won me over. Loved everybody.

But-I still wasn't sold completely on the breed. Then after a couple of days, I noticed she was getting a little thick around the middle. I couldn't feel any puppies and neither could the vet-but I wasn't surprised when I went to the kennel one morning and there were 6 puppies in there.

I was not happy. I knew screening Pit Bull adopters could be difficult and I knew all the wrong people would want one.

I had no intentions of keeping any of them. And did actually interview people for all of them. But I noticed that I was paying a lot of attention to two of them. A big brown one and a little stubby rednose.

And Peach and the brown one and the stubby rednose are still here 9 years later :lol:

Peach:
[img]http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL33/1905485/3679556/45209263.jpg[/img]

Danny:
[img]http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL33/1905485/3679556/60192699.jpg[/img]

Tank:
[img]http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL33/1905485/3679556/60192694.jpg[/img]

[Guest Anonymous]

[quote name='StarFox']I never liked dogs. *Gasp* I know how horrible! :wink: I never grew up around dogs, was never allowed to have one. My parents were told when I was very young to not get any pets because I was very allergic to cats, so naturally everyone assumed that I would be allergic to dogs too. I was always very fearful of dogs because I was never around them. I was especally afraid of small dogs, big dogs never did scare me that much, go figure. :roll: Then when I was around 11, or 12 my grandfather found a stray puppy. [/quote]

This doesn't surprise me as much as it would have 5 years ago.

5 years ago I met my husbands nephews one day at my house (mom's house) and we had 2 little Poms...my CJ and mom's Gretchen. I'd been warned that they were afraid of dogs so I figured that they would be the best ones to introduce to the boys. Boy was I wrong! They freaked and only would come close to them if I turned the dogs butts towards the kids.

I then introduced them to my sisters American Eskimo (RIP DeeDee) and even though she was NOT happy about new people she was very well behaved and sat for them. They weren't as afraid of her as they were of the Pom.

To this day the boys prefer my BIG dogs over my smaller dogs. They like Belle, they put up with Bobbie and Ariel but it's the ASD's that they love. The bigger the better. Of course their mom is scared of everyone but the Pom. The boys want a German Shepherd. Ain't gonna happen as long as they live with their mom.

[mouseatthebusstop]

loverly puppy photos LisaH
:iloveyou:

[abker17]

Wow everyone has great stories!

I really don't know what started my love of dogs, but it started very young. When I was 4 years old everyday I would ask my mom if I could get a Dalmation. When I was 6, after 2 years of constant begging, my parents said we could get a dog. My dad had grown up with GSD's, but since I was still young and my sister was about 3 years old they wanted a smaller dog. So we got Midnight, a JRT, Toy poodle mix. She was a little black pundle of energy, and I loved her to death. Unfortunatly my time with her was short, we had barely had her a year when she got out of the yard. We searched for her until dark, and then gave in for the night. My dad sat out on the porch hoping she would come back, and she made it very close. Right as she was coming across the street back to our house a car came and hit her. My dad still gets very upset to think about that, it was a hard thing for him to see. He really loved that dog.
My second dog was Cracker, a malamute/sheltie who knows what else mix. She's a sweetie, and now going on 8 years.
And of course there's Abby, who's really my dream dog. She's a border collie akita mix. Abby honestly did come to us, I call her my little gift from God. :lol: She chased my mom's car down, and when my mom stopped and opened the door, she jumped right in. She's been with us ever since, and is with me nearly 24/7. I've never had a connection with my other dogs like the one I have with Abby. I can't even begin to explain what it's like, but I'm sure you all already know what I mean.
As for my perfect breed, right now it seems to be the APBT. I've done a lot of research on them, and worked with some memoriable dogs through rescue. I love border collies and tollers to, but nothing can beat that pittie smile. :D

[imported_Debbie]

:roll: Once upon a time when I was a kid........ :lol:
We had a Lab/Weim X named Duke, that dog followed my brother and I all over the neighborhood !! My Mom would always know who's house we were at just by seeing where Duke was.
That also was his downfall, Duke got hit following us in our neighbors car. :cry:

Then Mom/Dad decided to get a Boston Terrier, her name was Boots (I know real original..... :oops: )
Boots had 1 litter of pups and we kept one.....Skeeter.
Then when I was 15, a German Shepherd in the neighborhood had a litter of pups.....the guy that owned the GSH was moving and leaving the pups to fend for themselves !!! So between me and my friends we found homes for them all and I begged my parents to let me keep one !!!!
They said yes, and that was my first real dog !!! Hildegarde !!
She was perfect, one in a million, never be another one like her !!
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d929b3127cceb180a5e485eb0000001610[/img]
Hildegarde !! :angel:

When I married my hubby, he had 2 Borzoi; Meisha & Sersa
Not big in the brains dept. but likeable. Meisha died of torsion and Sersa died of Cancer.
That's when I brought home Nakita (Akita/Rott), hubby wasn't very happy about it, but I got her from some farm people that were going to take her in the woods and shoot her !! That's how some deal with unwanted pups.... I couldn't let that happen, so home she came !!
She was my faithful, loveable shadow and companion for near 15yr.
She tolerated kids, let'em walk all over her !! But she was very protective and very dog aggressive. I loved her so much, a part of me died the day she died(3yr. ago).........I vowed never to have another dog.
Well 8 months later Sassafrass Louise entered our lives !!!
Sassy is a beautiful JRT, she's fun loving, intelligent, loyal, and a real suck-up !! 5 more months go past and my daughter was looking at some Lab/Rott pups and I got suckered into taking Gretchen !!(sweet natured with such expressive eyes !)
2 more months go by and my daughter brings a kitten to the house (for herself) and ends up leaving him at our house !!! So....add Kato to the crew !!! Then last but not least......Jacks are like potato chips you can't have just one :wink: !!! We see someone has a litter of JRT's and hubby buys me one for our Anniversary !!! And that's Maisy !! A bundle of energy, love, a real character !! She's velcroed to my butt 24/7 !!
And everyone lived happily ever after ............. :angel:

Now this is my list of dream dogs........ 8)

Greater Swiss Mt. Dog
Great Dane
Neopolitan Mastiff
Standard Poodle

(I'll always have a Jack in the House !!) :wink: