What will your next dog be?

[ZaraD]

Hi all

This is just for fun but also just out of intrest .

I already know what my next dog will be but I'm talking 12yrs plus once both Lara and Sampson have passed. After meeting them at crufts and meeting loads at a group walk my next dog will definitely be a Euraiser, I just think there beautiful there like a bigger version of Merlin and Merlin is just stunning ( I love your holiday snaps lotsaqestions, very tempted for a German spritz but am a big dog girl at heart so a Euraiser is perfect) another reason there perfect is there not as vocal as most spritz a trait they get from the chow. The ones I've met have been fab in temperament to. I'd also get a girl as even though I love my boy to bits the only thing that can get annoying is also all the unwanted attention he gets from male dogs, were most the dogs round here leave Lara alone and never bother her ,round here it's mostly if not all male dogs so poor Sampson has a lot of dogs who have a go at him , thank God he ignores.

What would your next dog be?

[JudyN]

A sighthound, definitely. Any other dog is 'just a dog' I may consider a pedigree saluki, but for various reasons I'll probably look around rescue organisations till I find 'the one', which will probably be a lurcher. OH would quite like a whippet, but I'm more a big dog person.

Though as Jasper is such a bind, and as I'm so much fitter than I was before we got him, we plan to go on a few holidays when we're in between dogs, and it's even possible we'll get a taste for the freedom. We'll also be getting on a bit by then so we'll have to be confident we'll be up to all the walking etc. for the life of the new dog.

It's a long time away... I hope so anyway, at 8 years old Jasper's in his prime

[Lotsaquestions]

Sheltie! No question. I need at least one half sensible dog in my life. Having met so many Shelties now I am just sold they would be a perfect fit for me.

I too perfer bigger dogs, but my house and garden just isn't a good fit for one realistically. Though saying that Merlin is pretty much up for anything a bigger dog is and then some. Maybe in the long way off future when I've bought my country home and supersized garden I'll have a Samoyed and a Finnish Lapphund, one a basket case of fun and the other fun with some sense. You just can't beat the joie de vivre of a Spitz breed. Everything has to be done with 100% enthusiasm if not skill, and they talk to you all day long.

I have been tempted by a whippet, and I do adore them, but I also love my winter walks where I think a whippet might look at them sideways.

[Shalista]

three options (though def a long way off. raties live well into their twenties and bax is only 5)

1) another terrier. i know i know, im an idiot after all the grief bax has given me but i just love their spunk and big dog attitude in a tiny package. i love the feeling of having a dog i can go on an adventure with without worrying about any big dog problems (getting tugged off my feet if they chase something fluffy, lots of mud)

2) a corgi. god they're cute.

3) a mutt.

what is NOT negotiable is that it will def be at LEAST and adult, preferably a senior. #3 is the most likely but a mix of #1 and 3 but a senior is prolly my best bet.

[Suzette]

Another pembroke corgi would be my breed of choice if I was going to go that route again. I just adore corgi's for their intelligence, their loyalty, and their sass!

But... I have put a lot of thought into this over the last year or so and I know that some day far off in the future, once my sweet Piper is gone, (hurts my heart to even think of it!) all future dogs for me will be old shelter dogs. My plan is to go to the shelter (or even a local rescue) and find a dog that is old and pretty unlikely to find a new home regardless of breed or gender. That dog will come home with me and live out its final days with love, comfort and safety. When that dog is gone, I will keep doing this for as long as I'm able.

[JudyN]

Suzette, that's lovely

I've also thought of taking on oldies but, being selfish, I just worry about having a few years of incontinence, toilet trips in the night, frailty, senility, and all the other things that come with age, then the heartache of losing them... and then doing it all over again, and again I like the idea of taking on a mature bonded pair, too, as they can be so hard to rehome together. But I'm not sure how I'd get on walking two dogs at once, and OH is adamant he couldn't do it.

A rescue I know which only used foster homes and didn't kennel their dogs has just closed down as they couldn't get enough foster homes, which is very sad. So I like the idea of fostering too, with the aim of becoming a 'failed fosterer' when the right dog came along. But after Jasper, I'm just a little nervous of inviting a dog into my home with very little idea about its issues - I've known a couple of people who have really struggled with their fosters but felt they had to stick with them till the right forever home was found.

[Nettle]

I'm with you, there, JudyN. And as I work with troubled dogs, I want to come home to nice easy ones. I especially don't want to unravel and rebuild an unhappy foster and then have it head straight back into an abusive situation.

OH and I have agreed no more dogs after these go. We probably don't have another dog's lifetime in us, and don't want to leave any behind. We don't have anyone who could take them on. We see so many dogs in lousy homes.

Were I younger, I would have more lurchers and/or sighthounds. I always wanted a Borzoi or a Deerhound or a Galgo. Whippets are gorgeous and much tougher than they pretend to be. OH needs terriers, though No More Patterdales!!!!!

[Shalista]

OH needs terriers,

lets be honest, everyone needs a terrier, they just dont know it yet

[Lotsaquestions]

Oh god no I couldn't live with another Terrier! Everything they do is serious business... Even fun. Same reason I just couldn't get a Border Collie, sooo intense.

I have been put off rescues by my parent's Chihuahua x so I get what you mean, Judy. You take on the responsibility, and 15 years later this dog, whilst absolutely the sweetest dog in the world, still controls their life. They've not taken a holiday together (my parents) for all those years because of it.

[ZaraD]

Lovely awnsers, I would go for a rescue again but Euraisers are rare to begin with and iv never had a puppy before.

[Shalista]

Everything they do is serious business... Even fun

100% agreed. I tell him he has a business trot. when he's walking somewhere its With Purpose. there is no silly little just lazying around he is Going Places.

[JudyN]

'Business trot'

Jasper has an 'I'm up to something' trot - either he's smelt something interesting that needs following up or he's already found something to nick. Though it's sometimes hard to tell from a 'I'm looking for the right place to poo' trot, though the 'there might be a deer' trot is very level and smooth. They never mention these when they talk about different gaits, do they?

I do like a bit of terrier in a dog

[Lotsaquestions]

Removed

[Shalista]

to be fair fair merlin def looks like hes ready to do some seriouse damage.... to that bag of treats

was already sitting down reading the daily growl with a pipe in her mouth.

love this! and mostly true of bax except somewhere he got a health dose of 'derp' which im thinking came from either his beagle or whippet heritage though that was many decades ago in the breed so idk if i could ever say

[Lotsaquestions]

Lol! He does look a bit manic there... Which is exactly how he is! Everything must be done with 100% enthusiasm. He even sulks with 100% enthusiasm, sliding along the floor like a weird looking worm. I managed to train him to crawl using his pattented sliding method too, though he will still only do one slide at a time atm.

Those sorts of things are beneath Tilly.