Love Dogs

Both. Natural bias towards mutts, but I've owned two seeming purebreds whom I've loved dearly.

both.

Love dogs. Full stop.

The current pack here is two smallish rescue dogs. One might be a purebred. The other one doesn't even look like a dog after her summer cut. One was rescued from a physically abusive situation. I learned a lot about love and trust from him. The other was rescued from a situation which left her with some peculiar personality traits due to lack of socialization. I learned about love and patience from her.

Love dogs.

Fess' up, Finn! Lose the moose pic, admit that's what you really look like as of right this second:

Purebred, specifically poodles, specifically chocolate poodles. I just love them! I've owned a standard and two toys in the past, and my current love is a beautiful, brilliant, super affectionate, dark brown miniature.

I can't say enough good things about this breed. They are highly intelligent, social and playful, easily trained, and quite athletic. They are just plain wonderful companions. About the only drawback to owning a poodle is the amount of grooming they require because their coat continues to grow, like human hair, so it must be brushed often and cut about every 2 months. But, the upside is the fact they don't shed.

I like dogs, but my heart belongs to the poodles of this world.

Then you will love this

http://www.dogwork.com/snow2/

Wonderful, Finn.

It's an Irish Elk, and though I'd be happy with a dog, I don't remember how to change the icon.

Prefer Malamut's to Huskies but both are beautiful. Too hot here in Texas for either breed though and I don't think I could give them the exercise they need.

I'm good with either too and if it was up to me, we would have a pack consisting of both, but I wouldn't be married to the woman I wed 38 years ago if I tried to be the Dog Whisperer.

So since I get to have one at a time, I opt for purebreds, and Labs at that. Pressing the wife for two and making headway, so who knows.

You do it by putting your selected avatar on Gravatar.com, where you sign up with your email that you used for a2k, and it automatically puts the avatar here on a2k...

Sorry but Poodles are one of the last breeds I would choose.

I'm pretty sure that I would love one if I had it forced on me, but that's not going to happen.

The first thing I would do though is let them go natural and not subject them to looking like topiary.

If you love any dog though, poodles or otherwise, you amass many Karmic points

Absolutely last breed I'd pick?

Chinese Hairless

You're right.

I especially love happy dogs. Thanks for sharing that.

My one true love looked like the twin brother of the one pictured. He was named Positron, and I had him and his sister, Gamma Ray, since they were 8-week-old. My family kept Siberian Huskies since my grandfather's time - his family had a considerable property in East Prussia - when Stalin decreed that the Siberian peoples (nomadic, following herds of elk or whatever your avatar is called in Siberia) must abandon their wandering ways and take up fixed habitations to be constructed for them by the Soviets. By way of convincing these nomadic peoples, Stalin also gave the order that all their Huskies (only means of transportation in these vast spaces) should be slaughtered forthwith.

British Columbia, Alaska, Oregon, all of Scandinavia, all of East Prussia, had to take in countless Siberian Huskies in order to save them. The Alaskan Malamutes, in particular, almost went extinct the moment that the faster, smaller, Siberian Huskies were imported - being smaller they didn't need to eat as much, and in the Arctic food suitable for dogs isn't always easy to find - but fortunately the Malamutes survived in their role as "wheelers" for sleds.

As to keeping them in Manhattan - you have to commit to keeping live-in crews willing to take Huskies to Central Park to gallop at 0530 hours am, again at 1830 hrs, and finally near midnight at the park of the mayor's residence on East 88th and the East River for several hours a day - plus of course to dog-walking services twice a day and to a country house on weekends, not to mention take them round the block yourself whenever you're there.

No, it's not a cheap enterprise, but Central Park alone is 730 acres so that's enough space for them to gallop in, swim in lakes, chase ducks and squirrels, meet all their friends etc during the week, plus of course all the day and evening walks and the weekends in the country.

I wouldn't contemplate keeping Huskies in latitudes south of Philadelphia, so there we are agreed. We also seem to be agreed that when there's a will, there's a way, and that true love will invariably find it

Finn, I definitely agree with you about the weird show cuts on the poodles you see at dog shows. They also detract from the real beauty of a poodle. But those ridiculous cuts are only for the show ring, and poodles kept as pets would not be clipped like that. My own dogs have always been kept in a puppy cut or lamb cut that is one length all over the body. My scanner isn't cooperating at the moment or I'd post a picture of my dog. But the coat for most pets looks like this



Because their hair grows continuously you can't let them be completely "natural", they still require trimming at least every two months, and they do require constant brushing. Owning such a high maintenance dog is not everyone's cup of tea.

One advantage of purebred dogs is that there are breed characteristics, so you have some idea of temperment, activity level, personality, intelligence, and other factors which might determine how happy you might be to live with your dog once the puppy grows up. As much as I like Jack Russell terriers, for instance, I don't think I could live peacefully with that active a dog. Even with a mutt, it helps to know something about the breeds in their background.

Dogs are just great. I often wish people were a little more like dogs.

And the best dog in the world is always your own.

Good luck with that - I think dogs enjoy being two, too.