Ideal Dog Breed for Busy Family

Thanks Winky. He's 11½ as well - still as full of beans as ever!

A Malinois are not the right choice for an indoor family. The breed needs a lot of exercise and mental stimulation. 

Lukey looks like gets that exercise. 

Thanks so much for the great experiences everyone.  The Lurcher is a lovely dog, as is Luke, I love Belgian Shepherds.

We live in Sudbury, Ontario a small mining town in Canada.  Unfortunately we don't have a Battersea Dogs' Home nearby.  The nearest Shelter doesn't have a stellar reputation.

Ron

p.s. Hi Tony, I remember meeting your two Canine housemates !

http://www.malinoisclub.com/ab...inois-right-for-you/

http://www.malinoisclub.com/abmc/about-malinois/faqs/

If your family is busy and needs an indoorsy type of animal, how about a Shi-Tzu? Great creature for evenings on the sofa. Not too bright but not prone to being high strung or health problems. But they do need grooming regularly. If the gooming puts you off, a pug is a great companion and also very indoorsy as long as you make sure to wipe their face each day.

If you have a bit more leeway in terms of how much exercise you have time to give a dog then my absolute recommendation would be a Shiba raised from a puppy. Just make sure it is a true Shiba and not an Akita or Hokkaido cross as those need serious outdoors time to burn off a lot of energy. 

Sometimes, dogs can be a bit of a pest :-

"I had nothing to do with it!"

And aren't they all masters at that 'guilty look'? And it's hard to remain angry at them for long.

Low energy dog?

Lhasa Apso!

We are on the second one and love their low key pesonality.

Breed traits:

Having been bred as an indoor monastery sentinel dog by Tibetan Buddhist monks, Lhasa Apsos are alert with a keen sense of hearing. The ideal Lhasa temperament is to be wary of strangers while being loyal to those closest to them albeit they never peddle affection overtly. Not good with small children as they see them below themselves.

So basically they *hang out* minding their own business almost like a cat.

Besides, this is the only dog who looks like Ewok.

Lovely dog Kuma. My parents have Shih Tzus. Stupid dogs but very affectionate.

But for me my favourite dog, and one I shall have when I retire to the coast in a couple of years is a Working Cocker Spaniel. They are terrific dogs but do like quite a bit of exercise and stimulation. My brother has one and he loves being out fishing in the boat with us. When we catch a fish he picks it up and puts in the cool box!

Not a great pic but this is Bud on the boat.

Well if this thread is going to drift into showing off our dogs I'm going to have to join in.

Fuego. He's bigger now.

winkyincanada posted:

Fuego. He's bigger now.

Very cute.

Steve J posted:

Lovely dog Kuma. My parents have Shih Tzus. Stupid dogs but very affectionate.

They are indeed said to be related to Lhasa Apso where Tibetan monks gave a set or Lhasa to Chinese princess as a gift  ( and they developed their own breed for her companion and they became Shih Tzu. 

Temperament however is very different between them as Shih Tzu are much friendlier and out going than generally  indifferent Lhasas. Physically Shih Tzu are smaller so easy to carry them around.  Either breeds are harder to train because neither were bread to be a working or utility dog so they are not that interested in * taking orders*  from a human or impress them by performing a stupid pet tricks. 

In the early 70s Lhasa was Elizabeth Taylor's favourite and they have traveled with her anywhere she went. So they became a popular breed and had some health issues from careless overbreeding back then. Luckily they now are out of the public favour but the Shih Tzus still remain and popular around the world but unfortunately many suffer from genetic disease. 

A more recent photo of the little man!

kuma posted:

Luckily they now are out of the public favour but the Shih Tzus still remain and popular around the world but unfortunately many suffer from genetic disease. 

Interestingly all my parents Shih Tzus have lived to a ripe old age, their last dog lived to 17 years. Here's a picture of the old girl about six months before her demise.

Steve J posted:

kuma posted:

Luckily they now are out of the public favour but the Shih Tzus still remain and popular around the world but unfortunately many suffer from genetic disease. 

Interestingly all my parents Shih Tzus have lived to a ripe old age, their last dog lived to 17 years. Here's a picture of the old girl about six months before her demise.

Gosh. 17 years for a dog is excellent, though I know small breeds tend to out-live the larger breeds.  My last Golden Retriever lasted ten, though she was battling cancer for the second five years.  Hopefully my Freddie has a few years ahead of him yet.  

Mike

Black lab for me. Used to have 2 when I had a much larger house and both had fantastic natures.

Steve J posted: 

Interestingly all my parents Shih Tzus have lived to a ripe old age, their last dog lived to 17 years. Here's a picture of the old girl about six months before her demise.

Not surprised. Your parents got lucky, or possible UK breeders might be more kind to dogs than US. Smaller breed usually lives longer.

Lhasa also is a long living dog. ( altho, we haven't been lucky so far as last one lived only up to 14 )

Longevity and free from genetic disease was one of my criteria for settling on Lhasa along with less hyper active nature.

P.S. looks like Hoopeless took away a function to nest a text on the side of picture. Making the UX even more cumbersome for having to scroll even more.