On May 1, 4:38*pm, Omelet > wrote:
> In article >,
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> *notbob > wrote:
> > I may be getting a dog. *Hopefully from a shelter, there being way too
> > many spares out there. *I'd like to get a smaller dog, we already
> > having a min poodle. *She's a bitch (literally! -mom's dog) and I want
> > a male to ...er... humble her just a bit. *Plus, the smaller the dog,
> > the smaller the doodie/duty. *

Getting a second-hand dog is like getting a second-hand car. You can
get a good one, but it helps if you know what you're doing. The
shelter will not adopt out aggressive dogs, or ones with obvious
health problems, but they are a high volume operation.

> > Anyway, I'm actually now partial to poodles, they being so dang smart.
> > Plus, they are potential hunters and such. *(Mom's poodle abhors
> > water!) *Another thought is a chihuahua, if for no other reason than
> > just a goof. *Or maybe a whippet. *We've got the room, plus I hear
> > (Dogs 101) they make great house dogs, being natural born couch
> > potatoes after their daily vent. *
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> > Anyway, what say ye? *I'm open to suggestions.
>
> > nb
>
> Forget whippets. They are smart, yes, but I used to have a pair and they
> are destructive pains in the asses. *I would never own another one.
>
> My personal favorite breeds in the small varieties are Corgies and
> Shnauzers. Small, VERY intelligent and easy to train and long lived with
> few structural problems that the lovely AKC tends to breed in to dogs
> for breed "conformation".

Long backs and short legs do not constitute a structural problem in
your mind?

Further, AKC standards are voted on by the national breed club, not
the AKC as a whole. Most of the breed standards derive from the
(British) Kennel Club standards.

>
> I currently have one corgie, one border collie and a lab/chow cross that
> is an adopted foster dog.
>
> I don't recommend border collies unless you have as much energy as the
> dog does. <g> *I love mine but she sometimes drives me nuts with her
> hyperactivity. ;-) *The Corgie is more mellow and even easier to train.

All herding dogs, even corgies, are a pain in the ass to own AFAIAC.
And even pit bulls are more sociable with other dogs than are corgies,
based on their behavior in the puppy play group we attend.

Terriers such as the schnauzer were bred to be independent -- they
can't really ask for reassurance when they're down in that burrow.
They tend to be one-person or small-family dogs.