Best friendly medium sized non-too-hairy and undemanding dog ?

Taking this opportunity to post another photo of Ted 🙂

He is proving to be remarkably easy to train and he will stay close to us if we want while out walking off the lead as we’ve been on top of training and consistent.

So I’d say terriers can be trained to not chase rabbits etc, indeed Borders were bred to run with the horses and hounds and to flush out foxes not go chasing things. Your description fits them well as it’s what we were after when we spent ages choosing the breed.

Anyway – here is Ted again

The Floridian Bloodhound. Very loving.

, it wont seek to destroy rabbits and other critters

Surely rules out greyhound & whippet sound like you want a terrier but not a terrier so I would suggest a Staffy.

@DaveRambo Ted looks ace here Jake totally untrainable when it comes any sort of critter hunting 🙂

I have had dogs pretty much all my life from bull terriers through to gun dogs, the easiest dogs to train are gun dogs or HPR’s hunter pointer retriever types, they tend to be quiet and are pretty docile when needed to be.
They do tend to be bigger, but really size is not that important.
All terriers are clowns, and although they are incredibly loyal, they are always a bit naughty, and get bored quickly. Ignore them at your peril!
Have you looked at a vizsla?

Spanish Bull Terrier? Loves charging about the trails….

@carbonfiend

This forum needs a like button – they look very similar.

We thought Ted was untrainable as he kept ignoring us to run after other dogs to play with. We tried a few things before finding that he loves a ball and cheese so these are only ever available on walks where he is off the lead.

To start with we kept him on a very long (20m) lead and whenever he started to run away we called him back. When he came back he got a bit of cheese and a play with the ball. It didn’t take long for him to work out that coming back when we call meant he got them.
While it’s not 100% at the moment when off the lead (he’s only 16 weeks) we can stop him almost all the time. The secret is he never ever gets them at any other time.

Time will tell if it works reliably but the breeder we got him from did this and her dogs will not run off / chase when off the lead.

Has Ted seen a squirrel yet 😀

We’ve even trained our dogs to operate basic machinery

George the digger cat by Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr

You need a cat not a dog.

Dogs don’t respond well to being left alone for long periods. Especially the whippet you mention.

He has seen a squirrel – I saw it first and was ready but I made out that a tiny piece of cheese and running after a ball was way more interesting.

I’m aware that it may not last …

African Daschund?

I have no idea, but you win the prize for most amusing thread title of the week.

If you even mention not being there for your dog most of the day you’ll never get anything from the dog homes. It’s almost as if they don’t wanna give dogs away. Dogs are individuals. Despite certain breeds having certain characteristics nothings guaranteed. I currently am owned by an 8st malamute x

Cocker?

My Shar Pei seems to tick all though boxes.

Cocker?

munrobiker – Member
Schnauzers are grumpy, not happy.

Yup, my Mum had one up until about 2.5 years ago.. Lovely, really lovely dog but yes, grumpy.

Airedale terrier? Lovely dogs, clever, friendly, basically hypoallergenic (we had one as a family dog when both me and my mum were allergic to cats). Does need a reasonable among of excersise though

Took a trek over to Battersea dogs home this weekend, didn’t know whether to rejoice or cry.. There were only around 8 10 dogs on display! Obviously this is a good thing for the pooches, but for the punters it narrows the voice down somewhat.

The Cat section was worse, think there were 3 cats available!

Took a trek over to Battersea dogs home this weekend, didn’t know whether to rejoice or cry.. There were only around 8 10 dogs on display! Obviously this is a good thing for the pooches, but for the punters it narrows the voice down somewhat.

The Cat section was worse, think there were 3 cats available!

Running down their stock levels to make way for the Christmas rush?
Retailers eh? 😳

We had neighbours who had 2 whippets. Whenever they were left alone they would whine nonstop. (The dogs, not the neighbours, just to be clear).

I have two spaniels that are awesome but do shed a bit and eat vile things on occasion. They are, however, awesome with kids (because kids are a source of food) and are great to take on walks.

A friend had ex-racing greyhounds and said they are the laziest dogs in the world. Al they did _all_ day was sleep on their sofa. They had something like 20 minutes exercise a day (it was all they wanted) and then just slept.

Very soppy too.

Me’d I’d take the Spaniel insanity every time. I love Spaniels.

Retailers eh?

Are they to fix dogs who have been docked?

The Cat section was worse, think there were 3 cats available!

Try the RSPCA? I worked one day at the one in… Doncaster I think it was, the phone rang every 10-15 minutes and I’d hazard 90% of the calls were “can you take a cat?” I’ve no idea whether that office was typical or whether Doncaster is just full of cat-disposers but it’s probably worth checking your local branch.

Lurcher.. ok they will chase rabbits but they wont catch unless you go out with a lamp. As soon as the rabbit goes down the hole or the squirrel goes up the tree they come back. Not like other dogs which will spent ages hunting along scent trails. Also they are much cheaper than pedigree dogs, healthier and just as much fun.

Lurchers et Greyhounds are growing on me – trouble is, aren’t you supposed to look a bit like the dog you own? ie, long and lithe in the case of a greyhound.

not short’n’fat

French Bulldog or Pug for you then miladdo.

New handbag with that too?

oops wrong thread again!!

As the owner of 2 greyhounds I feel I should second the comments on how lazy they are. They’re fantastic lap dogs, great around people and children (our litle girl has beaten the **** out of ours with no repercussions from the dogs).

But they’re not what you’re after unfortunately.

As mentioned earlier, minimal exercise required…..they’re sprinters not distance runners. Watching them run is magical though. Ours have 15 mins on a morning, a dog walker takes them out 30 mins while we’re at work, they get 30-40 mins walk on a night. You can apparently build their stamina for longer walks but from what I’ve seen over the past 3 years they prefer the couch.

You mentioned being in the park etc and not chasing squirrels. They’d chase squirrels. They’d chase rabbits, cats, deer, carrier bags, shadows…..they’re bred to chase, it’s what they do. They tend to be seen on leads for a reason lol. Also, they struggle with stiles, they’re too long. They’re large dogs that are lumped in the category medium because of weight (still a bugger to lift 2 of them over a stile in a muddy field, trust me on that).

Oh, and recall isn’t something greyhounds excel at, it can be trained, but they’re happy to ignore it when it suits. mine are at about 50/50 unless i’m in the kitchen. Shouting from the kitchen gets an instant response.

All that said, I love mine, they truly are the perfect lazy mans dog and have wonderful personalities.

If you like the ‘look’ of them then I’d suggest finding a lurcher that was greyhound crossed with something trainable like collie perhaps. My other thought was poodle, not the girly looking ones though lol.

Good luck finding your new friend 🙂

thanks!

I once met a Greyhound lazing by a fire in a pub, he was fantastic, responded to a pat but otherwise just lay there prone.

Are they required to have a muzzle on during walks? I’ve heard they can have a tendancy to tear whatever they eventually catch to shreds.

The lifting over styles is a good point.

Greyhound muzzles tend to be used as the dogs nip each other when racing, we have muzzles for ours but the only time they’ve had them on is when first entering a dog pen and there’ve been other dogs. TBH then only because people have this perception of the dogs due to seeing them on TV muzzled.

As for the tearing to shreds thing……they’re hunting dogs bred for centuries to kill, the racing thing is only a recent chapter in their history. That said, in the 3 years we’ve had ours they’ve each killed 1 bird in the garden. Billy’s gone after deer a few times though and only fences prevented him from catching them. Many rabbits and squirrels have been saved by their leads too.

They should be on the lead though, only off the lead in a fenced off area unless you are 100% certain they will come back, even then you’re probably wrong lol

I’m not trying to put you off greys here btw, they really are wonderful dogs. But the are what they are. Why not find your local Retired Greyhound Trust kennels, pop down and meet a few. our local one run a monthly walk where you can take the dogs out and spend some time with them.

http://www.retiredgreyhounds.co.uk/adopt-a-greyhound/

Mine:

Yes, I donated to a Greyhound charity that were doing a High St collection with their dogs whilst on a Down’s Link ride last year, I have it on my list to visit a centre and meet a few.
I can possibly commit a couple of Squirrels to the sacrificial god’s if it means a dog gets a good home.

As of this Fridays i’ll be located on the South Down’s with miles of rolling National Park to walk in right from the doorstep.

I REALLY like the idea of a lazy dog.
How do yours fair if left alone for periods?

I’ve heard they can have a tendancy to tear whatever they eventually catch to shreds.

A friends Greyhound caught a squirrel, the dog got torn to shreds!!

My lurcher is 6. She’s never caught anything, despite chasing foxes, deer, rabbits, squirrels and cats. Greyhounds only have to be on leads because they missed recall training when young and I see plenty off lead who are fine. They will chase things and then come back, once its out of sight its out of mind, not like a terrier which could be gone for an hour.

A good friend has a greyhound cross that she rescued a about 5-6 years ago. We think it has doberman or shepherd and retriever in him as well. He’s completely ball obsessed can run and play for hours and retrieves like a machine. However, he doesn’t like being away from her for more than a few hours at a time. I think thats the shepherd in him, or the fact that he was a rescue and has separation/abandonment anxieties.
He has excellent recall and won’t ever stray more than 10-15 meters from her on a walk! Unless he’s chasing a ball…

They do need exercising but boxers are the best dogs.

Our friend’s one was big and aggressive, had to be put down because he kept biting people. And aren’t they prone to heart defects?

ours are left for 7 hours 3 days a week but that’s punctuated by a dog walker taking them out for 30 mins in the middle. They could manage without the walk but tbh I wouldn’t feel happy about that.

@anagallis_arvensis – They’re all different but recall training isn’t a priority for their track trainers. We got our boy at 5 years old and tried relentlessly to work on recall. He knows what I want, you can see the cogs turning, then he decides to do the thing he wanted to do in the first place. The girl is a lot better, I reckon we could get her pretty much perfect if she was our only dog but she follows his lead.