Medium-ish dog breeds, experience/recommendations?

It sounds to me from your responses in here that you're pretty much sold on a schnauzer.....

Anyway, aside from the fact that you've said that you don't want a herder, how about a corgi? Have you ever met any corgis? They are great little dogs. Or, how about a schipperke?

 

Rofl..... yep, too clever at times.

 

I love corgis! I'm quite certain a friend of ours would steal it, she's obsessed with them either breed are too small though.

I'm warming to the idea of the Nova Scotia and Wheaten Terrier, but need to do more research on them.

 

My vote is for a Samoyed. Our 23yr old son brought a puppy bitch home about 4 years ago. It is certainly not a breed I would have picked, but the personality is awesome. I've had Labradors, Beagles, whippets, King Charles cavalier spaniels(all great dogs/pet's) but hands down Boo(Samoyed) is the most loving of dogs. Very intelligent, it took one day to sit on command and one day to learn to stay.

Loves to talk(sort of yodel) to you in the morning or when you get home.

She is mostly in the house, but has access to the backyard most of the time. In summer she does get hot, but our house has slate and wooden floors and she just sprawls over them.

She also sheds a lot of hair and moults one or twice a year and boy can she loose some hair.
As I mention earlier, we have slate and wooden floors, so easy to vacuum or sweep up the hair. We take her to a dog wash maybe 3 time over spring/summer. It does take some time to dry her.

Lovely dog, my wife has said to our son, you can leave anytime you want, but Boo is staying with us.

 

Sounds perfect, but...

Lino floor in kitchen/dining area, dark blue-grey carpet throughout the rest of the house

There's always the bathroom floor for it to stay cool on I guess.

 

Why do you say that, and why does their size matter? Both are "big dogs in a smaller dog's body" and they aren't tiny, they are medium. There is one advantage to having a smaller dog. If you need to lift them, it's a much easier prospect than lifting a big dog. If you are going to go for a relatively rare breed, you might have to put your name down and wait, or look at importing a dog yourself. There's an advantage to rescuing a "mutt", there are a lot in the orphanage waiting to be adopted.

 

We had a Toller (she passed away 3 years ago) and she was great. Calm inside, great with kids, easy to train, but very energetic, like most of the breeds you're listing.

Just be prepared to spend the couple of hours outside each day that the dog will required.

 

You should get him/her involved in trial work/agility. They are very good at it. http://www.freewebs.com/antollergee/apps/videos/videos/show/5714088-beans-first-ud-trial

 

Because I have a choice and I want a medium size dog, simple as that

 

Sorry, wasn't clear. Why do you think they aren't medium dogs? Corgis are medium, they've just got stumpy little legs so they look short, but their body size and shape is solid and they aren't small. Schipperkes aren't that small, they are sort of basenji sized. When I think small, I think toy breeds, or little dogs like cavs.

 

Ah right, gotcha. When I think small, I think of most small terriers, like Cairns, Westies, the like - and I think of toy breeds as a size class below.
Our Cairn was about 35cm at the withers and was about 10.5kg healthy (compared to, say, his 6kg mum) - huge for the breed, but still a smaller dog than I want to get for myself. As an example a Border Collie would be an ideal size, but I don't want a BC.

 

Corgis are heaps bigger than cairns. They are quite hefty little blokes. If they had proper legs they'd look like quite big dogs. I think of cairns and westies as little dogs, but corgis are little because they are stumpy. Body-wise you can't just scoop them up like a "proper" little dog (partly because of their long backs, but also because they weigh a ton). They stay on the ground more like a bigger dog than a little dog. Certainly not a lap dog.

 

Interesting thread and some nice suggestions. I have known plenty of friends and family with Labs and GR's. I agree GR's can be absolute pigs with food but are usually pretty well suited to family life. One breed I haven't owned but would consider is a Vizsla if you are looking at mid size dogs. There are a few that come to the dog park I frequent and they are pretty nice dogs in my limited experience.

Thought I would give some thoughts on German Shepherds as I have had them pretty much all my life. They can be on the bigger side but my current GS is a slim female and is beautifully natured. The trick with GS's is to get them young and put the effort into training them and socializing them well. They are very intelligent and you and your family become their "pack". They are very loyal and protective of said pack but not in a vicious way. I will happily let my missus walk our GS well after dark as she is very protective but will in no way pick a fight. Because they are smart they can also be mischievous when they are young but are food oriented enough to be trained easily. They do shed a fair bit and I would recommend a carpet free house (simply because it's just easier to vacuum) but they aren't as bad as some breeds. Husky's for example are insane with the amount they shed.

I would recommend a female GS as a family pet as males can be overly dominant and can be a handful around other dogs because of it. Make sure you can view the parents of any GS you are looking at as hip problems are common due to crappy (some call it "show") breeding. You want a nice straight back and the rear legs/hips shouldn't point outwards at all i.e. the "elbows" in their rear legs shouldn't be almost touching, they should be in line with the hip joints and the GS shouldn't look like it's crouching on it's back legs. It might win shows looking like that but it's cruel to the animal and a terrible thing to breed into them imho. Poor hips can cause crippling(literally) arthritis later in life and treatment is very expensive.

The worst thing you can do to a GS is "not include them in your pack". They love company and human interaction. Leaving them at home all day or making them an "outside dog" denies them of this. If you are going to leave them alone for long periods a companion dog (or cat in some cases) is a good thing.

They need regular exercise (a good walk or run at the park most days) but as they age they are happy to pass a large portion of the day sleeping if they get quality exercise and stimulation. The rest of the time they will spend trying to get you too feed them and play with them

Just in case you want a sales pitch for a GS to your missus, show her these pics. "Jess" in full flight at the park and trying to convince me to throw her ball.

 

We got a dog from http://www.workingdogrescue.com.au/ . Bailey is a male Hungarian Vizla x Border Collie. Pretty good dog so far and very energetic! Still a puppy at 18 weeks or so now. Maybe look at some of these types of websites as well unless you are after a purebred dog (cost us $300 I think, and the dog is desexed, chipped and needled. They do have purebreds from time to time though but less so than mixed breeds and they also have puppies as well as older dogs. Our near 16 year old female Lab x Border Collie is also getting used to our new dog "Bailey". He wants to play, she wants to rest!!!

Perhaps a purebred Hungarian Vizla might be your cup of tea if you want a rarer breed and they are the smallest of the pointer-retriever breeds.

 

I regularly check them but the only dogs that usually stand out and say "adopt me" are Huskies.

Did some more digging, yes, not sure what I was looking at but they're larger than I thought (ie up to 17kg weight range). Beautiful animals but I'm not that drawn to them compared to other breeds

Cheers for that, appreciate it GSD would go to the top of the list along with the Schnauzer based on what you've said, and a female would be ideal. And there's plenty of GSD breeders around to choose from.

 

As you'd said you didn't want a herder, I didn't mention it before, but if you are now including german shepherds, then belgian shepherds are also nice. Or, how about a smooth collie? Or a weimeraner? Bear in mind that with all of these big active dogs, you are going to be absolutely committed to taking them out somewhere else for their exercise. Something like a corgi or a beagle or something that size could amuse himself at your place more easily.

EDIT: I mentioned it before, but I think you should consider personality more than looks. Some pets are just "special". My vet has 2 clinic cats of the same type. One is just the best cat ever and I'd steal him in a heartbeat, but the other, same breed, looks the same, just doesn't have the other one's "star quality". I say I'd like to get a cat of that breed, but really I'd just want Calvin. If I got a british blue and it wasn't like Calvin, I'd be comparing it negatively to Calvin. If you select a dog expecting Lassie and you end up with Brian Griffin, you have to love it anyway. I'd rather get a mutt with a super personality than a show dog who is a bit of a bore.

FURTHER EDIT: I'm going on about corgis because of the personality of a corgi I used to live with. He was smart. One day, the family was driving up the street and the boys saw him marauding about up the road. He went tearing home, and when they pulled into the garage, he came sauntering out as if he'd been sleeping in the yard. Another time I took him to the lake, and he wanted to jump in. I kept calling him back and he'd come back, but he was running further and further ahead each time. You could see his little mind working that if he got far enough away that he could pretend he didn't hear you, he could jump in the water. He wasn't just clever, he was crafty. Going by looks, I don't love them, but going by the personality of the dog I knew, I'd look at the breed. But again, another dog of the same breed isn't going to be like the other dog, except in looks. Even with looks, some dogs are "better looking" than others.

 

Broccoli is on the money. A dog is man's best friend, and like any good friendship, the friend has to pick you too. Regardless of breed you have to enjoy each others company and suit each others lifestyle. You also have to make compromises for each other.

I'm frequently making the compromise of "yes you can have a third of the bed so long as it's at the foot end." Add that to the 2/3rds my wife wants and I'll just sleep curled up on my pillow...

The upside of having a dog that needs some regular exercise is that is forces you to get some as well. Although exercising a dog regularly can be a bit of a chore sometimes, it's probably adding a decade to your life so you will get that time back plus more. It's like a positive feedback loop for life span extension

 

As mentioned Weimaraner's are cool but big. So get a Hungarian Vizsla!

Mid sized energetic dog, nicknamed velcro dogs for all the attention they give you.

We have one and it was the best decision we ever made!

 

I own a GS too, albeit mine is white, I can not agree with this more. If this is a breed you want to look into, make sure you get hip and elbow scores from both the parents. I cannot stress this enough. SG are prone to hip and elbow dysplasia, the best chance of minimising this is to make sure the parents do not suffer from it. However this is not a guarantee that yours wont.

A word of warning with this breed, be careful, as once you have one of these dogs, you will never want another breed again.

 

I've always wanted a white one but never seen one in the flesh. Pics?